25.1 The Division of Germany, 1945- 1949

At the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945 the Allies agreed that Germany was to be demilitarized, de-Nazified, and divided into four temporary zones of Allied occupation pending reunification of the country as a democracy before the making of a final peace treaty. While under occupation Germany would pay reparations according to a plan devised by the four-power Allied Control Council. In each zone the occupying power would work to achieve German economic and political reconstruction. In theory, the Allied Control Council would oversee and coordinate Allied reconstruction efforts with German political and economic unification as the goal.[1]

The massive problems of German reconstruction and the increasingly divergent interests of the Western Allies and the Soviets made Allied cooperation extremely difficult and, at times, impossible. The result would be a Germany recreated in two parts: one reflecting Western interests; the other, Soviet interests. Disagreement over Germany would be a major factor in the developing Cold War relationship between the US and USSR.

In the western zones, the Americans, British, and French sought to restore a democratic-based system of local and regional self-government through a multiparty political process. The leftist and moderate parties that had been outlawed by Hitler were revitalized and democratic elections were held to set up local and regional governing councils and assemblies. In the eastern zone the Soviets likewise initially permitted restoration of democratic parties but saw to it that elections gave the Communist-led Socialist Unity Party control of local and regional governing bodies. By the end of 1946 the political reconstruction of Germany was beginning to reflect the new German identity: democratic in the west; Communist in the east.

It was in the area of economic reconstruction that differences between Western and Soviet interests would have the greatest impact on Germany and the future. The Western Allies quickly realized that revitalized German industrial productivity was essential not only for German recovery but also for overall European recovery. The economies of Britain and France had suffered greatly during the war and the revitalization of a healthy economic climate in Europe was essential to their recovery. The US would also need an economically vital Europe as a trading partner once it made its transition to a peacetime economy. German economic recovery was the key to future prosperity. In the western zones the Americans, British, and French worked to revitalize a capitalist market economy. To facilitate overall recovery, sweeping amnesties were granted to businessmen, bankers, industrialists, and other professionals who had been members of the Nazi Party. Their expertise and experience were needed immediately. In December 1946 the US and Britain agreed to the integration of their two zones as a common economic unit, unofficially called “Bizonia.” The French and Soviets were likewise invited to join the economic union. France remained outside “Bizonia” but cooperated with the British and Americans in overall German economic policy. The Soviets rejected and condemned the union.

Soviet economic policy in Germany was rooted both in Soviet national interest and Communist ideology. The future Germany must be socialist not capitalist. It must be dependent upon the USSR and not a threat to Soviet security. To this end the Soviets sought to create socialism in their zone. All means of production, distribution, land, and capital would be controlled and operated through Soviet-supervised workers’ councils and regional governing bodies.

The issue of German reparations also divided the Allies. At Yalta the Soviets had demanded that Germany pay some $20 billion in reparations of which $10 billion were to go to the USSR. As the reparations agreement required the Western Allies to transfer German industrial equipment to the USSR, economic recovery in the western zones would be hampered. The agreement also required the Soviets to send foodstuffs to the western zones, an obligation that proved impossible considering the extent of the refugee problem in the east and the needs of Soviet recovery. Thus the reparations agreement broke down. In May 1946 General Lucius Clay, commander of the US forces in Germany, informed the Soviets that there would be no further shipments of industrial equipment to the east.

At Potsdam it was agreed that Germany would be a primary topic for periodic meetings of the Allied foreign ministers. At these meetings the American, British, French, and Soviet foreign ministers would devise cooperative policies and programs and review progress towards German reconstruction and reunification. The first foreign ministers conference meeting took place in London in September 1945. Later conferences were held in Paris (1946) and Moscow (1947), but with the developing divergences in Western and Soviet interests (as considered above), positions hardened and cooperation proved difficult.

There was, however, one area in which all four Allies were in agreement – punishment of the surviving Nazi leadership and the de-Nazification of Germany. In October 1945, an international tribunal meeting in the German city of Nuremberg began the trials. In late September 1946, following some eleven months of investigation and testimony, the tribunal handed down its verdicts for the 24 former Nazi leaders accused of crimes against humanity. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death by hanging; three to life imprisonment, four to lesser prison terms, and three were acquitted. Hitler’s close associate, the condemned former Luftwaffe Field Marshall Hermann Göring, committed suicide the day before the October 15 executions. The most famous of those imprisoned for life was Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s secretary and one of his closest confidants. Hess was the last and sole prisoner in Berlin’s Spandau Prison for many years until his death in 1987. (Following Hess’ death the prison was demolished and a shopping mall was built on the site.)

De-Nazification proved more difficult. The overall philosophy underlying de-Nazification was to remove all former Nazis from any role in Germany’s public life. In the western zones, the process of de-Nazification was slow and bureaucratic. Thousands of persons had to be individually investigated and prosecuted – a cumbersome, time-consuming process. Amnesties were necessary in order to provide for civil administration at the local level. Teachers, doctors, lawyers, plant managers, bureaucrats - all had been Nazis. These people were necessary for German recovery. By 1948 many former Nazis had been reintegrated into German society and public life.

