The defeat of Germany in World War II immediately raised the question of future fate of this state. By the time the Act of Unconditional Surrender of Germany was signed, the territory of the country was occupied by Soviet, American, British and French troops. Almost the entire economic infrastructure of Germany was destroyed, government organizations and management structures were absent after the defeat in the war. Naturally, the Allies faced a very difficult task - not only to eliminate any possible manifestations of resistance on the part of the “ideological” Nazis, but also to completely reorganize the future life of the country.
The question of what to do with Germany in the event of its defeat began to be discussed by the allies long before victory in the war. At the Tehran Conference, held from November 28 to December 1, 1943, the question was raised about whether post-war Germany should be divided. Franklin Roosevelt proposed creating five autonomous states instead of a united Germany; Winston Churchill also advocated the dismemberment of Germany, emphasizing the need for the separation of Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg from Germany. Churchill proposed including these territories, along with Austria and Hungary, in a separate Danube Confederation. Stalin opposed the division of Germany. His words that even if Germany were divided, nothing would prevent it from uniting subsequently turned out to be prophetic. On September 12, 1944, a protocol was signed in London on the creation of three occupation zones - eastern, northwestern and southwestern. After the victory, Berlin was to be divided into three occupation zones.
From February 4 to February 11, 1945, when it was already clear that victory over Hitler's Germany approaching, the Yalta Conference was held, at which it was decided to allocate a fourth zone of occupation - the French one. Although France's contribution to the victory over Germany cannot be compared with the contribution of Great Britain and the United States, not to mention the contribution Soviet Union, Winston Churchill insisted on the allocation of a French occupation zone. He motivated this by the fact that France, sooner or later, will still have to make efforts to contain possible aggression from Germany in the event of its revival, since France has a large common border with Germany and a long history of negative interaction with this country. Stalin opposed the allocation of a French zone of occupation and the involvement of France in control of post-war Germany, however, despite the position of the Soviet side, Great Britain still managed to push its line. On May 1, 1945, a week before Germany's surrender, France was also included in the control mechanism.
On June 5, 1945, the Declaration of the defeat of Germany and the assumption of supreme power in relation to Germany by the governments of the Soviet Union was signed in Berlin. Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and the provisional government of the French Republic. From the Soviet Union, the declaration was signed by Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, from the USA - Army General Dwight David Eisenhower, from Great Britain - Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, from France - Army General Jean Marie de Lattre de Tassigny. The declaration emphasized that since in Germany at the time of its signing there is no central government or forces capable of taking responsibility for governing the country, fulfilling the demands of the victorious powers and ensuring order, the supreme power in Germany is assumed by the governments of the allied countries - the USSR, the USA, Great Britain and the provisional government of France. At the same time, it was discussed that this decision was not annexation of Germany. That is, initially the talk was about joint governance of Germany as a temporary measure that would sooner or later be canceled. On June 6, 1945, the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France officially divided German territory into four zones of occupation.
The eastern occupation zone was placed under the control of the Soviet Union under the control of the Soviet military administration. It included the lands of East Germany, which by the time the Act of Unconditional Surrender was signed were occupied by Soviet troops. These were Saxony, Thuringia, Halle-Merseburg, Magdeburg, Anhalt, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg and Vorpommern. To manage the Soviet occupation zone, a Soviet military administration in Germany was created with headquarters in the Berlin district of Karlshorst (the administration was initially located on the Holzdorf estate near Weimar).
Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was entrusted with leading the Soviet military administration in Germany; Army General Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky (deputy commander of the 1st Belorussian Front) was appointed his first deputy. Colonel General Vladimir Vasilyevich Kurasov (Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army) became the chief of staff of the Soviet military administration. Commissar of State Security 2nd Rank Ivan Aleksandrovich Serov (Chief of the Rear Security Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front) became Deputy for Civil Administration Affairs, and Major General of the Quartermaster Service Semyon Ivanovich Shabalin (Member of the Military Council of the 2nd Front) became Deputy Head of the Economic Department. Baltic Front in the rear). The structure of the Soviet military administration included 5 territorial departments in Saxony, Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg and Brandenburg and a separate Office of the Military Commandant of the Soviet Sector of the Occupation of Berlin.
