Chronicle of the division of Germany

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The chronicle of the division of Germany encompasses events from the end of World War II to German reunification in 1990. Due to the defeat in the war, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation , which were controlled and directed by the victorious powers .

1944

As part of the Morgenthau Plan , a minority among the Allies discussed various options for dividing Germany.

On the basis of the plan, the following border-drawing variants were controversially discussed by individuals in a few departments of the British and US Foreign Ministries:

However, the opponents of the plan on the American and British sides were in the majority and rejected the radical demands made in it, so that the Morgenthau Plan never matured into the basis of the policy towards Germany.

1945

In 1945, at the Yalta Conference from February 4 to February 11, it was decided to divide Europe and Germany into zones of occupation. In addition, the German capital Berlin was designated as the seat of the future Allied Control Council and, for this purpose, was to be divided into four sectors (four-sector city ). After the Soviet troops carried out their last major attack on April 16, 1945, they first encountered American troops on April 25, 1945 on the Elbe near Torgau.
Given the apparent defeat celebrated Adolf Hitler on April 30 in Berlin suicide . His successor as President Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz was formally in office until the arrest of the executive government on May 23, 1945 in Flensburg - Mürwik . On May 1, 1945, the later so-called “ Ulbricht Group ” arrived in Germany by plane from Moscow and the very next day they met with Communists in Berlin for the first time. Over the next few days, they installed communist mayors and district administrations on behalf of the Soviet headquarters. Four days later, on May 5th, the German Wehrmacht capitulated to the Western powers. In the course of this, the Allies took over the supreme power of government in Germany. From May 7th to May 9th the unconditional total surrender of all German armed forces took place . The Second World War in Europe ended with the signing of the German surrender.

  • American zone of occupation (in the area up to Dec. 1945 and from April 1947)

  • British zone of occupation (in the area up to Dec. 1945 and from April 1947)

  • French zone of occupation (in the area up to Dec. 1945)

  • Soviet occupation zone (SBZ)

for details see: Occupation Zone

As early as June 10, 1945, the Soviet Union allowed parties and trade unions in its zone. The KPD was re-founded on June 11, the SPD on June 15, the CDU (East) on June 26 and the LPD (LDPD) on July 5, 1945. On July 9, the Soviet Occupation Zone ( SBZ ) was formed and the states were reorganized . From July 17 to August 2, 1945, was the Potsdam Conference in Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam place. Among other things, the details of the division of Germany into four occupation zones and the occupation law in these zones were agreed there. The conference ended with the Potsdam Agreement of August 2, 1945. On the basis of the Potsdam Protocol, the Western Allies established a multi-party system in their zones and allowed many democratic parties. On July 26th, the 3rd EAC Zone Protocol established the quarter division of Germany, including Berlin, through the creation of a French zone of occupation. On August 30, the Allied Control Council and the Allied Command was formed in the four-sector city of Berlin, and the federal states were formed by the western military governments.

From September 3 to 11, 1945, the provincial and state administrations of the Soviet zone of occupation issued similar ordinances to carry out land reform in the Soviet Zone. Farms were expropriated from large landowners and businesses from people classified as war criminals and "Nazi activists".

The Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals began on November 20th .

1946

On April 21 and 22, 1946, the unification party conference of the KPD and the SPD took place in East Berlin . On this, the forced unification of the SPD and KPD to form the SED in the Soviet occupation zone was decided. Wilhelm Pieck (KPD) and Otto Grotewohl (SPD) were elected chairmen . Erich Honecker became chairman of the Free German Youth .

US Secretary of State Byrnes announced on September 6th in Stuttgart the long-term presence of Western Allied soldiers in Germany. On December 2, the undersigned United States and the United Kingdom contracts for the merger of the British and American zones to bizonal to one economic territory to obtain. Elections to the state parliaments were also held in the western zones . In the Soviet occupation zone, war criminals and heavy and key industries were expropriated and made public .

