Allied-occupied Germany

Post-World War II occupation of Germany

For the occupation of Western Germany after World War I, see Occupation of the Rhineland and Occupation of the Ruhr.

Germany Deutschland (German)
1945–1949
The C-Pennant
Germany from 17 December 1947 to 23 May 1949
Status	Military occupation
Capital	Berlin (de jure) Frankfurt (American zone) Bad Oeynhausen (British zone) Baden-Baden (French zone) East Berlin (Soviet zone) 52°31′N 13°23′E / 52.517°N 13.383°E / 52.517; 13.383   Saar Protectorate (de facto not a part of Germany)   French occupation zone   British occupation zone[a]   American occupation zone   Soviet occupation zone[b]
Common languages	German (national language) English (American and British zones) French (French zone) Russian (Soviet zone)
Governors (1945)
• British zone	Bernard Montgomery
• American zone	Dwight D. Eisenhower
• French zone	Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
• Soviet zone	Georgy Zhukov
Historical era	Saar Protectoratea	17 December 1947
• West Germany	23 May 1949
• East Germanyb	7 October 1949
• Final Settlement c	15 March 1991
Population
• 1945	64,260,000
• 1949	68,080,000
Currency	Rentenmark (1945–1948) West zones (except Saarland): Deutsche Mark (from 1948)d Soviet zone: Mark (from 1948)e
Preceded by Succeeded by Nazi Germany West Germany East Germany Saar Protectorate
Became a state of the Soviet zone of Germany and sector of Berlin.
Berlin

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The entirety of Germany was

East-Prussia and most of Silesia) and divided the remaining "Germany as a whole" into four occupation zones, each administered by one of the Allies.^[1]

Memel Territory, annexed by Germany from Lithuania before the war, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 and transferred to the Lithuanian SSR. All territories annexed by Germany during the war from Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Yugoslavia

were returned to their respective countries.

Deviating from the occupation zones planned according to the London Protocol in 1944, at Potsdam, the United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union approved the detachment from Germany of the territories east of the Oder–Neisse line, with the exact line of the boundary to be determined in a final German peace treaty. This treaty was expected to confirm the shifting westward of Poland's borders, as the United Kingdom and United States committed themselves to support the permanent incorporation of eastern Germany into Poland and the Soviet Union. From March 1945 to July 1945, these former eastern territories of Germany had been administered under Soviet military occupation authorities, but following the Potsdam Agreement they were handed over to Soviet and Polish civilian administrations and ceased to constitute part of Allied-occupied Germany.

In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, United States forces had pushed beyond the agreed boundaries for the future zones of occupation, in some places by as much as 320 km (200 miles). The so-called

line of contact between Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of hostilities, mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border, was temporary. After two months in which they had held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone, U.S. forces withdrew in the first days of July 1945.^[2] Some have concluded that this was a crucial move that persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American, British and French forces into their designated sectors in Berlin, which occurred at roughly the same time, although the need for intelligence gathering (Operation Paperclip) may also have been a factor.^[3] On 20 March 1948, the Soviets withdrew from the Allied Control Council. The split led to the establishment in 1949 of two new German states, West Germany and East Germany

.

Occupation zones

American zone

Further information: American occupation zone in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria

The American zone in

Montabaur Region, both part of the French zone) with a new capital in Wiesbaden, and of northern parts of Württemberg and Baden. Those formed Württemberg-Baden and became northern portions of the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg

founded in 1952.

The ports of

Weser River) and Bremerhaven (at the Weser estuary of the North Sea) were also placed under U.S. control because of the U.S. request to have certain toeholds in Northern Germany

. At the end of October 1946, the American zone had a population of:

• Bavaria 8.7 million
• Hesse 3.97 million
• Württemberg-Baden 3.6 million
• Bremen 0.48 million[4]

The headquarters of the

Frankfurt am Main

.

Following the complete closure of all Nazi German media, the launch and operation of completely new newspaper titles began by licensing carefully selected Germans as publishers. Licenses were granted to Germans not involved in Nazi propaganda to establish those newspapers, including

Süddeutscher Rundfunk, respectively. The RIAS

in West-Berlin remained a radio station under U.S. control.

