Germany in 1945

At the last stage of the Second World War, the territory of fascist Germany was liberated by all progressive forces. A special role belonged to the Soviet Union, the USA, Great Britain and France. After signing the surrender in May 1945, the Nazi government was dismissed. The administration of the country was transferred to the Inter-Allied Control Council.

For joint control over Germany, the allied countries divided its territory into four occupation zones for transfer to the rails of peaceful life. The division looked like this:

1. The Soviet zone included Thuringia, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg;
2. The American zone consisted of Bavaria, Bremen, Hesse and Württemberg-Hohenzollern;
3. The British zone covered Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia;
4. The French zone was formed from Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Rhineland-Palatinate.

Remark 1

The capital of Germany, the city of Berlin, stood out in a special zone. Although it was located on the lands that had gone to the Soviet occupation zone, its management was transferred to the Inter-Allied Commandant's Office. It also houses the main governing body of the country - the Allied Control Council.

The occupation zones were managed by zonal military administrations. They exercised power until the election of a provisional government and the holding of all-German parliamentary elections.

Education Germany

In the next three years, there is a convergence of the western zones of occupation (American, British and French). Military administrations are gradually restoring representative bodies (Landtags), carrying out reforms and restoring the historical territorial division of German lands. In December 1946, the British and American zones merge to form Bizonia. Unified governing bodies and a united body of supreme power were created. Its functions began to be performed by the Economic Council, elected by the Landtags in May 1947. he was empowered to make financial and economic decisions common to all lands of Bizonia.

In the territories under the control of the Western powers, the "Marshall Plan" began to be implemented.

Definition 1

The Marshall Plan is a program of US assistance to European countries for post-war economic recovery. It was named after the initiator - US Secretary of State George Marshall.

He served as a unifying factor. New authorities were created in Bizonia: the Supreme Court and the Council of the Lands (government chamber). Central authority was transferred to the Administrative Council, which reported on its actions to the Economic Council. In 1948, the French occupation zone joined Bisonia to form Trizonia.

The London meeting of the six victorious countries (USA, Great Britain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and France) in the summer of 1948 ended with a decision to create a separate West German state. In June of the same year, a monetary reform was carried out on the territory of Trizonia and the drafting of a constitution began. In May 1949, the West German constitution was approved, which fixed the federal structure of the state. At the next session of the victorious states in June 1949, the split of Germany was officially recognized. The new state was named the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The FRG included three-quarters of all German territories.

Formation of the GDR

In parallel, the formation of the state in the Soviet occupation zone took place. The Soviet military administration (SVAG) announced the liquidation of the Prussian state and restored the Landtags. Gradually, all power was transferred to the German People's Congress. The SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) initiated in May 1949 the adoption of a Soviet-style constitution. A cross-party National Front of Democratic Germany was formed. This served as the basis for the proclamation on October 7, 1949 of the East German state of the GDR (German Democratic Republic).

The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic that arose in the post-war period on German soil for forty years, as it were, personified two socio-economic and political systems, two ways of life - capitalist (FRG) and socialist (GDR). Each of them, in its own way, "worked" for the authority of the corresponding system.

However, this economic competition ended up not in favor of the socialist model. So, in the late 1980s, labor productivity in the GDR was much lower than in West Germany and a significant part of the enterprises in the country were unprofitable, but it must be borne in mind that this was based not only on institutional reasons, but also on the political pressure of the West.

The starting conditions after the war were similar, the political split of Germany led to the economic disintegration of countries, to the split of a single economy. But the main disproportions arose between the relatively developed manufacturing industry on the territory of the GDR and the extremely insufficient coal-metallurgical raw materials and energy base, which remained in the West. The war did more damage to the eastern part of Germany, where the main fighting took place. Here, 45% of industrial assets were destroyed, including 30% of the capacities of energy facilities, transport was completely disorganized, industrial development was not provided with coal, oil, iron ore, and non-ferrous metals. There was no basis for heavy industry, historically established in West Germany.

