Abstract
The main characteristic of the place and part held by Protes tant churches in the German Democratic Republic lies in the change from a popular and state church status to that of a mino rity church and even of «diaspora». Having mentioned the diffe rent transition and adaptation phases theses churches went throught after the second world war - denazification, anticlerical struggles challenges from Marxist ideology, the founding of the Federation of Protestant Churches in the G.D.R. - the author goes on to explain what understanding this Church has of itself today, the areas that still remain controversial, and finally, the tasks that it has set itself in a socialist society.