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The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or DDR; known in English as East Germany) was a socialist country which existed from 1949 to 1990. The German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany on October 7, 1949, following the creation in May 1949 of the Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") in the zones occupied by France, the United States and United Kingdom. East Berlin was the capital of the German Democratic Republic.