Defeat, Occupation and Division
HI290- History of Germany Defeat, Occupationand Division The Allies and the Future of Germany
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference, February 1945 US Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morenthau Jr. ( ), whose name was given to the plan to reduce Germany to a deindustrialised and divided nation. Allied troops enter Berlin, 1945
Aerial view of Dresden after allied bombing Allied troops enter Berlin, 1945 Source: R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich
Child refugees deported from Poland to West Germany, 1948. Source: R. Overy, The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich Occupied Berlin The Nuremberg trials Denazification Four-power agreement on the need to removeNazis from the civil service, judiciary, educationetc. Differences in approach: Russians saw Nazism as an outgrowth of Germancapitalism radical structural reforms. Americans wanted to remove Nazism but maintainthe existing social & economic structure a morebureaucratic approach. British & French saw Nazism as inherent in theGerman national character an emphasis on re- education. Denazification ultimately devolved to Germantribunals. Democratization and Decentralisation
1947: Break up of the old state of Prussia. Creation of new administrative areas (Lnder)within the zones of occupation. Differences in approach: A more centralized approach in the British zone unelected German officials made up CentralEconomic Office & Zonal Advisory Council.Municipal elections in autumn 1946, elections tostate assemblies in May 1947. The Americans keen to introduce democracy assoon as possible: elections held in Jan Bythe beginning of 1947 power had been devolvedto the Lnder in the US zone. The Russians established a central authority, theSoviet Military Administration of Germany(SMAD), in July 1945 at the same time asgovernments in the Lnder in their zone. Dismantling the Krupps armaments factory at Essen
The Economy Dismantling the Krupps armaments factory at Essen "An Open Road for the Marshall Plan" (c. 1948), poster advertising the advantages of US economic aid. Trmmerfrauen (rubble women) New Political Parties and Deepening Divisions
CDU/CSU social conservative Christianparty FDP liberals SPD in West Germany 21 April 1946: Merger of the SPD and KPDin the Soviet Zone to form theSozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands(Socialist Unity Party, SED) 1947: British and American Zonesmerged. 1947: Marshall Plan = $13 billion aid tohelp rebuild European economies. Unity (1946): poster commemorating the merger of the SPD and KPD. The Berlin Blockade 20 June 1948: A new currency, theDeutschmark, introduced in Bizonia, theFrench Zone and West Berlin. The Russians fear that this will destabilizethe economy in their zone & move to cutoff road & rail access to West Berlin inthe hope of pressuring the west toabandon their plans for a separate state. June 1948-May 1949: The allies airliftfuel & food into West Berlin. A symbolic struggle that back-fired onthe Russians & only accelerated theintegration of West Germany into theWestern European system. The Formation of the FRG
July 1948: 65 member Parliamentary Councilestablished to draw up a constitution for theWestern zones. 10 Feb. 1949: The proposed constitutionpresented to the Military Governors for theirapproval. 8 May 1949: The Parliamentary Council adoptsthe Basic Law by a vote of 53 to 12. Elections in August return a majority for acentre-right coalition of the ChristianDemocrats (CDU) and the Free Democrats(FDP). Konrad Adenauer elected first Chancellor ofthe Federal Republic of Germany on 15September 1949. The Formation of the GDR
Despite the long build up, the establishmentof the FRG took both the Russians and theEast Germans by surprise. Stalin still hoped that a single neutralGerman state could be formed and wasreluctant to agree to proposals from the SEDleadership for a separate state in the East. But establishment of the Federal Republicended such hopes and on 7 October the establishment of the German DemocraticRepublic was announced. A draft constitution had already been drawnup in the spring on paper this was verysimilar to that of FRG. In practice the GDRwas a single-party state dominated by theSED backed up with Russian tanks. 12 October: A new government led by OttoGrotewohl formed. The Berlin Wall The wall the symbolised the division of Germany (and Europe) under construction, 1961 Conrad Schumann jumping over the barbed wire to defect to the West during the construction of the Berlin Wall, 15 August 1961 Conclusion Germanys total defeat in WW2 placed her in the hands of the Allies. Most Germans were more interested in the day-to-day struggle to survive than politics. The division of Germany therefore has to be seen in the context of emerging Cold War tensionsbetween the Superpowers. Historiography: Orthodox school = the Soviet Union primarily to blame for the Cold War & division of Germany. Revisionist school = the Western powers (and the USA in particular) primarily to blame for the Cold War& division of Germany. Post-revisionist school = both sides share equal blame the division of Germany a consequence ofmutual suspicion and irreconcilable ideological differences.