One of the main tasks of the Soviet military administration was the organization of German forces proper, which could assist the Red Army, and in the future form the basis of a pro-Soviet German government. For this purpose, prominent figures of the communist and anti-fascist movement began to arrive from the USSR to Germany. Back in April 1945, before the surrender of Germany, the “Ulbricht group” arrived from Moscow - German communists led by Walter Ulbricht. On June 10, 1945, the commander-in-chief of the SVAG, Marshal Zhukov, by his order allowed the activities of non-fascist political parties in the Soviet zone of occupation, after which the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) were recreated, which on April 21, 1946 united into the Socialist United party of Germany (SED). Already in the summer of 1946, the SED began preparations for elections to local and land authorities.
Great Britain has traditionally considered the north-west of Germany to be its sphere of interests. The British zone of occupation included Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. The headquarters of the British military administration was located in the city of Bad Oeynhausen. Governance bodies were created - the Control Commission for Germany, headed by the British military governor, and the Zonal Advisory Council, which included representatives of civil administrations and political parties operating in the British occupation zone.
The southwestern or American zone of occupation included Bavaria, Hesse, North Baden and North Württemberg. The American military administration was also headed by a military governor. Three lands were allocated as part of the occupation zone - Gross-Hesse, Württemberg-Baden and Bavaria, and a civilian Land Council and a Parliamentary Council were created, despite the fact that only the American military command still had real power.
The Western or French zone of occupation included the Saarland, South Baden and South Württemberg, southern part Rhineland, two districts of Hesse and four districts of Hesse-Nassau, Lindau region. Unlike the British and American commands, the French command abandoned the idea of creating a single German civilian governing body in the controlled territories. In the future, part of the occupied territories, according to the provisional government of France, was to join France, the Saar region was to be integrated into the French financial and economic system, and a federal state was created in Württemberg. Of all the powers, France was most interested in the dismemberment and weakening of Germany, since for its own it repeatedly fought with Germany and these wars usually ended in failure for France. General Charles de Gaulle even stated in October 1945 that he hoped France would never see a strong Germany again.
Already in 1946, relations between yesterday's allies began to rapidly deteriorate. The Soviet Union stopped food supplies to the western occupation zones, after which Great Britain and the United States decided to unite their occupation zones into a single Bisonia. Unified governing bodies were created, which were faced with the main task of improving the economy and normalizing living conditions in the territories occupied by American and British troops.
One of the main tasks that both the British and American military administrations set themselves was the preservation of the industrial and especially the military-industrial potential of “old” Germany, which the Allies sought to use for their own purposes, namely, for the upcoming opposition to Soviet expansion in Europe. Therefore, in the British and American occupation zones, in 1947 alone, about 450 military factories were hidden from accounting. They were to form the backbone of the future military industry of West Germany.
France did not join the joint Anglo-American project of unifying the occupation zones for quite a long time. It was not until June 3, 1948 that France decided to unite the western occupation zone with Bisonia, resulting in the creation of Trizonia. Great Britain and the United States managed to “bribe” France with the promise of creating a collective governing body for the Ruhr region without involving the Soviet Union. Great Britain, the USA and France, having created Trizonia, agreed with the Marshall Plan and the further economic modernization of Germany under the control of the Western powers. At the same time, the Saar region, for which France had special plans, remained under French protectorate for almost 10 more years - until 1957. On September 7, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was created on the basis of Trizonia. A new page was turned in the history of post-war Europe, in which the occupation zones were to become sovereign states.
