Liberal Democratic Party of Germany - A Blockpartei

A Blockpartei

After 1949 it shared the fate similar to other legal East German parties. As a block party (Blockpartei) it jettisoned its original ideology, acting as a "helpmeet" to the Communist SED. Along with the LDPD there was another block party the NDPD, which appealed to almost the same social groups.

Manfred Gerlach was the Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party from 1967 to his resignation in 1990. The central newspaper of LDPD used to be daily Der Morgen.

Originally its used the name Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal-Demokratische Partei (LDP)), but in October, 1951 it was ordered to add the "D" for "Germany" (Deutschland) into its name in order to serve the all-German propaganda of that time of the SED.

Gerlach had initially been a loyal partner of the SED, but began moving toward a more independent line in the 1980s. At an extraordinary party congress held 9–10 February 1990 in Dresden it returned to genuine liberal policies and restored its name to the Liberal Democratic Party, (Liberal-Demokratische Partei (LDP)). On 12 February 1990 it joined the Association of Free Democrats which finally merged into the Free Democratic Party in 11 August 1990.