Introduced and edited by Peter Rütters with contributions from Marion Goers, Volume 15 of the series "Sources on the History of the German Trade Union Movement in the 20th Century" focuses on the establishment of the FDGB at the zonal level, central trade union activities in the post-war years, and the transformation of the regulatory function of the unified trade union in the Soviet Occupation Zone. Initially, the establishment of the FDGB in the Soviet Occupation Zone (1945-1949) resembled the process and goals of the unified trade unions in the western zones. However, differences soon became apparent. The volume documents the implementation of the communist trade union concept within the FDGB and its development into a centralist unified trade union acting as a conduit for party and state interests. It also explains why this process took five years.