British zone

Further information: British occupation zone in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria

By May 1945 the British and Canadian Armies had liberated the Netherlands and had conquered Northern Germany. The Canadian forces went home following the German surrender, leaving Northern Germany to be occupied by the British.

The British Army of the Rhine was formed on 25 August 1945 from the British Liberation Army.^[5]

In July the British withdrew from

Barber-Lyashchenko Agreement

.

Within the British zone of occupation, the CCG/BE re-established the city of Hamburg as a German state, but with borders that had been drawn by the Nazi government in 1937. The British also created the new German states of:

• Schleswig-Holstein – emerging in 1946 from the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein;
• Lower Saxony – the merger of Brunswick, Oldenburg, and Schaumburg-Lippe with the state of Hanover in 1946; and
• North Rhine-Westphalia – the merger of Lippe with the Prussian provinces of the Rhineland (northern part) and Westphalia – during 1946–47.

Also in 1947, the American zone of occupation being inland had no port facilities – thus the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and Bremerhaven became exclaves within the British zone.

At the end of October 1946, the British zone had a population of:

• North Rhine-Westphalia 11.7 million
• Lower Saxony 6.2 million
• Schleswig-Holstein 2.6 million
• Hamburg 1.4 million^[4]

The British headquarters were originally based in Bad Oeynhausen from 1946, but in 1954 it was moved to Mönchengladbach where it was known as JHQ Rheindahlen.

Another special feature of the British zone was the enclave of

British High Commissioner for Germany. Kirkpatrick carried immense responsibility particularly with respect to the negotiation of the Bonn–Paris conventions

during 1951–1952, which terminated the occupation and prepared the way for the rearmament of West Germany.

• 
  Royal Air Force's Malcolm Club in Schleswig, formerly the Stadt Hamburg Hotel in late 1945
• 
  British armoured car, at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, 1950

Belgian, Polish and Norwegian zones

Further information: Polish occupation zone in Germany

Army units from other countries were stationed within the British occupation zone.

• The Belgians were allocated a territory which was garrisoned by their troops.^[6] The zone formed a 200 kilometres (120 mi) strip from the Belgian-German border at the south of the British zone, and included the important cities of Cologne and Aachen. The Belgian army of occupation in Germany (known as the Belgian Forces in Germany from 1951) became autonomous in 1946 under the command, initially, of Jean-Baptiste Piron.^[7] Belgian soldiers remained in Germany until 31 December 2005.^[8]

  

• Polish units mainly from
  Polish government in exile. The administrative centre of the Polish occupation zone was the city of Haren the German population of which was temporarily removed. The city was renamed Maczków (after Stanisław Maczek) from 1945 to 1947. Once the British recognised the pro-Soviet government in Poland, and withdrew recognition from the London-based Polish government in exile, the Emsland zone became more of an embarrassment. Polish units within the British Army were demobilised in June 1947. The expelled German populations were allowed to return and the last Polish residents left in 1948.^{[citation needed}
  ]

• In 1946, the Norwegian Brigade Group in Germany had 4,000 soldiers in Hanover; amongst whom was future Chancellor Willy Brandt (then a Norwegian citizen) as press attaché.

• In 1947 (during summer), a
  East Friesland. However, it was decided to move the brigade to Itzehoe in October 1949, naming itself as Tysklandsbrigaden. ^[10]
  It remained stationed at Itzehoe, under the name of The Danish Command in Germany, until 1958.

• The London conference of 23 April 1949, during the
  Bakker-Schut Plan. So, at 12 noon that day, Dutch troops moved to occupy an area of 69 km² (17,000 acres), the most relevants parts were Elten (near Emmerich am Rhein) and Selfkant. Many other small border corrections were done, mostly in the vicinity of Arnhem and Dinxperlo
  , which also were part of this small Dutch sub-zone of occupation.