Given the almost complete absence of foreign currency loans (the USSR provided them, but not in such volumes as the United States under the "Marshall Plan" for the FRG), the burden of reparations (the FRG paid to a lesser extent) and the costs of maintaining Soviet troops (they were limited to 5% annual budget of the GDR only after 1953), the economic achievements of the GDR in the 1950s can be called phenomenal. If the FRG (and its growth rates were many times higher than those of Great Britain and France) increased from 1950 to 1958. industrial output by 210%, then the GDR - by 241%. The average annual increase in industrial production in the GDR in 1950-58. was 10%, and in Germany - 8.5%. In 1957, the GDR surpassed the FRG in terms of industrial growth in comparison with 1936. If we take the level of this year as 100%, then in 1957 the industrial potential of the GDR increased 2.4 times, and the FRG - 2.26 times. Moreover, the starting positions of both countries in 1950 were approximately the same: the GDR - 110.6% of the 1936 level, the FRG - 110.9%. However, these impressive figures masked serious structural problems in the GDR economy.

Developing heavy industry and contriving to avoid inflation and a state budget deficit, the government of the GDR had to seriously limit the growth in the production of consumer goods. The unrest of the population in June 1953 was largely due not only to an increase in the already high output rates, but also to interruptions in the supply of certain products, as well as high prices in state trade for meat, butter, fabrics, clothes, leather shoes and utensils. As a result, the government of the GDR made a massive redistribution of investments from heavy industry in favor of industries that directly satisfied the needs of the population. However, the new direction of the state's investment policy made it impossible to radically re-equip the fixed assets of the fairly outdated industry of East Germany. Most of its enterprises remained at the technological level of 1939, while in the FRG the equipment in the industry (and so much less affected by the war than the industry of the GDR) was upgraded twice after 1945.

And if initially the redistribution of funds in favor of the light and food industries was justified, then in the specific conditions of the industrially developed GDR it dragged on too long. The country still objectively could not feed and clothe itself at the expense of internal resources. Consequently, it was necessary to increase exports, and the main export commodities of East Germany have always been industrial equipment and products of the chemical industry. But since these industries did not receive sufficient funds, their products became morally obsolete and every day became less and less competitive in the West. Accordingly, foreign exchange earnings were reduced, which could be used to purchase food and high-quality consumer goods, many of which (for example, coffee and chocolate traditional for consumption in Germany) could not be supplied from the countries of the socialist camp. It turned out that the West Germans by the mid-50s were already getting a taste of the so-called. southern fruits (i.e. bananas, pineapples, etc.), while there was still not enough good coffee for the inhabitants of the GDR. Moreover, it is very interesting that these problems were well understood in the USSR, although for many it seemed insignificant. But if the Soviet workers and peasants in the 1950s were unpretentious in the choice of consumer goods, and the absence of certain things was not perceived by them as hardships and hardships, then the Germans traditionally had a higher culture of consumption. The lack of coffee was very sensitive for them. In addition, the GDR had before it the example of the FRG, and the survival of the German workers' and peasants' state really depended on whether it could provide its citizens with at least a standard of living comparable to that of the FRG. From year to year, the GDR was forced to import (mainly from the USSR) a significant part of the food consumed in the country. 25% of grain, 11% of meat, 7% of butter and 8% of eggs were bought abroad.

It is clear that in the GDR they formed the same economic structure as it was in the USSR, which entailed the processes of nationalization and stateization. In 1952, production cooperatives began to be created in the villages, with the use of both economic and administrative pressure. The peak of forced collectivization in the GDR came in 1960. During this year, as much agricultural land was collectivized as in all the previous eight years. By the end of 1960, more than 80% of the agricultural land in the GDR had been nationalized. Similarly, the policy was built in the industrial sector, and if in the early 1960s the socialist industrial sector produced 85% of the total social product, then by the beginning of the 70s the share of people's (state) enterprises in industrial production was already 94.9%.

In Germany, by the mid-1950s, after a slight slowdown in economic growth, a new upsurge began, caused by an influx of capital, a significant renewal of technical production, and government measures to revive heavy industry. In 1953-56, the annual increase in industrial output was 10-15%. In terms of industrial production, Germany ranked third in the world after the United States and Great Britain, and surpassed Great Britain in some types of production. At the same time, small and medium-sized businesses formed the basis of the rapidly growing economy: in 1953, enterprises with less than 500 employees provided more than half of all jobs in the economy, unemployment had a steady downward trend (from 10.3% in 1950 to 1.2% in 1960).

