Control Commission for Germany (British Element)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Control Commission for Germany (British Element) ("Control Commission for Germany (British Element)", CCG / BE ) was the military government of the British zone of occupation in occupied Germany from 1945 to 1949.

history

After the Tehran Conference in November 1943, the British War Office was given the task of setting up a control commission. According to a cabinet decision of March 1944, responsibility should lie with the Foreign Office , but this was temporarily reversed after the occupation in the course of the German surrender . In February 1945, the basic organizational structure was largely completed and an advanced headquarters was established on the continent. From July 1945, the control commission began its work in Germany in phases. At first the military character of the organization predominated, but then steadily declined due to the increased involvement of civilian employees, especially after the dissolution of the Corps Districts and the replacement of their commanders by civilian commissioners in April 1946.

In August 1945, the Office of the Minister for the Affairs for the Control of Germany and Austria ( John Hynd ) with the Control Office for Germany and Austria was created in the British government , but this remained a temporary phenomenon. The political advisor to the Foreign Ministry at the Control Commission ( William Strang ) was more influential than the Germany Minister .

organization

Memorial stone at the House of German Sports, in Berlin-Westend

The control commission was headed by a military governor who, in addition to the military government apparatus, was subordinate to the commanders of the occupation forces ( British Naval Forces Germany , British Army of the Rhine , British Air Forces of Occupation ). The seat of the Control Commission was in Berlin, the seat of the Allied Control Council . In the process, a division into the Berlin headquarters and the Zonal Executive Offices emerged, which implemented the actual occupation policy.

The commission was divided into a political and an economic sub-commission with assigned departments, which were organized according to the departmental principle. These included:

  • Finance
  • Legal
  • Trade and Industries
  • Food and Agriculture
  • transport
  • Reparations, Deliveries and Restitutions
  • Political
  • Internal Affairs and Communication
  • Prisoners of War and Displaced Persons
  • Public Relations and Information Services
  • Manpower
  • Intelligence

This structure was repeated at the levels of the provinces or countries, administrative districts and counties / cities. The British military government was the most labor-intensive of all the zones of occupation, which gave rise to criticism in Great Britain. Various restructuring measures have been implemented over time to address this problem.

Military governors

See also

  • Zone Advisory Council, a German advisory body for the British Zone (1946-48) formed by order of the military government

literature

  • Eva A. Mayring: Control Commission for Germany (British Element) (CCG / BE). In: Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Germany under Allied occupation 1945–1949 / 55. A manual. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1999. ISBN 3-05-003148-4 . Pp. 239-243.

Web links

Commons : Control Commission for Germany / British Element  - Collection of images, videos and audio files