In the Soviet occupation zone, until 1948, a policy of denazification was actively pursued, within the framework of which the local administrative apparatus was purged of former NSDAP activists, as well as potential opponents of the Soviet Union, including representatives of bourgeois political parties. The creation of the Federal Republic of Germany by the Soviet Union was met negatively. The lands that were part of the Soviet occupation zone did not recognize the formation and constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, after which on May 15–16, 1949, elections of delegates to the German People's Congress were held. On May 30, 1949, the German People's Congress adopted the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic. The GDR included five states that were under the control of the Soviet military administration - Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Mecklenburg and Brandenburg. Thus, a second German independent state was created, which, unlike the Federal Republic of Germany, was under the ideological, political and military control of the Soviet Union.
Thus, in reality, the division of Germany was carried out rather on the initiative of the Western powers, who were very afraid of leftist forces coming to power in post-war Germany and turning it into a country friendly to the Soviet Union. It was Joseph Stalin who, even at the Tehran Conference, showed himself to be a consistent opponent of the dismemberment of Germany into independent states, and in 1945, after the victory, he declared that the Soviet Union was not going to either dismember or destroy Germany. Only when the West openly decided to create a new German state in its occupation zones did the Soviet Union have no choice but to support the creation of the German Democratic Republic.
Forty seconds extra years In place of Germany, two independent states were formed, one of which belonged to the Western bloc, and the other to the socialist camp. Germany has become one of the key military-political allies of the United States in Europe and the foundation of NATO. The treacherous policy of the Soviet leadership at the turn of the 1980s - 1990s, in turn, led to the fact that the GDR ceased to exist, becoming part of the Federal Republic of Germany, but the West did not fulfill its promises - the Federal Republic of Germany remained in NATO, on its territory American bases and troops remain, she still plays vital role in the US anti-Russian military strategy in Europe.
Post-war situation of the German economy
After World War II, Germany was divided into two independent states: the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. The dire state of the German economy, in addition to military devastation, was influenced by the dismantling of equipment at industrial enterprises, adopted by the decision of the Potsdam Conference of the Heads of Government of the victorious powers in the war on August 2, 1945. as compensation for damages, as well as the division of the country. In 1948, with the direct participation of L. Erhard, the architect of the economic revival policy of West Germany, an economist and statesman (first the Minister of Economy, and then the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany), monetary and economic reform was carried out.
A carefully prepared economic reform was carried out simultaneously with monetary reform, price reform, and the restructuring of centralized government. The old system was destroyed all at once, not gradually. The price increase stopped after about six months. The success of the reform was determined by timely adjustments (for example, a revision of the exchange rate of the national currency) and the presence of strong and authoritative power. Erhard is considered a representative of the neoliberal trend, but he was not a “pure” neoliberal and widely used state levers to transition to the principles of liberalism. Following the monetary reform administrative distribution of resources and control over them were abolished.
Industry
In the historically established unified pre-war German economy, the territory of the current GDR was an industrially poorly developed area that was largely dependent on its western part. Before the war, the eastern part exported 45% of all industrial and agricultural products from the western part. The raw material base, metallurgical, energy and heavy industry were located mainly in the western regions of Germany. In addition, as a result of the war, 45% of the equipment of the already poorly developed industry, 70% of energy capacity and 40% of agricultural machinery were disabled. Compared to 1936, the volume of industrial production in the territory of the current GDR was only 42%. The entire existing economic base consisted of just a single blast furnace, the traditional textile industry, including textile engineering, precision mechanics and optics. Due to the split of Germany due to the fault of the Western powers, which formed a separate West German state, the GDR found itself cut off from the traditional centers of heavy industry, metallurgy and energy. In 1949, the year the GDR was founded, the young state lacked entire industries, and those that existed were very underdeveloped. At the cost of incredible efforts, the workers managed to overcome the most harmful imbalances during the first years of construction.
With the help of the Soviet Union, entire industries were re-created, including the energy base, metallurgy, machine tool building, and a significant part of light industry. The referendum of June 30, 1946 on the gratuitous expropriation of 3,843 enterprises of active Nazis and war criminals, as well as large landowners, provided the democratic basis for converting numerous enterprises into public property. At the same time, this expropriation and democratic land reform marked the beginning of the process of transferring economic power into the hands of the working class in alliance with the peasantry and all other sections of the working people. In subsequent years, with the help of the Soviet Union, workers created numerous new enterprises. These were very difficult years of industrial construction. They demanded enormous effort from all workers and cost them great hardships. Imperialist circles hostile to socialism tried to delay the new development, hinder it and even disrupt it.