By the beginning of the 1960s. In terms of industrial production and exports, Germany was second only to the United States. It accounted for more than 60.5% of coal production, about half of steel production, about 40% of exports and 35% of imports of the EEC ("Common Market"). Agriculture also flourished. For example, in 1934–1938, the average annual wheat yield in the country was 22.3 centners per hectare, while in 1967 and 1968 it was 41.2 and 42.3 centners per hectare, respectively. A special mention deserves the agrarian reform, which betrayed the bulk of the land to small and medium-sized owners.

Among the factors that contributed to such a successful development of the German economy, the following should be mentioned:

• the western part of Germany has historically been formed as the industrial center of the country, where the most qualified labor force is concentrated;
• significant start-up assistance in the initial period of the restoration of the national economy under the Marshall Plan (3.9 billion dollars), especially the supply of industrial equipment, which contributed to the inclusion of the FRG in the scientific and technological revolution;
• state support for entrepreneurial activity, stake on the creation of medium-sized enterprises. Already in 1953, more than half of all employees worked at enterprises with up to 500 people;
• rooting in all branches of the national economy of the latest achievements of scientific and technological revolution;
• minimum military spending: until 1955-1957 they were limited only to financing the occupying forces, which cost the country 2–2.5 times cheaper than maintaining its own army;
• a multimillion-dollar influx of refugees from the Soviet occupation zone, which became an additional source of labor. For the economy of the FRG, refugees from the GDR gave a lot, so the cost of human capital transferred from the GDR was 2.6 billion marks annually in the FRG in the 50s (savings in education and training of personnel). In 1960, the share of refugees and migrants (not only from the GDR, but also from other countries of Eastern Europe) amounted to 30.7% of all wage laborers in the FRG;
• maintaining "class" peace in the country thanks to a reasonable social policy of the state.

The fact that as early as 15 years after the Second World War, Germany came out on top in Europe in terms of economic development, having outstripped its winners in economic terms, speaks of the high efficiency of the reforms at the turn of the 1940s-1950s, which became a reliable launching pad for the development of the West German economy. For the socio-economic model of the GDR, all the shortcomings characteristic of the command-administrative system of state socialism were inherent. Thus, the planned economy largely deprived the citizens of the GDR of personal initiative and independence, the middle stratum of society was completely eliminated as the basis for economic development, entrepreneurship and labor activity were paralyzed. As a result, the productivity of the economy was relatively low compared to Western countries. In 1979 it was 46% of the Western level and by 1989 it had fallen to 30-40%.

Today, many Germans fundamentally do not want to divide the country into West and East and prefer to forget about the remnants of the past. However, even more than twenty years after the unification, significant economic and institutional differences remain between the two parts of the country, not in favor of the eastern region of Germany.

Germany

The German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) is a socialist state founded on October 7, 1949 in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and the eastern (Soviet) sector of Berlin. The republic officially ceased to exist and was merged with the FRG at 00:00 CET on October 3, 1990.

On June 9, 1945, on the territory where the Soviet troops were located, the Soviet military administration in Germany (SVAG, ceased to exist in October 1949 after the proclamation of the GDR and the Soviet Control Commission was formed instead), its first commander in chief was G. K. . Zhukov.

The proclamation of the GDR took place five months later in response to the creation on the territory of the three western occupation zones of the FRG; on October 7, 1949, the Constitution of the GDR was proclaimed.

The most important milestones in the history of the GDR:

July 1952 - at the II conference of the SED, a course was proclaimed for building socialism in the GDR

The conditions for economic recovery in the GDR were noticeably more difficult than in the FRG: there were more fierce battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, which caused enormous destruction, a significant proportion of mineral deposits and heavy industry enterprises ended up in the FRG, and reparations of the USSR were also a heavier burden.

At the beginning of 1952, the question of German unification was raised. By decision of the UN, a commission was established to conduct general elections. However, by Stalin's decision, representatives of the commission were not allowed into the territory of the GDR. Stalin's death the following year did not change the situation.

The events of June 17, 1953 led to the fact that, instead of collecting reparations, the USSR began to provide economic assistance to the GDR. In the context of the aggravation of the foreign policy situation around the German issue and the mass exodus of qualified personnel from the GDR to West Berlin, on August 13, 1961, the construction of a system of barrier structures between the GDR and West Berlin began - the "Berlin Wall".

In the early 1970s began a gradual normalization of relations between the two German states. In June 1973, the Treaty on the Fundamentals of Relations between the GDR and the FRG came into force. In September 1973 the GDR became a full member of the UN and other international organizations. On November 8, 1973, the GDR officially recognized the FRG and established diplomatic relations with it.