1947

On March 12, 1947 was Harry S. Truman , the US Congress before the Truman Doctrine of the United States before. They contained a draft to curb totalitarianism . The Marshall Plan , a specification of the Truman Doctrine for the financial support of European countries, was presented on June 5, 1947. Support with regard to the Marshall Plan was also offered to the Soviet occupation zone, but the latter turned down the offer. On June 30, 1947, the "Society for the Study of the Culture of the Soviet Union" was founded, from which in 1949 the " Society for German-Soviet Friendship " was founded. Two months later, on September 30, 1947, the Communist Information Office was founded . The Foreign Ministers' Conference met from November 25 to December 15, 1947. It was canceled due to the criticism of the USSR on the bizone. In addition, the Saarland was separated in 1947.

1948

The London Six Power Conference met from February to June . The three western occupying powers ( USA , France and United Kingdom ) as well as the Benelux countries discussed the self-government and the first organization of Germany (e.g. state elections). They decided on the content of the Frankfurt documents . The Parliamentary Council should work out a constitution that would make a future Germany a federal and democratic state. In response, the USSR withdrew from the Allied Control Council .

On June 20, the currency reform in the western zones was decided. It was introduced a little later in West Berlin. The Soviet occupation zone followed on June 23. As a reaction to the introduction of the D-Mark in the western zones , Berlin's western sectors were cordoned off from the Soviet Union on the night of June 24th. This was the beginning of the nearly year-long blockade . With the Berlin Airlift , the Western Allies supplied the trapped population in West Berlin. On June 26th the Berlin city administration was separated due to "communist disturbances".
The establishment of barracked police units (DVP, German People's Police ) by the Soviet Military Administration ( SMAD) on July 3 was viewed by the Western powers as a preliminary stage of an East German army.

1949

On April 8th, the Bizone became the Trizone . The blockade of West Berlin that began on June 24, 1948 was ended on May 12. With the proclamation of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany on May 23, the Federal Republic of Germany was constituted in West German territory; It was able to act with the constitution of the first German Bundestag on September 7th and the assumption of office of the federal government on September 20th, 1949.

In April some German areas near the border were spun off to the Netherlands ( Selfkant , Elten ) and Belgium ( Losheim , Hemmeres ) and came back to the Federal Republic of Germany by 1963.

The Third German People's Congress took place between May 29 and June 3 . More than 2,000 members elected the second German People's Council as a permanent body. Only 25% of its 330 members were from the Western Zones. The People's Congress unanimously adopted the constitution it had drawn up for a German Democratic Republic .

The elections for the first German Bundestag took place on August 14th . Of the 402 seats, the Union won 139, the SPD 131, the FDP 52 and the KPD 15. 8 MPs from West Berlin had no voting rights in the Bundestag.

On September 7th, the first German Bundestag met, which elected Konrad Adenauer as Federal Chancellor . As the federal capital of the Federal Republic, Bonn was temporarily determined. Less than a week later, Konrad Adenauer was sworn in as Federal Chancellor on September 15th .

One month later, on October 7, 1949, the Second German People's Council met on the territory of the Soviet occupation zone, constituted itself as the Provisional People's Chamber and declared the "Constitution of the German Democratic Republic" to be applicable law as an act of founding the state. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was now also founded. Wilhelm Pieck was appointed president . Berlin was determined as the capital by the East Berlin magistrate. On October 10, the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) transferred the administrative functions to the Provisional Government - the later Council of Ministers . The Soviet Control Commission (SKK) replaced the SMAD. Towards the end of the year, parties and mass organizations in the GDR began to merge to form the National Front's unified list .

1950

In 1950 the GDR became a member of the RGW ( Council for Mutual Economic Aid, COMECON), the economic community of the socialist countries.
On August 9, Winston Churchill pleaded for the establishment of a Western European army at a meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg . Konrad Adenauer then formulated a memorandum on August 17 , which was sent to the Western Allies without the knowledge of the Bundestag . Adenauer called for the reinforcement of Allied occupation troops and the integration of German armed forces into a Western defense alliance. The American President Harry S. Truman ordered the establishment of a West German army under the command of NATO on September 9th . Gustav Heinemann resigned as Interior Minister on October 9th in protest against the secret negotiations for rearming Germany . On October 20, at the Prague conference, the Eastern bloc states protested against West German rearmament . The French Foreign Minister René Pleven presented to the National Assembly on October 24th a plan for the establishment of a Western European army under common command. The Pleven Plan included German troop contingents. Was appointing On October 26, Theodor Blank "of the Federal Chancellor for the related to the Strengthening of Allied Troops Questions officer" that the office Blank founded. A few years later this became the Bundeswehr .

