Federal Congress of the Free German Trade Union Federation

Source: vulture-bookz.de The socialist vision of paradise - FDGB propaganda poster (1952)

Gradually the Allies allow labour unions to be organised again in occupied Germany. In the Soviet occupied sector of Berlin the „Free German Trade Union Federation“ meets on 9 February 1946 for a constituent session. It sees itself as a unified trade union in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ) and gives itself a centralised leadership structure. By the end of the year the FDGB will have ca. four million members – compared with the three million trade union members in the western occupation zones.