In the Soviet zone de-Nazification was coupled with a complete change in the German social structure. In the Soviet mind, de-Nazification was possible only through the total elimination of the social-economic system that had produced the Nazi regime, i.e., bourgeois capitalism. This transformation would be complete only when socialism was in place. Nonetheless, as in the west, the need for recovery became paramount. Many former Nazis were “rehabilitated” and restored to service as their professions and abilities necessitated.

As the Cold War continued to intensify, Germany remained at its center. In late March 1948 the Soviets broke off their participation in the Allied Control Council in Berlin, a move that signaled a disturbing hardening of position in regard to Germany. Western concerns were also heightened by observations by General Clay that, judging from his recent discussions with the Soviets, war might come “with dramatic suddenness.” As this was coincident with the Czech coup and formation of the Brussels Pact, the possibility of war did seem likely.

The Berlin Blockade and Airlift

In June Stalin ordered Soviet forces in occupied eastern Germany to deny the Western Allies access to their sectors in West Berlin. To that end all rail and road access to the city were cut off. Stalin was responding to Western efforts to establish a German government in the western zones, which included the recent introduction of a new currency for western Germany and West Berlin. Inside Berlin the blockade was such that West Berliners could not travel into East Berlin. US President Harry Truman responded by indicating that there would be no repeat of the 1938 appeasement that gave Hitler incentive to press his aggression in Europe. The US and its Western Allies would remain committed to their position in Berlin. The Soviet blockade would not force them out. “We stay in Berlin, period,” Truman said. The dilemma was: how to provide food and fuel for the some two million people who lived in West Berlin.

The answer was an airlift. The Soviets may control the ground but not the skies. For the next eleven months, the US, Britain, and France would fly into West Berlin some 2.4 million tons of food, fuel, medical supplies, and other cargo essential to the city’s survival. New airstrips were constructed to handle the some 277,000 flights required for “Operation Vittles,” as the airlift came to be called. The Soviets were warned not to attack or even approach the Allied planes flying over eastern Germany. To back up the threat, Truman ordered two B-29 bomber groups to bases in Britain. The message was clear: B-29s were the planes that carried atomic bombs. (Actually, these planes had no nuclear weapons aboard, but that was never made public.) The airlift proved an outstanding success. On May 12, 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade on Berlin.

Eleven days after the blockade ended, the US, Britain, and France established a West German government in Bonn. In October the Soviets established an East German government in East Berlin. Thus it was that two Germanys came into existence.

And Austria?

Often overlooked in histories of postwar Europe is that the division of Germany included other parts of Hitler’s Third Reich, the most significant of which was Austria. Austria was annexed to Germany in 1938 and remained an enthusiastic and integral part of the Nazi program.

Following the war, the Allied powers agreed that Austria was to be restored as an independent state, but that its transition from being part of Nazi Germany to sovereignty would be under Allied supervision. Thus Austria and Vienna, like Germany and Berlin, were divided into four zones of Allied occupation and placed under an Allied Control Council. An Austrian provisional government was permitted to conduct domestic affairs through democratic and parliamentary processes. In January 1946 the Allies officially recognized the Austrian Republic, but their occupation and control continued pending a final peace treaty with Austria. As with Germany, problems developed between the Western Allies and the Soviets over Austrian reparations and economic reconstruction and integration. With the Allies unable to cooperate on the economic future of Austria, a final peace settlement was delayed until 1955 when the occupation was ended and Austria assumed full sovereignty.

Sources for the Division of Germany

Ambrose, Stephen. Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938. New York: Penguin, 1991.

Gaddis, John Lewis, The Cold War. New York: Penguin, 2005.

Ganley, Albert C. et al. After Hiroshima. New York: Longman, 1985.

Kennan, George F. Russia and the West under Lenin and Stalin. Boston: Little Brown, 1961.

Kissinger, Henry. Diplomacy. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.

Langer, William L. et al. Western Civilization. New York: American Heritage, 1968.

Langer, William L., ed. An Encyclopedia of World History. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1968.

Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe. New York: Norton, 1996.

Palmer, Robert R. et al. A History of the Modern World. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2002.

Paterson, Thomas et al. American Foreign Policy: A History since 1900. Boston: D. C. Heath, 1991.

[1] Other parts of prewar Germany – namely, East Prussia and Silesia – became part of Poland when the Allies determined that the German-Polish border would be the Oder and Neisse rivers. This meant that a large German population was placed under Polish sovereignty, a condition distressing for both Germany and Poland. Thousands of Germans fled westward into the Soviet-controlled East German zone. Once the occupied zones became sovereign states (West and East Germany), Poland requested German reassurance that the former German lands would remain Polish. Only West Germany made such an assurance and that was in 1971. The issue of the German-Polish border came up again in 1989 - 1990 as the two Germanys moved to reunification. Poland was again assured that the new Germany would not expect restoration of East Prussia and Silesia.