French zone

Main article: French occupation zone in Germany

French forces in front of the Brandenburg Gate

in Berlin, 1946

The

Rheinland Pfalz in the north and west and on the other hand Württemberg-Hohenzollern and South Baden, who later formed Baden-Württemberg together with Württemberg-Baden of the American zone.^[13]

The French zone of occupation included the

Saargebiet, which was disentangled from it on 16 February 1946. By 18 December 1946 customs controls were established between the Saar area and Allied-occupied Germany. The French zone ceded further areas adjacent to the Saar (in mid-1946, early 1947, and early 1949). Included in the French zone was the town of Büsingen am Hochrhein, a German exclave separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of neutral Swiss

territory. The Swiss government agreed to allow limited numbers of French troops to pass through its territory in order to maintain law and order in Büsingen.

At the end of October 1946, the French zone had a population of:

• Rheinland Pfalz 2.7 million
• Baden (South Baden) 1.2 million
• Württemberg-Hohenzollern 1.05 million

(The Saar Protectorate had a further 0.8 million.)[4]

Luxembourg zone

From November 1945, Luxembourg was allocated a zone within the French sector.

2nd Infantry Battalion was garrisoned in Bitburg and the 1st Battalion was sent to Saarburg.^[14] The final Luxembourg forces in Germany, in Bitburg, left in 1955.^[14]

Soviet zone

Main article: Soviet occupation zone in Germany

Soviet Occupation zone of Germany

.

The Soviet occupation zone incorporated Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg.^{[citation needed]} The Soviet Military Administration was headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, which also came to house the chief rezidentura of Soviet intelligence in Germany.^[15]

At the end of October 1946, the Soviet zone had a population of:

• Saxony: 5.5 million
• Saxony-Anhalt: 4.1 million
• Thuringia: 2.9 million
• Brandenburg: 2.5 million
• Mecklenburg: 2.1 million^[4]

Berlin

Main article: History of Berlin § West and East Germany (1945–1990)

While located wholly within the Soviet zone, because of its symbolic importance as the nation's capital and seat of the former Nazi government, the city of Berlin was jointly occupied by the Allied powers and subdivided into four sectors. All four occupying powers were entitled to privileges throughout Berlin that were not extended to the rest of Germany – this included the Soviet sector of Berlin, which was legally separate from the rest of the Soviet zone.

At the end of October 1946, Berlin had a population of:

• Western sectors 2.0 million
• Soviet sector 1.1 million^[4]

Lost territory

Main articles: Former eastern territories of Germany and Saar Protectorate

In 1945

expropriated and expelled. Returning refugees

, who had fled from war hostilities, were denied return.

Saarland, an area in the French occupation zone, was separated from Allied-occupied Germany to become a French protectorate with its constitution took effect on 17 December 1947, however the separation was opposed by the Soviet Union and Germans here were not expelled.

Population

In October 1946, the population of the various zones and sectors was as follows:^[4]

State, sector, or other territory	Zone	Population
Bavaria	American	8.7 million
Hesse	American	3.97 million
Württemberg-Baden	American	3.6 million
Bremen	American	0.48 million
North Rhine-Westphalia	British	11.7 million
Lower Saxony	British	6.2 million
Schleswig-Holstein	British	2.6 million
Hamburg	British	1.4 million
Rhineland-Palatinate	French	2.7 million
South Baden	French	1.2 million
Württemberg-Hohenzollern	French	1.05 million
Saxony	Soviet	5.5 million
Saxony-Anhalt	Soviet	4.1 million
Thuringia	Soviet	2.9 million
Brandenburg	Soviet	2.5 million
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Soviet	2.1 million
Berlin (western sectors)	American, British, French	2.0 million
Berlin (Soviet sector)	Soviet	1.1 million

Governance and the emergence of two German states

unification of the 2 communist parties-SPD and KPD with a symbolic handshake. This merger formed the SED, a communist party that would come to dominate the future East German state. Walter Ulbricht is seated in the foreground to the right of Grotewohl.

