The Green Party () in East Germany was founded in February 1990. At the first free Volkskammer elections it stood with the Independent Women's Association () and received 2.0% of the vote. They received 8 seats but could not resolve how to allocate them. The Women's Association pulled out and the Green Party formed a joint parliamentary group with Bündnis 90.Arche Nova. Opposition in der DDR. Das „Grün-ökologische Netzwerk Arche“ 1988–1990. Herausgegeben von Carlo Jordan und Hans Michael Kloth, Basisdruck, Berlin 1995, .Christoph Hohlfeld: Die Grünen in Ostdeutschland. In: Joachim Raschke; Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was sie sind. Köln: Bund 1993, S. 395–416, .
The party was constituted on 24 November 1989 during the political upheavals of 1989, and from September 1990 used the name The Greens (). It merged on 3 December 1990 with the West German Greens (with the Saxon branch initially remaining outside the merger).Christoph Hohlfeld: Die Grünen in Ostdeutschland. In: Joachim Raschke; Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was sie sind. Köln: Bund 1993, S. 395–416, .
The Green Party developed largely out of the Green–Ecological Network Arche (), founded in 1988 as a GDR-wide environmental opposition network. During 1989 it announced plans to contest future elections with a green list independent of the National Front's unified list, an early attempt in the GDR to challenge the National Front's monopoly on parliamentary representation.Arche Nova. Opposition in der DDR. Das „Grün-ökologische Netzwerk Arche“ 1988–1990. Herausgegeben von Carlo Jordan und Hans Michael Kloth, Basisdruck, Berlin 1995, .Christoph Hohlfeld: Die Grünen in Ostdeutschland. In: Joachim Raschke; Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was sie sind. Köln: Bund 1993, S. 395–416, .
History
Origins in the environmental movement The party's origins lay in the GDR environmental movement of the 1980s, where local groups formed in response to severe pollution and ecological damage and often operated under church umbrellas. Environmental activism initially overlapped closely with peace and human-rights campaigning, before increasingly developing its own organisational structures and priorities later in the decade.Christoph Hohlfeld: Die Grünen in Ostdeutschland. In: Joachim Raschke; Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was sie sind. Köln: Bund 1993, S. 395–416, .
From Arche to party formation (1988–1990) The Green–Ecological Network Arche was founded in January 1988 and became a major organising nucleus for a later party structure.Arche Nova. Opposition in der DDR. Das „Grün-ökologische Netzwerk Arche“ 1988–1990. Herausgegeben von Carlo Jordan und Hans Michael Kloth, Basisdruck, Berlin 1995, . Debates within the environmental scene over centralisation and party-building delayed a formal foundation, so that other opposition parties and movements were founded earlier during autumn 1989. The Green Party was constituted on 24 November 1989, and formally founded at its first party congress in Halle on 9 February 1990.Arche Nova. Opposition in der DDR. Das „Grün-ökologische Netzwerk Arche“ 1988–1990. Herausgegeben von Carlo Jordan und Hans Michael Kloth, Basisdruck, Berlin 1995, .Christoph Hohlfeld: Die Grünen in Ostdeutschland. In: Joachim Raschke; Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was sie sind. Köln: Bund 1993, S. 395–416, .
Political participation in 1990 In late 1989 and early 1990 the party participated in the Round Table process and took part in the transitional arrangements of the final GDR governments, including representation in the Modrow cabinet period through a minister without portfolio associated with the green camp.Christoph Hohlfeld: Die Grünen in Ostdeutschland. In: Joachim Raschke; Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was they are. Köln: Bund 1993, S. 395–416, . After the March 1990 Volkskammer election, the Green Party's eight deputies formed a joint parliamentary group with Bündnis 90, reflecting the practical need to organise parliamentary work and align with related citizens’ movements.Arche Nova. Opposition in der DDR. Das „Grün-ökologische Netzwerk Arche“ 1988–1990. Herausgegeben von Carlo Jordan und Hans Michael Kloth, Basisdruck, Berlin 1995, .
German reunification and merger (1990) Following German reunification, coordination between East German civic movements and West German parties became central to electoral strategy and organisational survival. In September 1990 the party adopted the name “The Greens”, and on 3 December 1990 it merged with the West German Greens (with the Saxon branch initially remaining outside the merger).Christoph Hohlfeld: Die Grünen in Ostdeutschland. In: Joachim Raschke; Gudrun Heinrich: Die Grünen. Wie sie wurden, was sie sind. Köln: Bund 1993, S. 395–416, .
See also History of environmentalism in Germany
References
External links Green Party of the GDR from Chronik der Wende