Im Auftrag

During and after the end of the GDR, the Academy of Sciences and public universities were the focus of attention, somewhat less so industrial research. However, the GDR's science system was not only made up of these segments. Additionally, there were specialized universities maintained by ministries, parties, mass organizations, and security agencies, as well as numerous institutes that conducted research directly on behalf of the ministries or the SED Central Committee. In 1989, there were a total of 116 institutions with 11,300 educators and researchers. This book documents and describes these mostly hidden institutions for the first time in full.