Avraham Pisarek

The original Allied plan to govern Germany as a single unit through the Allied Control Council de facto broke down on 20 March 1948 (restored on 3 September 1971) in the context of growing tensions between the Allies, with Britain and the US wishing cooperation, France obstructing any collaboration in order to partition Germany into many independent states, and especially: the Soviet Union unilaterally implementing from early on elements of a Marxist political-economic system (enforced redistribution of land, nationalisation of businesses). Another dispute was the absorption of post-war expellees. While the UK, the US and the Soviet Union had agreed to accept, house and feed about six million expelled German citizens from former eastern Germany and four million expelled and denaturalised Czechoslovaks, Poles, Hungarians and Yugoslavs of German ethnicity in their zones, France generally had not agreed to the expulsions approved by the Potsdam agreement (a decision made without input from France). Therefore, France strictly refused to absorb war refugees who were denied return to their homes in seized eastern German territories or destitute post-war expellees who had been expropriated there, into the French zone, let alone into the separated Saar protectorate.^[16] However, the native population, returning after Nazi-imposed removals (e.g., political and Jewish refugees) and war-related relocations (e.g., evacuation from air raids), were allowed to return home in the areas under French control. The other Allies complained that they had to shoulder the burden to feed, house and clothe the expellees who had to leave their belongings behind.

In practice, each of the four occupying powers wielded government authority in their respective zones and carried out different policies toward the population and local and state governments there. A uniform administration of the western zones evolved, known first as the

In the west, the occupation continued until 5 May 1955, when the

A 1956 plebiscite ended the French administration of the Saar protectorate, and it joined the Federal Republic as Saarland on 1 January 1957, becoming its tenth state.

The city of Berlin was not part of either state and de jure continued to be under Allied occupation of the four countries until the reunification of Germany in October 1990. For administrative purposes, the three western sectors of Berlin were merged into the entity of West Berlin being de facto part of the FRG. The Soviet sector became known as East Berlin and while not recognised by the Western powers as a part of East Germany, the GDR declared it its capital (Hauptstadt der DDR).

Occupation policy

Initially, the US was extremely rigorous in its efforts to prevent fraternization with German civilians. US soldiers were forbidden to shake hands with Germans, visit their homes, play games or sports with them, exchange gifts, take part in social events, or walk in the streets with them. How strictly this policy was applied varied from place to place, but in many places the restrictions were frequently ignored, as a result of which the policy was quickly abandoned.^[22] Germans were also prohibited from inhabiting any part of a building in which US soldiers were housed, leading to large numbers of Germans being ejected from their homes.^[22]

British occupation policy

British occupation policy was similar to that of the United States, but with a greater focus on economic problems. The

To further the long-term aim of democratization, the British implemented government modeled on the UK system, placing heavy emphasis on local level democracy. The goal was to create a British-style administration with employees who viewed themselves as public servants, on the basis that this would help to reeducate Germans to democratic modes of thought. To that end the British introduced new local government structures, including a nonpolitical position similar to the English town clerk ("city director") that replaced the office of mayor.[20]

In general, the British believed strongly in reeducation as a means to achieve democracy, which led them to prioritize the reestablishment of schooling and university education in their zone.^[23]

French occupation policy

The French were less concerned with improving Germany's moral and civic character, focusing instead on ensuring France's future security and utilizing the resources of

On the economic front, the French seized the opportunity to extract coal and steel resources from the Saar region, fusing it with France in a customs and currency union and encouraging the development of export industries. As a result, the French managed to extract a surplus from their occupation zone, and prevented it from becoming a financial liability the way the British and American zones were to their respective occupying powers.[20]

Soviet occupation policy

Soviet aims in Germany were similar to those of the French, with the primary goals being to prevent future aggression by Germany and to extract reparations.^[20]

Political activity in the

Soviet occupation authorities also executed a rigorous program of land reform, expropriating large landed estates and imposing direct control over much of the economic activity in the zone.[20] They closed major banks and insurance companies in July 1945, and seized property formerly belonging to the German state, Wehrmacht, Nazi party, and Nazi organizations.^[20]

