Karl Mewis was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism, diplomat, politician and high-ranking party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

The State Planning Commission (SPC) (German: Staatliche Plankommission) was a central state authority of the GDR Council of Ministers for planning, coordinating and proportional development of all sectors of the economy, public education and other areas of public life in the districts and for solving the most important economic tasks. In the central administrative economy of the GDR, it was responsible for the coordination, elaboration and control of the medium-term perspective plans (five-year plan) and the annual economic plans derived from them.