What happened to Germany after the defeat of the Nazis in World War II? How was the country divided, who participated in the division and how was the new government organized? or why was a wall built? In overstory, The Division of Germany, the prelude to the Berlin Wall.
The Division of Germany, the prelude to the Berlin Wall
In the night and early morning of November 9, 1989, the border that divided the capital of Germany in two was broken: it was the unforgettable the fall of the Berlin Wall. We bring you here two articles with a brief review of the history of the division of Germany, to keep fresh the memory of such a recent past.
Map of the Division of Germany in 1948-1949
As we all surely know, “the Wall” was the clearest physical expression of the division of Germany. And at the same time a very powerful symbol. The historical context that explains its existence dates back to the end of the Second World War and extends throughout the period known as the Cold War.
The division of Germany
With the end of World War II, some of the victorious countries, such as France and the Soviet Union, were in favor of apply a harsh policy against the defeated country Germany. When the time came to propose the type of government that would govern the designs of the new Germany, the French Charles de Gaulle, he strongly opposed the formation of a central government for the new Germany. France intended to maintain control of the allied countries over the devastated Germany.
in 1945shortly before the end of the Second War, the allied countries met in the so-called yalta conferencein it they agreed the division of German territory into four zones of occupation, each one in charge of a country, so the candidates were USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union.
These four zone would be governed by a military representative appointed by the country in charge of controlling that area, although each would be politically and administratively independent.
berlin in the division was entirely under Soviet control but since it was the capital, it was decided that it would remain under the control of a administration controlled by the four allied powers.
In subsequent meetings such as the Potsdamit was agreed thate Germany should be considered as a political unit.Despite not having a central government and four independent regions, it was agreed to form a Allied Control Council whose headquarters would be in Berlin and that would be in charge of matters related to the departments of Finance, Transport, Communications, Foreign Trade and Industry.
The purpose of this control council was to supervise the correct application of the joint policies of each zone. The rules that all countries must follow in order to manage their territorial zones are established, where in addition to those that we have already mentioned, we highlight:
- Dismantling of the German military forces, Nazism and National Socialist organizations
- Abolition of discriminatory laws, whether based on race, creed or political opinion
- Arrest and prosecution of war criminals
- Control of the educational system and the judicial system
But the real intention of the occupation was none other than trying to get the compensation for expenses and repairs produced by the conflict that the losing country should pay the winning country. In this case, each country intended to collect said compensation from the areas they governed.
But soon they began conflicts between different areas or regions. The first and most obvious occurred on the Soviet side with the authorization of political partieswhere the most relevant was the KPD or what is the same, the Communist Party of Germany.
Soon the German zone began to make its sieves, it got rid of the existing administrative staff as it was considered to be of a Nazi nature, after transformed the economy of the region, carried out an agrarian reform, the big industries they became the property of the state, while small private companies began to disappear.
In the western area, the changes were not so substantial. After the nuremberg trials a clean slate was made, where the former Nazis could be incorporated into civil and public life. continued to maintain a system of capitalist economy.
As for the main objective of staying there, which was, as we have mentioned, compensation for war damages, both France and the Soviet Union were not very flexible, reaching the point of collecting said compensation. seizing raw materials, machinery and even some private companies that gave benefits.
The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic
Shortly after, The US, France, and Great Britain merged their territories into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany). The Soviet Union reacted by creating in 1949 the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany).
The city of Berlin was blockaded, but the West Germany solved it by installing an air bridge that maintained communication between West Berlin and the rest of West Germanyl. Very shortly after having been allies in the Second World Warthe difficulties of sustaining the alliance in post-war times became clear.
A period of great complexity was opening in the history of Germany.a. With a country fractured in very different governments and political systems. In the fracture, the life of the German people, entire families and friends were divided.
building the wall
The tense situations between RFA and the RDA They grew from the same of the emergence of both republics. West Berlin was at that time a very important enclave and, in fact, it is estimated that between 1949 and 1961, until the wall was raised, more than 3 million people emigrated from the eastern bloc to western.
In the 1950s, with the worsening of the Cold War, tensions between the two blocs grew and began to border guards guarding the passage from one block to another, even 5 km long barbed wire was installed, which, however, did not prevent the passage from one “side” to another. Around this time, East Berlin security forces began to persecute those who wanted to cross over to the Western bloc, commonly calling them conspirators, traitors to the republic, or smugglers.
The plan to build the wall was hatched in complete secrecy by the GDR, at the behest of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. During that time, we are already in 1961, the RDA He denied the existence of plans to build a wall separating West Berlin from the East. As far as is known, the western side only became aware of this plan in early August 1961, just a few days before the wall was actually erected.
The process of construction of the wall was carried out in just two days, the August 12 and 13, 1961. Along the wall, around 15,000 members of different forces of order from East Berlin were also arranged, in addition to a party of the Soviet army, stationed in view of a possible confrontation. In addition, all communication and transport channels between one area and another were eliminated (except for some heavily guarded railway lines).
It is estimated that during these first days more than 400 officers from the eastern side deserted to the western side in some 225 escapades. The authorities of the RDA They claimed that the wall was a anti-fascist control method, to prevent ideas and capitalists and fascists from reaching Germany again. For its part, the federal bloc considered that the GDR considered the FRG as a thorn in its side and that the sole purpose of the wall was to prevent its people from emigrating to the federal area in search of a better life.
The erection of the wall became one of the great signs of the struggle between the two blocks resulting from the 2nd World War. On the one hand, the capitalist bloc, the one that followed the premises of the USA and the allied countries of the 2nd GM; on the other hand, the communist bloc. The Berlin wall perfectly exemplified the differences and tensions between one bloc and another, which gave rise to what was called Cold Warprobably the years in which the world was closest to facing a third world war.
The fall of the Berlin wall
If it was not the most famous moment in history, it was one of them, because the the fall of the Berlin Wall, began a new story and closed the chapters where a single people was capriciously divided by the rulers. The November 9, 1989 it was announced in the press that from midnight on, East Germans could cross the wall, without the need for special permits and whenever they wanted. They could cross any of the borders of the democratic germany.
Of course, this reached the ears of the Berliners on both sides of the wall and they were waiting for the time, so that at midnight everyone would start crossing on foot, by car or on the wall, to the other side. The moment was recorded in the history, because it ended the separation of a town and brought together friends and family who flooded the streets with beer, champagne, flowers and hugs.
Apart from the most emotional part of the the fall of the Berlin Wallthere were certain impact:
- End of military and Soviet repressive forces who imposed their dominion as soon as the wall was raised.
- End of the struggle of the ideological blocs and the explosion of ultraliberal thought
- unification of Europeunder the supervision of the United States.
- Expansion of e-commerceabroad, becoming a success, since it opened the doors to other types of cultures, products from which they would benefit and from which others would benefit.
- elimination of communismso that many benefited, but not all, since not everything was rosy.
United States, which controlled the market in Europe and thanks to the fact that he instantly installed democracy and because they adopted that attitude, he decided to keep hybrid ideas. For those who were still with the communist ideology. But it did not have very satisfactory results, since the social difference at the economic level was more marked. Because of this, he began go outsidethe corruption, the unemployment and the organized crime that tried to benefit from companies that needed help to get ahead.
Starting from the fall that still resounded on the front pages of many countries, especially USA that he was the beneficiary of having won that “war”, Europe tried to present everything in a positive and encouraging way, but the economy had denationalizedthe government became pluralized and social policies changed.
The most striking was the disintegration of multinational stateswhich due to the fact that it could not be financed, had to be managed by other social security companies, so they went from seven to twenty, which affected them a lot, being a…