Editing East Germany (section)

== Naming conventions ==
The official name was {{lang|de|Deutsche Demokratische Republik}} ('German Democratic Republic'), usually abbreviated to ''DDR'' (GDR). Both terms were used in East Germany, with increasing usage of the abbreviated form, especially since East Germany considered West Germans and West Berliners to be foreigners following the promulgation of its [[Constitution of East Germany (1968)|second constitution]] in 1968. West Germans, the western media, and statesmen initially avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like ''Ostzone'' ('Eastern Zone'),<ref name="zeit49">{{Cite news |last=Berlin Korrespondent |date=June 1949 |title=Nationale Front in der Ostzone |trans-title=National Front in the Eastern Zone |url=http://www.zeit.de/1949/22/nationale-front-in-der-ostzone |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111023236/http://www.zeit.de/1949/22/nationale-front-in-der-ostzone |archive-date=11 November 2013 |access-date=10 May 2013 |work=[[Die Zeit]] |language=de}}</ref> {{lang|de|Sowjetische Besatzungszone}} ('Soviet Occupation Zone'; often abbreviated to ''SBZ''), and {{lang|de|sogenannte DDR}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 October 1968 |title=Vom Sogenannten |url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-45935352.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160203124606/http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-45935352.html |archive-date=3 February 2016 |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |page=65}}</ref> ('so-called GDR').<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9gQMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA20 |title=Facts about Germany: The Federal Republic of Germany, 1959 – Germany (West) |date=1959 |page=20 |access-date=16 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221170436/https://books.google.com/books?id=9gQMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA20 |archive-date=21 December 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In the West, the centre of political power in East Berlin was referred to as ''[[Pankow]]'' (the seat of command of the Soviet forces in Germany was in [[Karlshorst]], a district in the East of Berlin).<ref name="zeit49"/> Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also increasingly used colloquially by West Germans and West German media.{{efn|The use of the abbreviation ''BRD'' (FRG) for West Germany, the {{lang|de|Bundesrepublik Deutschland}} (''Federal Republic of Germany''), on the other hand, was never accepted in West Germany since it was considered a political statement. Thus ''BRD'' (FRG) was a term used by East Germans, or by West Germans who held a pro-East-German view. Colloquially, West Germans called West Germany simply Germany (reflecting West Germany's claim to represent the whole of Germany), or alternatively the {{lang|de|Bundesrepublik}} or {{lang|de|Bundesgebiet}} (Federal Republic or Federal Territory, respectively), referring to the country and {{lang|de|Bundesbürger}} (Federal citizen) for its citizens, with the adjective {{lang|de|bundesdeutsch}} (Federal German).}}

When used by West Germans, the term {{lang|de|Westdeutschland}} ('West Germany') almost always referred to the geographic region of [[Western Germany]] and not to the area within the boundaries of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, this use was not always consistent and West Berliners frequently used the term {{lang|de|Westdeutschland}} to denote the Federal Republic.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wildenthal |first=Lora |title=The Language of Human Rights in West Germany |page=210}}</ref> Before World War II, {{lang|de|Ostdeutschland}} ('East Germany') was used to describe all the territories east of the [[Elbe]] ([[East Elbia]]), as reflected in the works of sociologist [[Max Weber]] and political theorist [[Carl Schmitt]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cornfield |first=Daniel B. |title=Worlds of Work: Building an International Sociology of Work |last2=Hodson |first2=Randy |date=2002 |publisher=Springer |isbn=0-306-46605-8 |pages=223}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pollak |first=Michael |date=2005 |title=Ein Text in seinem Kontext |trans-title=A text in its context |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/251114867 |journal=Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie |language=de |volume=30 |pages=3–21 |doi=10.1007/s11614-006-0033-6 |issn=1011-0070 |s2cid=147022466}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Baranowski |first=Shelley |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cfeX8QS7DeMC&pg=PA187 |title=The Sanctity of Rural Life: Nobility, Protestantism, and Nazism in Weimar Prussia |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-536166-7 |pages=187–188 |access-date=16 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191201040241/https://books.google.de/books?id=cfeX8QS7DeMC&pg=PA187 |archive-date=1 December 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schmitt |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Schmitt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sx0uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |title=Political Romanticism |date=2017 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-351-49869-2 |page=11 |access-date=16 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191223111735/https://books.google.de/books?id=Sx0uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 |archive-date=23 December 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>"Each spring, millions of workmen from all parts of western Russia arrived in eastern Germany, which, in political language, is called East Elbia." from ''The Stronghold of Junkerdom'', by [[George Sylvester Viereck]]. Viereck's, Volume 8. Fatherland Corporation, 1918.</ref>