1951

The first GDR five-year plan was approved on January 1st . The GDR is now included in the planned economy of the USSR. On September 15, the People's Chamber of the GDR appealed to the German Bundestag to take up joint deliberations on reunification and free all-German elections after Adenauer had answered negatively an identical letter from Grotewohl.

At a conference in Washington, DC on September 24th, the foreign ministers of the three Western Allies decided to repeal the occupation statute and allow the Federal Republic to participate in the European Defense Community (EDC).

1952

In the Stalin Note on March 10, the Soviet Union proposed talks on a peace treaty that would provide for a neutral, united Germany. The Germany Treaty is signed on May 26th . With the ratification of the European Defense Community, this would have meant the end of the occupation statute for West Germany. The EVG contract was signed in Paris the next day . On the same day, by order of the SED leadership, the telephone lines between West Berlin and the GDR were cut.
At the end of the Second Party Conference of the SED on July 12, “building socialism” was declared a fundamental task in the GDR.

1953

After the East Berlin BVG, contrary to western regulations, uses female trams on lines to West Berlin, tram traffic in the four-sector city is divided on January 15th. On June 17, 1953, there was a popular uprising in the GDR .

1954

The Soviet Union granted the GDR sovereignty from March 25th .

On August 30, the French National Assembly rejected the EDC contract. Because of the binding to this treaty, the Germany treaty became null and void. As a result of the ratification of the Paris treaties , the Federal Republic of Germany becomes a member of NATO on October 23 ( NATO treaty , second German treaty ). The Bundestag approved the treaties in February 1955.

1955

On May 5th, the modified Germany Treaty came into force - the end of the occupation statute for West Germany was confirmed, but some Allied rights of reservation still exist. The Federal Republic of Germany joined NATO four days later.

The GDR and other Eastern European states decided on May 14 to found the Warsaw Pact .

On June 7th, the Bundeswehr was founded by transforming the Blank Office into the “Federal Ministry of Defense” (BMVg). Theodor Blank became the first defense minister.

At Khrushchev's invitation, Konrad Adenauer visited Moscow on September 14th. The Soviet Union rejected Adenauer's claim to sole representation for Germany. After lengthy negotiations, the Federal Republic established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union.

On November 29th the SU declared that the Soviet sector of Berlin ( East Berlin ) was part of the GDR and was no longer subject to the control of the Allies. The western powers rejected this with reference to the city's four-power status.

With the Hallstein Doctrine , the Federal Republic declared in December that diplomatic relations with any state that recognized the GDR would be broken off.

According to the Bonn Ministry for All German Issues , more than 250,000 refugees from the GDR and East Berlin were counted in 1955.

1956

On January 2, the first 1,000 soldiers were drafted into the armed forces of the army, air force and navy. The People's Chamber of the GDR reacted on January 18 with the decision to set up a National People's Army ( NVA ). In West Germany, the Gehlen organization became the Federal Intelligence Service as a West German foreign secret service on April 1st. First president was former Major General Reinhard Gehlen , who in the era of National Socialism , the FHO had passed.
On July 21, general conscription was introduced in the Federal Republic. The one millionth refugee arrived at the West Berlin emergency reception center in Marienfelde on September 20. A total of 1.72 million people are said to have left the GDR by this date since the GDR was founded. After the suppression of the popular uprising in Hungary , Professor Wolfgang Harich , the head of the Aufbau publishing house Walter Janka and the culture editor Gustav Just were arrested in East Berlin on December 6th for “forming a conspiratorial group” and sentenced to imprisonment.

1957

On January 1st, Saarland becomes a federal state of the Federal Republic of Germany. By signing the Treaty of Rome on March 25, which are European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC), founded after 1951 already the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), called the Coal and Steel Community , was launched. In all three communities, 12 years after the end of the war, the Federal Republic is one of the six partner countries alongside France, Italy and the Benelux countries.

