A new constitution for the DDR omits any mention of reunification
Although none of the various constitutions issued in East Germany ever truly described constitutional reality, they did say a lot about what East Germany thought about its Western competitor. Whereas the first DDR constitution, promulgated in 1949, aimed at achieving German reunification in the long term and therefore imitated Western liberal norms, the second constitution from 1968 sought to establish a unified Germany as a socialist state.
The third DDR constitution, issued on 27 September 1974, was primarily aimed at maintaining the status quo. It required the government to maintain a “close and fraternal relationship” with the Soviet Union. The issues of German unity or the German nation were no longer mentioned; the constitution referred exclusively to the “people of the DDR”. Fifteen years later, the presence on the streets of these citizens brought about the reunification with the West that the constitution had ceased to prescribe.
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