SBZ

Sowjetische Besatzungszone, or Soviet Zone of Occupation): Popularly designated as the “East Zone” or simply the “Zone”; the districts in central Germany that are occupied in 1945 by the Red Army on the basis of allied understandings; extends from the Oder-Neisse line to West Germany. Land reform is carried out (extensive expropriation and redistribution of agrarian land, particularly to refugees from the former eastern districts of the German Reich); industry is nationalized according to the Soviet model; 1946-52, establishment of Länder (provinces) (Thüringen, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg); the Soviet power holders implement the political monopoly by the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany). In 1949 the SBZ is transformed into the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik — German Democratic Republic) until 1990.