The Soviets used suspicion of supposed Werwolf activity to tighten police control and secure forced labor.^[22]

Conditions in the occupation zones

The food situation in occupied Germany was initially very dire. By the spring of 1946 the official ration in the American zone was no more than 1,275 calories (5,330 kJ) per day, with some areas probably receiving as little as 700 calories (2,900 kJ) per day. In the British zone the food situation was dire, as found during a visit by the British (and Jewish) publisher Victor Gollancz in October and November 1946. In Düsseldorf the normal 28-day allocation should have been 1,548 calories (6,480 kJ) including 10 kilograms (22 lb) of bread, but as there was limited grain the bread ration was only 8.5 kilograms (19 lb). However, as there was only sufficient bread for about 50% of this "called up" ration, the total deficiency was about 50%, not 15% as stated in a ministerial reply in the British Parliament on 11 December. So only about 770 calories (3,200 kJ) would have been supplied, and he said the German winter ration would be 1,000 calories (4,200 kJ) as the recent increase was "largely mythical". His book includes photos taken on the visit and critical letters and newspaper articles by him published in several British newspapers; The Times, the Daily Herald, the Manchester Guardian, etc.^[24]

Some occupation soldiers took advantage of the desperate food situation by exploiting their ample supply of food and cigarettes (the currency of the black market) to get to the local German girls as what became known as frau bait (The New York Times, 25 June 1945). Some soldiers still felt the girls were the enemy, but used them for sex nevertheless.^[25]

The often destitute mothers of the resulting children usually received no child support. In the earliest stages of the occupation, U.S. soldiers were not allowed to pay maintenance for a child they admitted having fathered, since to do so was considered "aiding the enemy". Marriages between white U.S. soldiers and Austrian women were not permitted until January 1946, and with German women until December 1946.^[25]

The children of African-American soldiers, commonly called Negermischlinge^[26] ("Negro half-breeds"), comprising about three percent of the total number of children fathered by GIs, were particularly disadvantaged because of their inability to conceal the foreign identity of their fathers. For many white U.S. soldiers of this era, miscegenation even with an "enemy" white population was regarded as an intolerable outrage. African-American soldiers were therefore reluctant to admit to fathering such children since this would invite reprisals and even accusations of rape, a crime which was much more aggressively prosecuted by military authorities against African-Americans compared with Caucasian soldiers, much more likely to result in a conviction by court-martial (in part because a German woman was both less likely to acknowledge consensual sexual relations with an African-American and more likely to be believed if she alleged rape against an African-American) and which carried a potential death sentence. Even in the rare cases where an African-American soldier was willing to take responsibility for fathering a child, until 1948 the U.S. Army prohibited interracial marriages.^[26] The mothers of the children would often face particularly harsh ostracism.^[27]

Between 1950 and 1955, the Allied High Commission for Germany prohibited "proceedings to establish paternity or liability for maintenance of children."^[26] Even after the lifting of the ban West German courts had little power over American soldiers.

While Allied servicemen were ordered to obey local laws while in Germany, soldiers could not be prosecuted by German courts for crimes committed against German citizens except as authorised by the occupation authorities. Invariably, when a soldier was accused of criminal behaviour the occupation authorities preferred to handle the matter within the military justice system. This sometimes led to harsher punishments than would have been available under German law – in particular, U.S. servicemen could be executed if court-martialed and convicted of rape.^[27] See United States v. Private First Class John A. Bennett, 7 C.M.A. 97, 21 C.M.R. 223 (1956).

Insurgency

The last Allied war advances into Germany and Allied occupation plans were affected by rumors of the Nazi

The

Hungary, which had been allied with Germany and whose population was opposed to an expulsion of the German minority, tried to resist the transfer. Hungary had to yield to the pressure exerted mainly by the Soviet Union and by the Allied Control Council.^[30] Millions of people were expelled from former eastern territories of Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and elsewhere to the occupation zones of the UK, US, and USSR, which agreed in the Potsdam Agreement to absorb the post-war expellees into their zones. Many remained in refugee camps for a long time. Some Germans remained in the Soviet Union and were used for forced labour for a period of years.