They maliciously used the state border between the GDR and West Berlin, which was open until 1961, undermining the currency regime of the GDR, luring highly qualified specialists from there and exporting them to West Berlin a large number of vital consumer goods. According to official data, due to the existence of the open border of the GDR until 1961, material damage amounting to over 100 billion marks was caused. After the implementation of measures to ensure the security of the state border of the GDR in 1961, there was a significant economic recovery. After almost all the peasants, who had previously been individual farmers, united into agricultural production cooperatives, socialist property became the solid economic basis of the GDR. After the VI Congress of the SED, held in 1963 and deciding on the extensive construction of socialism, great efforts were made to develop, test and put into practice effective ways and methods of managing and planning industry and all other areas of the national economy.
Political reform
The principle of a democratic state made it possible to express the will of citizens. The focus of the fundamental law is on the individual, for the state should serve the people and not dominate them. Political system Germany is defined by 4 principles of the state: democratic; federal; legal; social.
Marshall Plan On June 5, 1947, George Marshall, then US Secretary of State, announced the European Recovery Program. A year later, the American Congress adopted this plan, which included billions in loans. It included not only financial resources, but also supplies of equipment and gifts. Until 1952, the United States sent funds from the program
Germany after World War II. Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949. Berlin Crisis. Division of the country
The Second World War ended for Germany with the defeat and collapse of the fascist regime in the country.
This created the conditions for the construction of a new, democratic German state.
Germany again, like 27 years ago ( after the First World War), I had to start everything almost from scratch.
However, now the situation was complicated by two more factors:
1. The difficult economic situation of the country caused by the consequences of the war;
2. Contradictions between allies ( more precisely, between the USSR and the allies) on the issue of further development of the country. At the same time, each side sought to make Germany a sphere of influence;
The consequences of the war for Germany were more severe than for many other European states.
Losses amounted to 13.5 million, cities were destroyed, industry was destroyed or dismantled ( allies - these are freaks!
Real marauders! The USSR exported everything from Germany - from ships to buttons). The country's economy experienced a shortage of workers (the male population died in the war). There is general speculation in the country, and the “black market” is thriving. There is not enough housing. The country's financial system is destroyed - no money has a price. Most of the population is starving.
The formation of the new German state had to take place under extremely difficult conditions.
To further complicate the situation, the following:
Such starting conditions did not bode well for anything good - and so it turned out - the future justified the worst fears (everything happened except World War III…).
With the end of hostilities, German territory was divided into occupation zones(4 – USA, UK, France, USSR).
This was necessary for a coordinated solution to priority problems, after which, by agreement between the allies, power was to pass to the new German authorities.
To govern the country, a special body was created, which included all the allies - Control Board(commanders of four armies who became military governors).
These were exactly what the Control Council carried out. The main place in them was occupied by a policy called “ four D»:
| Demilitarization | Liquidation of the country's military industry. Transferring the economy to peaceful construction. Elimination of monopolies that led the country to war. Dissolution of the Reichswehr (German army). |
| Denazification | Prohibition and dissolution of all fascist organizations ( NSDAP, SS, and others). Prohibition of any paramilitary formations. Removing Nazis from the state apparatus and bringing fascist criminals to justice. |
| Democratization | Restoration of all political (and other) rights and freedoms. Creation of a democratic party system, holding democratic elections. |
| Decentralization | Restoration of the federal structure of the country and local self-government. Formation of local authorities. |
Initially, the Allied policy towards Germany was carried out in one direction.
The implementation of the most important activities listed above did not raise any doubts or particular disagreements.
However, when determining the paths for further development of the country, such disagreements appeared very quickly. And that's why:
After implementing the plan " four D", the next stage was to be the creation of German government bodies and the transfer of power to them.
