 The East German LDPD was one of five constituent Bloc parties controlled by the country's ruling SED (party) through a political structure called the National Front.Between 1986 and 1988 Schmieder was district deputy party chairman for Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz) north.Karl-Marx-Stadt was the birthplace of the New Forum movement, and Schmieder was one of a group of New Forum activists who in December 1989 / January 1990 co-founded the German Forum Party (DFP / " Deutsche Forumpartei").