In the second half of the 1980s, economic difficulties began to increase in the country, in the fall of 1989 a socio-political crisis arose, as a result, the leadership of the SED resigned (October 24 - Erich Honecker, November 7 - Willy Shtof). The new Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED on November 9 decided to allow citizens of the GDR to travel abroad privately without good reason, resulting in the spontaneous fall of the "Berlin Wall". After the victory of the CDU in the elections on March 18, 1990, the new government of Lothar de Maizière began intensive negotiations with the government of the Federal Republic of Germany on issues of German unification. In May and August 1990, two Treaties were signed containing the conditions for the accession of the GDR to the FRG. On September 12, 1990, the Treaty on the Final Settlement with regard to Germany was signed in Moscow, which contained decisions on the entire range of issues of German unification. In accordance with the decision of the People's Chamber, the GDR joined the FRG on October 3, 1990.

In 1949, four years after the end of the Second World War, two German states were formed: in the east the German Democratic Republic, the GDR, and the FRG, the Federal Republic of Germany in the west. Although each had its own government, they were not completely independent. In the GDR, policy was dictated by the Soviet Union, while the FRG was influenced by Great Britain, France, and the United States.

In March 1952, the USSR proposed to the United States, Great Britain and France to peacefully resolve the German issue: to unite the GDR and the FRG again into one independent state and make it politically neutral. But the members of the Western Union were against such a plan. They wanted the FRG to belong to the West. They believed that a neutral Germany would fall under the influence of the Soviet Union. The then liberal-conservative government was also strongly in favor of an alliance with the West.

After 1952, the differences between the two Germanys intensified. In 1956, countries acquired their own armies. The GDR became a member of the Warsaw Union, and the FRG joined NATO.

While economic problems in the GDR grew like a snowball, business in the FRG developed and prospered. The standard of living in the two countries differed strikingly. This was the first reason why thousands of East Germans fled to West Germany. In the end, the GDR closed its borders and introduced armed control over them. In 1961, the last stone was laid on the wall that divided the two Germanys.

During the Cold War years, from 1952 to 1969, the two German states were in contact only through trade. In June 1953, East Berlin and other cities in East Germany rioted against the communist dictatorship and economy, but Soviet tanks calmed the popular unrest. In Germany, the majority of citizens were satisfied with the government's policy. However, here too, in the 1960s, a wave of protests and student demonstrations against capitalism and too close ties with the United States swept through.

The first political negotiations between the two countries began in 1969. This was the so-called "Ostpolitik" of the then Chancellor Willy Brandt and his government of Social Democrats and Liberals. In 1972, the GDR and the FRG signed an agreement on the foundations of relations. The agreement improved political and economic contacts between the two countries. More and more West Germans were able to visit their relatives in the GDR, but few East Germans were allowed to travel west.

In the autumn of 1989, Hungary opened its Austrian borders, thus giving the citizens of the GDR the opportunity to flee to western Germany. Many have left their country this way. Others fled to the German embassy in Warsaw and Prague and remained there until they received permission to enter the Western Republic.

Soon mass demonstrations broke out in Leipzig, Dresden and other eastern cities. At first, it was only about free travel to the countries of the West and especially West Germany, free elections and a free economy. But soon calls for the unification of the two Germanys sounded louder and louder. Opposition factions sprang up, and a few weeks later the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) resigned.

The process of unification of Germany, which lasts in 1989-90 in the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany, is called by the Germans die Wende (Wende). It includes four main periods:

1. Peaceful Revolution, a time of mass protests and demonstrations (on Mondays) against the political system of the GDR and for human rights. This period lasted throughout the fall of 1989.
2. The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 and the press conference of the Politburo, where Günter Schabowski announced the opening of checkpoints (border crossings)
3. The transition of the GDR to democracy, which in March 1990 led to the first and only democratic elections to the People's Chamber.
4. The process of German reunification with the signing of the Unification Treaty in August 1990, the Treaty of the Final Settlement with regard to Germany in September and, finally, the annexation of five German states to the FRG.

The German Democratic Republic, or GDR for short, is a country located in the Center of Europe and marked on maps for exactly 41 years. This is the westernmost country of the socialist camp that existed at that time, formed in 1949 and became part of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990.