However, by this time, the territory of Germany was increasingly becoming an arena of confrontation between communism and capitalism (USSR and USA). No one wanted to give in - as it turned out very soon, the policies in different zones differed quite significantly.
Soon a line of confrontation emerged - the USSR on one side, the allies (USA, UK, France) on the other. The measures aimed at creating a German state, carried out in the eastern and western zones, were diametrically opposed, and are actually aimed at building different models of the state.
This very quickly led to a political crisis.
Events developed something like this:
| The split of Germany and the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR | |
| "Two-headed policy" | The main difference existed, clearly, between western zones and the USSR zone. In fact, two different states were built on these territories. In the eastern lands, transformations began according to the Soviet model ( building a totalitarian state), while in the Western allies the allies carried out liberal reforms according to their own model. Such differences could not but lead to serious disagreements over the future of the country. They were not long in coming - the Paris session of the Council of Foreign Ministers ( May, 1946) could not solve a single issue. |
| "Economic glitch" | Different economic policies in the occupation zones led to the creation of a special situation:
This situation did not please the USSR at all - as a result, a regime of control over the movement of goods and people was introduced between the zones. |
| "Bisonia" | In the summer of 1946, the situation worsened even more. After the US State Department announced the unification of the American and British zones, such a unification was carried out in December 1946. The merged zone was called " Bisonia" Its main feature was that it was not the occupation forces that operated, but the German authorities- became the main one Economic Council(chapter - L. Erhard). Thus, “Bisonia” became the prototype of the future Germany. |
| Wasted effort | Despite the difficulties, attempts to find common decision for Germany were still ongoing. However, the negotiations were doomed to failure even before they began. This was confirmed by the CMFA session in March 1947. Like the previous one, it did not solve a single problem, but created many new ones. The next one ended with the same “result” (November 1947). After its completion, the parties did not even agree on the next one. This was a bad sign. |
| "Trizonia" | In February 1948, the French occupation zone also became part of “Bisonia” - the “ Trizonia».
Now all Western sectors formed a single economic and political space, almost coinciding with the territory of the future Germany. Power in this territory again belonged to German authorities. |
| "Feint with your ears" | The first event carried out by the German administration was currency reform. It had to solve two main problems:
On the territory of Trizonia, their own brand was introduced, which was not circulated in the Soviet occupation zone. Now Trizonia has become completely independent financially. Currency reform led to two main results:
The USSR regarded the reform as an attempt to proclaim an independent German state and reacted extremely negatively to it. This event predetermined the subsequent development of Germany. |
| "Berlin Crisis" | Currency reform (which the USSR called " separate") the Soviet administration did not like it very much. As a response, they chose, however, primitive tactics “ hit on the head with a sledgehammer"(though, as it turned out, it was his own way...). On June 24, 1948, Soviet troops completely interrupted communications between West Berlin and the rest of the world, organizing a blockade. The USSR hoped that this would force the allies to make concessions in the negotiations. However, the number did not work - the United States organized the delivery of the necessary goods to the blockaded city by air ("air bridge") - for 11 months everything necessary was delivered to the city. The USSR did not have the nerve to shoot down American planes (this would mean war). The blockade had to be stopped. The incident was called the "Berlin Crisis". He finally determined the split of Germany. The positions of the USSR were undermined - after an attempt at forceful pressure, the Germans no longer believed in “ good intentions"of this country. The flow of refugees from east to west has increased. |
| "Yoshkin cat" | After unsuccessful attempts To agree, Western Germany had no choice but to begin developing its own constitution, and postpone the issue of unification for the future. By 1949, both German states began developing their own constitutions - in fact, the split of the country into two parts became a reality. |
Despite the failure of the London Conference (see
chapter " Wasted effort") she still gave some results. The most important of them was the achievement of agreement between Western states (USA, UK, France) on the issue of creating a separate West German state. The formation of such a state was to be consolidated by a new constitution. At the same time, German politicians were asked to convene a Constituent Assembly ( for its acceptance) no later than September 1, 1948.