1958

In the Second Berlin Crisis, on November 27, the Soviet Union called for the Berlin ultimatum (Khrushchev ultimatum) to transform West Berlin into a “Free City”.

1959

Following the introduction of the hammer and compass emblem on the GDR state flag on October 7, the Federal Ministry of the Interior issued guidelines on November 4 against “showing the Soviet zone flag ” , according to which showing the GDR flag was a “disruption of the constitutional order and thus of public order ” .

1961

Construction of the wall in August 1961

In March, on the advice of the Foreign Office, the Federal Republic of Germany did not play against the GDR team at the Ice Hockey World Championship in Geneva , because otherwise they would have had to pay their respects if the GDR's anthem and flag were defeated. The thus failed game was rated 5-0 in favor of the GDR and the team from the Federal Republic ended up in the last place in their group.

On July 25, the US President John F. Kennedy proclaimed the three basic freedoms for Berlin: the presence of Western troops in Berlin, free access to and from Berlin, freedom and the viability of the city.

On August 12, 3290 people crossed the sector border into West Berlin. In order to stop the loss of inhabitants, the GDR finally sealed off the borders with West Berlin and the Federal Republic completely. The construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13th. The operation of the Berlin S-Bahn and U-Bahn between the two halves of the city and from the western sectors to the surrounding area was discontinued. Berlin remained divided until November 9, 1989.

After the inner-German border had been cemented, the West German NOK Presidium and the DSB Executive Board adopted the so-called Düsseldorf resolutions on August 16, 1961 , according to which sports events with GDR sports groups were no longer permitted in the Federal Republic. West German athletes were also prohibited from taking part in competitions in the GDR.

1962

The Western powers protest at the USSR against the killings at the Wall on August 24th.

1963

At the 6th party congress, the SED reaffirmed its claim to "lead the entire social life of the republic". From June 23 to 26, the American President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin. In his speech to the population in front of the Schöneberg Town Hall on June 26, 1963, he utters the famous words "I am a Berliner". In the same year Ludwig Erhard succeeded Adenauer as Federal Chancellor. He declared that the Federal Republic was ready to make great material sacrifices for reunification. On December 17th, the pass agreement between the GDR and West Berlin took place. The West Berliners were now able to visit relatives in the GDR for a limited period.

After some Belgian administered areas had already come under German administration five years earlier, the Netherlands also returned Selfkant and Elten to the Federal Republic of Germany on August 1, 1963.

1964

The GDR Youth Act is passed. Accordingly, it is “the task of every young citizen to work, learn and live in a socialist way”. On March 13, the chemistry professor at the Humboldt University in East Berlin, Robert Havemann, was dismissed from office because of statements critical of the regime. The communist and resistance fighter against the National Socialists had criticized the dogmatic hardening of ideology and politics in the GDR. After the entry into force of a pass regulation, the first retirees from the GDR visited their relatives in West Berlin and the Federal Republic on November 2nd.

At the Olympic Games in Innsbruck and Tokyo , the athletes from both German states competed in an all-German team for the last time .

1965

In non-socialist countries, the GDR receives foreign policy recognition. In the same year Walter Ulbricht visited Egypt's President Nasser.

The National Olympic Committee of the GDR is fully recognized by the IOC at the session in Madrid. The GDR is thus granted the right to have its own Olympic team.

1966

Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) emerged as Federal Chancellor from a government crisis in autumn 1966 . For the first time, a grand coalition of CDU and SPD is governing the Federal Republic of Germany .

1967

On February 20, the People's Chamber passed the law on citizenship of the GDR , which was supposed to replace the previous German citizenship . East Berlin was included in this arrangement.

1968

The Prague Spring is put down by the Warsaw Pact. East German NVA associations were not involved. Passport and visa requirements are introduced for travel and transit traffic between the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin. At the congress of the "Society for Sport and Technology" (GST), military training for all young people in the GDR is decided, which contributes significantly to the militarization of their everyday lives.

At the Olympic Games in Grenoble and Mexico City , two German Olympic teams competed for the first time, but still under a common black, red and gold flag with white Olympic rings. In the same year, the GDR's NOK was granted the right to fly its own flag.