German Democratic Republic

In the north, the border of the GDR ran along the Baltic Sea, on land it bordered on the FRG, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Its area was 108 thousand square kilometers. The population was 17 million people. The capital of the country was East Berlin. The entire territory of the GDR was divided into 15 districts. In the center of the country was the territory of West Berlin.

Location of the GDR

On a small territory of the GDR there was a sea, mountains and plains. The north was washed by the Baltic Sea, which forms several bays and shallow lagoons. They are connected to the sea by straits. She owned the islands, the largest of them - Rügen, Usedom and Pel. There are many rivers in the country. The largest are the Oder, Elbe, their tributaries Havel, Spree, Saale, as well as the Main - a tributary of the Rhine. Of the many lakes, the largest are Müritz, Schweriner See, Plauer See.

In the south, the country was framed by low mountains, significantly cut by rivers: from the west, the Harz, from the south-west, the Thuringian Forest, from the south, the Ore Mountains with the highest peak Fichtelberg (1212 meters). The north of the territory of the GDR was located on the Central European Plain, to the south lay the plain of the Macklenburg Lake District. South of Berlin stretches a strip of sandy plains.

East Berlin

It has been restored almost completely. The city was divided into occupation zones. After the creation of the FRG, its eastern part became part of the GDR, and the western part was an enclave, surrounded on all sides by the territory of East Germany. According to the constitution of Berlin (Western), the land on which it was located belonged to the Federal Republic of Germany. The capital of the GDR was a major center of science and culture of the country.

The Academies of Sciences and Arts, many higher educational institutions were located here. Concert halls and theaters hosted outstanding musicians and artists from all over the world. Many parks and alleys served as decoration for the capital of the GDR. Sports facilities were erected in the city: stadiums, swimming pools, courts, competition grounds. The most famous park for the inhabitants of the USSR was Treptow Park, in which a monument to the liberator soldier was erected.

Big cities

The majority of the country's population was urban dwellers. In a small country, there were several cities with a population of more than half a million people. The large cities of the former German Democratic Republic, as a rule, had a rather ancient history. These are the cultural and economic centers of the country. The largest cities include Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig. The cities of East Germany were badly damaged. But Berlin suffered the most, where the fighting went literally for every house.

The largest cities were located in the south of the country: Karl-Marx-Stadt (Meissen), Dresden and Leipzig. Every city in the GDR was famous for something. Rostock, located in northern Germany, is a modern port city. The world-famous porcelain was produced in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Meissen). In Jena, there was the famous Carl Zeiss factory, which produced lenses, including for telescopes, famous binoculars and microscopes were produced here. This city was also famous for its universities and scientific institutions. This is a city of students. Schiller and Goethe once lived in Weimar.

Karl-Marx-Stadt (1953-1990)

This city, founded in the 12th century in the land of Saxony, now bears its original name - Chemnitz. It is the center of textile engineering and textile industry, machine tool building and mechanical engineering. The city was completely destroyed by British and American bombers and rebuilt after the war. There are small islands of old buildings left.

Leipzig

The city of Leipzig, located in Saxony, was one of the largest cities in the German Democratic Republic before the unification of the GDR and the FRG. 32 kilometers away is another major German city - Halle, which is located in Saxony-Anhalt. Together, the two cities form an urban agglomeration with a population of 1,100,000 people.

The city has long been the cultural and scientific center of Central Germany. It is known for its universities as well as fairs. Leipzig is one of the most developed industrial regions in East Germany. Since the late Middle Ages, Leipzig has been a recognized center of printing and bookselling in Germany.

The greatest composer Johann Sebastian Bach lived and worked in this city, as well as the famous Felix Mendelssohn. The city is still famous for its musical traditions. Since ancient times, Leipzig has been a major trading center; until the last war, the famous fur trades were held here.

Dresden

The pearl among German cities is Dresden. The Germans themselves call it Florence on the Elbe, as there are many baroque architectural monuments here. The first mention of it was recorded in 1206. Dresden has always been the capital: since 1485 - the Margraviate of Meissen, since 1547 - the Electorate of Saxony.

It is located on the Elbe River. The border with the Czech Republic passes 40 kilometers from it. It is the administrative center of Saxony. Its population is about 600,000 inhabitants.

The city suffered greatly from the bombing of US and British aircraft. Up to 30,000 residents and refugees perished, most of them elderly, women and children. During the bombardment, the castle-residence, the Zwinger complex, and the Semperoper were badly destroyed. Almost the entire historical center lay in ruins.

