[2][3] Koch was elected chair of the founding committee, with Wilhelm Külz as his deputy; the writer Franz Xaver Kappus joined the board as well.

[citation needed] After internal fighting and under pressure from Soviet authorities, Koch was replaced with the more pliable Wilhelm Külz in November 1945.

Such undertakings failed quickly, owing to Külz's participation in the SED-sponsored German People's Congress for Unity and Just Peace.

Arthur Lieutenant, the spokesman of LDP on the matter, declared that under those circumstances and concerning reproaches laid against East German liberals, any co-operation had been made impossible.

At an extraordinary party congress held 9–10 February 1990 in Dresden it returned to genuine liberal policies and dropped "of Germany" from its name.

[5] The Liberal Democratic Party of GDR also had some contacts with the West German FDP; in the 1960s and 1970s, there was limited communication, but relations improved in the 1980s.