France was not invited to the Potsdam Conference. As a result, it chose to adopt some decisions of the Potsdam Agreements and to dismiss others. France maintained the position that it did not approve post-war expulsions and that therefore it was not responsible to accommodate and nourish the destitute expellees in its zone. While the few war-related refugees who had reached the area to become the French zone before July 1945 were taken care of, the French military government for Germany refused to absorb post-war expellees deported from the East into its zone. In December 1946, the French military government for Germany absorbed into its zone German refugees from Denmark, where 250,000 Germans had found a refuge from the Soviets by sea vessels between February and May 1945.^[16] These clearly were war-related refugees from the eastern parts of Germany however, and not post-war expellees.

Military governors and commissioners

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

• Bark, Dennis L., and David R. Gress. A History of West Germany Vol 1: From Shadow to Substance, 1945–1963 (1992)
• Bessel, Richard
  . Germany 1945: from war to peace (Simon and Schuster, 2012)
• Campion, Corey. "Remembering the" Forgotten Zone": Recasting the Image of the Post-1945 French Occupation of Germany." French Politics, Culture & Society 37.3 (2019): 79-94.
• Erlichman, Camilo, and Knowles, Christopher (eds.). Transforming Occupation in the Western Zones of Germany: Politics, Everyday Life and Social Interactions, 1945-55 (Bloomsbury, 2018).
  ISBN 978-1-350-04923-9
• Golay, John Ford. The Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany (University of Chicago Press, 1958)
• Jähner, Harald. Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945-1955 (2022) excerpt
• Jarausch, Konrad H.After Hitler: Recivilizing Germans, 1945–1995 (2008)
• Junker, Detlef, ed. The United States and Germany in the Era of the Cold War (2 vol 2004), 150 short essays by scholars covering 1945–1990 excerpt and text search vol 1; excerpt and text search vol 2
• Knowles, Christopher. "The British Occupation of Germany, 1945–49: A Case Study in Post-Conflict Reconstruction." The RUSI Journal (2013) 158#6 pp: 84–91.
• Knowles, Christopher. Winning the Peace: The British in Occupied Germany, 1945-1948, (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017)
• Main, Steven J. "The Soviet Occupation of Germany. Hunger, Mass Violence and the Struggle for Peace, 1945–1947." Europe-Asia Studies (2014) 66#8 pp: 1380–1382.
  doi:10.1080/09668136.2014.941704
• Phillips, David. Educating the Germans: People and Policy in the British Zone of Germany, 1945-1949 (2018) 392 pp. online review
• Schwarz, Hans-Peter. Konrad Adenauer: A German Politician and Statesman in a Period of War, Revolution and Reconstruction (2 vol 1995) full text vol 1 Archived 28 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• Taylor, Frederick. Exorcising Hitler: the occupation and denazification of Germany (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2011)
• Weber, Jurgen. Germany, 1945–1990 (Central European University Press, 2004) online edition

Primary sources and historiography

• Andrews, Ernest A.; Hurt, David B. (2022). A Machine Gunner's War: From Normandy to Victory with the 1st Infantry Division in World War II. Philadelphia & Oxford: Casemate.
  ISBN 978-1636241043
  .
• Beate Ruhm Von Oppen, ed. Documents on Germany under Occupation, 1945–1954 (Oxford University Press, 1955) online
• Clay, Lucius D. The papers of General Lucius D. Clay: Germany, 1945–1949 (2 vol. 1974)
• Miller, Paul D. "A bibliographic essay on the Allied occupation and reconstruction of West Germany, 1945–1955." Small Wars & Insurgencies (2013) 24#4 pp: 751–759.
  doi:10.1080/09592318.2013.857935

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Allied occupation of Germany.

• The short film A DEFEATED PEOPLE (1946) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
• Civil Affairs In Germany (1945) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
• The Struggle for Germany and the Origins of the Cold War by Melvyn P. Leffler