1969

Willy Brandt emerged victorious from the election of the 6th German Bundestag on September 28, 1969 . Together with the new Foreign Minister Walter Scheel (FDP), he initiated the new Ostpolitik with the aim of “change through rapprochement” and thus turned away from the Hallstein Doctrine, which had been in force since 1955 .

1970

On the border with the Federal Republic of Germany, the GDR began installing self-firing systems , type SM-70 . From March 19th to May 21st, Brandt and Willi Stoph met in Erfurt and Kassel. This was the beginning of a cautious rapprochement between the Federal Republic and the GDR. On August 12, Willy Brandt visited Moscow. For the first time after the end of the war, both sides agree to renounce violence and renounce territorial claims ( Moscow Treaty ). In the Warsaw Treaty , on December 7th, Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany recognized the Oder-Neisse line as a de facto Polish western border.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the ban on displaying the GDR flag was lifted after the IOC demanded that the Olympic Protocol be carried out at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

1971

Erich Honecker becomes first secretary of the SED Central Committee .

In the Four Power Agreement , Berlin is guaranteed free access routes on September 3rd. From December 17th, a transit agreement will regulate travel to and from West Berlin.

1972

On October 6th, on the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of the founding of the GDR, the leadership issued an amnesty for political and criminal offenders. According to official figures, more than 30,000 people have been released, some of them to the West. The basic treaty agreed on December 21st regulated relations between the Federal Republic and the GDR.

1973

In 1973, the Soviet attended CPSU boss Leonid Brezhnev West Germany.

The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic become member states of the United Nations (UN).

1974

On May 2nd the permanent representations of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic opened in Bonn and Berlin.

In the preliminary round of the soccer world championship , the only game between the two German national soccer teams took place on June 22nd in Hamburg 's Volksparkstadion . The game was won 1-0 by the GDR team. The team of the Federal Republic won the world championship in this tournament.

1976

In addition to his post as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED, Erich Honecker becomes Chairman of the State Council of the GDR . On November 16, the critical songwriter Wolf Biermann is expatriated from the GDR.

1983

The GDR is granted a loan of DM 1 billion by the Federal Republic after mediation by Franz Josef Strauss , the self-firing systems are then dismantled.

1987

On September 7th, the President of the GDR's State Council, Erich Honecker, was received by Chancellor Helmut Kohl in Bonn .

1989

40 years after the proclamation of the Basic Law, the Federal Republic of Germany celebrates its 40th anniversary on May 23rd. In the local elections in the GDR in 1989 , the government planned to falsify the elections . Undeterred by mass exodus and Monday demonstrations , the SED regime celebrates the 40th anniversary of the GDR. On November 9, 1989, after 28 years of separation, the Berlin Wall fell .

1990

With the signing of the Two-Plus-Four Treaty by the four victorious powers in Moscow, the reunification of the Federal Republic and the GDR is legitimized under international law and the Allied rights of reservation are revoked. Full state sovereignty comes into effect on March 15, 1991.

See also

literature

  • Westermann (ed.): Perspective . 1st edition. Westermann, Braunschweig 1998 (GSW History / Politics, 9/10), ISBN 3-14-114264-5 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heil, Johannes. "Matthaeus Parisiensis, Henry Morgenthau and the 'Jewish World Conspiracy'" in: History myths: Legends about National Socialism. ed. v. Wolfgang Benz and Peter Reif-Spirek. Berlin: Metropol, 2003, pp. 131–149.
  2. ^ Gunter Holzweißig: Diplomacy in a tracksuit. Oldenbourg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-486-50971-3 , p. 35.
  3. ^ Gunter Holzweißig: Diplomacy in a tracksuit. Oldenbourg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-486-50971-3 , p. 37.
  4. ^ Gunter Holzweißig: Diplomacy in a tracksuit. Oldenbourg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-486-50971-3 , p. 37 f.
  5. ↑ https://www.jugendopposition.de/lexikon/sachbegriffe/148547/gesellschaft-fuer-sport-und-technik-gst
  6. ^ Gunter Holzweißig: Diplomacy in a tracksuit. Oldenbourg, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-486-50971-3 , p. 41 f.