Once World War I ended, the German Democratic Republic's goal was to create a high demand for labor due to the destruction caused by the war. The company had to be rebuilt as it was buried under extremely high debt to the Soviet Union. East German culture was strongly influenced by communism and especially Stalinism. Not only did it intensify economic and political competition against their West German counterparts, but it led to the repressive nature of the German Democratic Republic to the point that citizens of the German Democratic Republic made many attempts to escape what was essentially a dictatorship. However, surprisingly, fertility rate numbers in the German Democratic Republic were higher than those in West Germany before unification. Politically East Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union and West Germany was aided by the democratic West and the United States, which meant that the two countries must have developed separate governments influenced by different ideologies. East Germany's communist leaders wanted to build a system that emphasized a sense of responsibility and obligation to the collective society and also a strong moral obedience to socialist goals. Therefore, policies created to reinforce socialist beliefs also had an impact on birth rates, regardless of marital status. As a result, the relationship between social, economic and political policies and women's lives has played a key role in increasing or decreasing fertility. Unlike West Germany, the Communists desperately needed women in the workforce, which is why there was an unusually strong emphasis on the importance of women's employment. There was a lot at stake, for example, compensation for the S...... middle of paper ......d Fertility in Eastern Germany”, Journal of Marriage and Family (1997): 44.Monika Maron , “Letzter Zugriff auf die Frau” [“The final accusation against women”], in Monika Maron, “Nach Maßgabe meiner Befreiungskraft: Artikel und Essays”. © S. Fischer VerlagGmbH, Frankfurt am Main, 1993, pp. 91-93. Translated by Allison Brown.Neues Deutschland, n. 227, 28 September 1950, pp. 1-3; reprinted in Dierk Hoffmann and Michael Schwartz, eds., Geschichte der Sozialpolitik in Deutschland seit 1945. Bd. 8:1949-1961: Deutsche Demokratische Republik. Im Zeichen des Aufbaus des Sozialismus[History of social policy in Germany since 1945, vol. 8: 1949-1961: German Democratic Republic. Under the sign of the construction of socialism]. Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2004, n.8/42. Translated by Thomas Dunlap.