In order to restore architectural monuments, after the war, all the surviving parts of the buildings were dismantled, rewritten, numbered and taken out of the city. Everything that could not be restored was cleared away.

The old city was a flat area on which most of the monuments were gradually restored. The government of the GDR came up with a proposal to revive the old city, which lasted almost forty years. For residents, new quarters and avenues were built around the old city.

Coat of arms of the GDR

Like any country, the GDR had its own coat of arms, described in Chapter 1 of the constitution. The coat of arms of the German Democratic Republic consisted of a golden hammer superimposed on each other, embodying the working class, and a compass, personifying the intelligentsia. They were surrounded by a golden wreath of wheat, representing the peasantry, intertwined with ribbons of the national flag.

Flag of the GDR

The flag of the German Democratic Republic was an elongated panel consisting of four equal width stripes painted in the national colors of Germany: black, red and gold. In the middle of the flag was the coat of arms of the GDR, which distinguished it from the flag of the FRG.

Prerequisites for the formation of the GDR

The history of the GDR covers a very short period of time, but it is still being studied with great attention by German scientists. The country was in strict isolation from the FRG and the entire Western world. After the surrender of Germany in May 1945, there were occupation zones, there were four of them, since the former state ceased to exist. All power in the country, with all management functions, formally passed to the military administrations.

The transitional period was complicated by the fact that Germany, especially its eastern part, where the German resistance was desperate, lay in ruins. The barbaric bombardments by British and American aircraft were intended to intimidate the civilian population of the cities that were liberated by the Soviet army, to turn them into a heap of ruins.

In addition, there was no agreement between the former allies regarding the vision of the future of the country, and this is what subsequently led to the creation of two countries - the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

Basic Principles for the Reconstruction of Germany

Even at the Yalta Conference, the basic principles for the restoration of Germany were considered, which were later fully agreed upon and approved at the conference in Potsdam by the victorious countries: the USSR, Great Britain and the USA. They were also approved by the countries that participated in the war against Germany, in particular France, and contained the following provisions:

• Complete destruction of the totalitarian state.
• Complete ban on the NSDAP and all organizations associated with it.
• The complete liquidation of the punitive organizations of the Reich, such as the SA, SS, SD services, as they were recognized as criminal.
• The army was completely liquidated.
• Racial and political laws were abolished.
• Gradual and consistent implementation of denazification, demilitarization and democratization.

The decision of the German question, which included a peace treaty, was entrusted to the Council of Ministers of the victorious countries. On June 5, 1945, the victorious states promulgated the Declaration of the Defeat of Germany, according to which the country was divided into four occupation zones controlled by the administrations of Great Britain (the largest zone), the USSR, the USA and France. The capital of Germany, Berlin, was also divided into zones. The decision of all issues was entrusted to the Control Council, it included representatives of the victorious countries.

Party of Germany

In Germany, in order to restore statehood, the formation of new political parties that would be democratic in nature was allowed. In the eastern sector, emphasis was placed on the revival of the Communist and Social Democratic Party of Germany, which soon merged into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1946). Its goal was to build a socialist state. It was the ruling party in the German Democratic Republic.

In the western sectors, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) party formed in June 1945 became the main political force. In 1946, the CSU (Christian-Social Union) was formed in Bavaria according to this principle. Their basic principle is a democratic republic based on market economy based on the rights of private property.

Political confrontations on the issue of the post-war structure of Germany between the USSR and the rest of the coalition countries were so serious that their further aggravation would lead either to a split of the state or to a new war.

Formation of the German Democratic Republic

In December 1946, Great Britain and the United States, ignoring numerous proposals from the USSR, announced the merger of their two zones. She was abbreviated as "Bizonia". This was preceded by the refusal of the Soviet administration to supply agricultural products to the western zones. In response to this, transit shipments of equipment exported from factories and plants in East Germany and located in the Ruhr region to the USSR zone were stopped.

At the beginning of April 1949, France also joined the Bizonia, as a result of which Trizonia was formed, from which the Federal Republic of Germany was subsequently formed. Thus, the Western powers, having entered into an agreement with the big German bourgeoisie, created a new state. In response to this, at the end of 1949, the German Democratic Republic was created. Berlin, or rather its Soviet zone, became its center and capital.

The People's Council was temporarily reorganized into the People's Chamber, which adopted the Constitution of the GDR, which passed a nationwide discussion. 09/11/1949 the first president of the GDR was elected. It was the legendary Wilhelm Pick. At the same time, the government of the GDR was temporarily created, headed by O. Grotewohl. The military administration of the USSR transferred all functions of governing the country to the government of the GDR.

The Soviet Union did not want the division of Germany. They were repeatedly made proposals for the unification and development of the country in accordance with the Potsdam decisions, but they were regularly rejected by Great Britain and the United States. Even after the division of Germany into two countries, Stalin made proposals for the unification of the GDR and the FRG, provided that the decisions of the Potsdam Conference were observed and that Germany was not drawn into any political and military blocs. But the Western states refused to do so, ignoring Potsdam's decisions.

The political system of the GDR

The form of government of the country was based on the principle of people's democracy, in which a bicameral parliament operated. The state system of the country was considered to be bourgeois-democratic, in which socialist transformations took place. The German Democratic Republic included the lands of the former Germany of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The lower (people's) chamber was elected by universal secret ballot. The upper chamber was called the Land Chamber, the executive body was the government, which consisted of the prime minister and ministers. It was formed by appointment, which was carried out by the largest faction of the People's Chamber.

The administrative-territorial division consisted of lands, consisting of districts, divided into communities. The functions of the legislature were carried out by the Landtags, the executive bodies were the governments of the lands.

The People's Chamber - the highest body of the state - consisted of 500 deputies, who were elected by the people by secret ballot for a term of 4 years. It was represented by all parties and public organizations. The People's Chamber, acting on the basis of laws, made the most important decisions on the development of the country, dealt with relations between organizations, observing the rules for cooperation between citizens, state organizations and associations; adopted the main law - the Constitution and other laws of the country.

Economy of the GDR

After the partition of Germany, the economic situation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was very difficult. This part of Germany was very badly destroyed. The equipment of plants and factories was taken out to the western sectors of Germany. The GDR was simply cut off from the historical raw material bases, most of which were in the FRG. There was a shortage of such natural resources as ore and coal. There were few specialists: engineers, executives, who left for the FRG, frightened by propaganda about the brutal reprisal of Russians.

With the help of the Union and other Commonwealth countries, the economy of the GDR gradually began to gain momentum. Businesses were restored. It was believed that centralized leadership and a planned economy served as a deterrent to the development of the economy. It should be taken into account that the restoration of the country took place in isolation from the western part of Germany, in an atmosphere of tough confrontation between the two countries, open provocations.

Historically, the eastern regions of Germany were mostly agricultural, and in its western part, rich in coal and deposits of metal ores, heavy industry, metallurgy and engineering were concentrated.

Without the financial and material assistance of the Soviet Union, it would have been impossible to achieve an early restoration of industry. For the losses suffered by the USSR during the war years, the GDR paid him reparation payments. Since 1950, their volume has been halved, and in 1954 the USSR refused to receive them.

Foreign policy situation

The construction of the Berlin Wall by the German Democratic Republic became a symbol of the intransigence of the two blocs. The eastern and western blocs of Germany were building up their military forces, provocations from the western bloc became more frequent. It came to open sabotage and arson. The propaganda machine worked at full power, using economic and political difficulties. Germany, like many Western European countries, did not recognize the GDR. The peak of the aggravation of relations occurred in the early 1960s.

The so-called "German crisis" also arose thanks to West Berlin, which, legally being the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany, was located in the very center of the GDR. The border between the two zones was conditional. As a result of the confrontation between NATO blocs and the Warsaw bloc countries, the SED Politburo decides to build a border around West Berlin, which was a reinforced concrete wall 106 km long and 3.6 m high and a metal mesh fence 66 km long. She stood from August 1961 until November 1989.

After the merger of the GDR and the FRG, the wall was demolished, only a small section remained, which became the Berlin Wall memorial. In October 1990, the GDR became part of the FRG. The history of the German Democratic Republic, which existed for 41 years, is intensively studied and researched by scientists of modern Germany.

Despite the propaganda discrediting of this country, scientists are well aware that it gave Western Germany a lot. In a number of parameters, she surpassed her Western brother. Yes, the joy of reunification was genuine for the Germans, but it is not worth belittling the importance of the GDR, one of the most developed countries in Europe, and many in modern Germany understand this very well.