Such a proposal, although it was quite obvious to the Germans themselves, did not arouse much enthusiasm - it was a clear step towards splitting the country.
At the same time, it was also impossible to leave the situation unchanged.
This issue had to be resolved at a meeting of the prime ministers of the German states (the states already had Landtags And government).
Ultimately, a compromise was reached:
The decisions of the heads of the lands were approved by the allies ( let at least such a constitution than none).
The main goal of forming a Western European state- the creation of a kind of “core”, which would then be joined by the eastern lands. So West Germans tried to find at least some solution to existing problems. Most likely there were no other options.
Parliamentary Council ( 65 members elected by the state parliaments, thus a body formed by indirect elections) began work on September 1, 1948.
(Bonn). The chairman was K. Adenauer (SPD). The bill did not cause much debate - it was assumed that it would soon be replaced by the “real” Constitution ( damn you'll replace it here– because of the USSR, the country was divided for half a century!).
On May 8, 1949, the Basic Law (OZ) was adopted by a majority vote. The Landtags quickly ratified (approved) it. Problems arose only with Bayern ( Well, she always had her own opinion...) who considered OZ “too centralist” ( limiting its “precious” powers in favor of the center).
However, she also pledged to comply with its norms.
On May 23, 1949, the OZ came into force. This became the date of birth of the new German state. It got the name Federal Republic of Germany.
| Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949 | |
| general characteristics | Adopted following the results of the Second World War, the liquidation of the fascist regime in Germany, and post-war conditions in the country. It is the most democratic constitution in German history, and is consistent with most post-war European constitutions ( France, Italy, etc.). I perceived it in myself best features Constitution of 1919, adding new ones to them. The main feature is the basic law was considered temporary, before the unification of the country ( This, however, was only possible to do 50 years later...). Adopted by the Parliamentary Council, consisting of representatives of the states, entered into force on May 23, 1949. |
| Basic principles |
|
| Structure | It is generally traditional - a preamble, 11 sections, 146 articles. No other acts are included in the constitution; the preamble does not contain legal norms and has no legal force. |
| Legal status of the individual | The main advantage of the new constitution. The section containing norms on the rights and freedoms of citizens is in an “honorable” place, starting the constitution ( first section). |
| Form of government | A parliamentary republic in its purest form. The head of state (president) and the head of the executive branch (federal chancellor) are separated, the government is formed through parliamentary means and is responsible to parliament. Significant powers are concentrated in the personal Federal Chancellor (the Federal Republic of Germany is sometimes called " chancellor republic») |
| Change order | Constitution hard type(although not particularly so) – a change requires a qualified majority vote of the Bundestag and Bundesrat. Ratification of amendments by the Länder is not required ( This is not the USA - you’ll cheat there...). |
Formation of the West German state and adoption of the Basic Law, essentially meant the final division of the country.
At the same time, the formation of the socialist German state - the GDR - took place in the eastern lands.
In many ways, the processes that took place during 1949 could still be considered temporary, and hope for the unification of the country still remained. As noted above, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany was temporal- it was assumed that the eastern lands would soon be included in a single German state.
However, in the next few years, the last illusions were dispelled - both German states became the arena of political confrontation between the socialist and capitalist worlds.
In such conditions, we had to forget about unification for a long time - it seemed forever.
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State and political development of Germany after World War II
Second World War(1939-1945) ended in complete military and political defeat for Germany. After the military surrender (May 8, 1945), the former German state both nominally and practically ceased to exist. Power in the country and all management functions passed to the military administration of the powers that occupied Germany.
21.1.1 Potsdam agreements and the creation of the military control department of occupied Germany.
The principles of the post-war structure of Germany were determined by the decisions of the Crimean War (January 1945) and, most importantly, Potsdam conferences (July-August 1945) of the allied states (USSR, USA and Great Britain).
They were supported by France and a number of other countries that were at war with Germany. According to these decisions, the totalitarian state in Germany was to be completely destroyed: the NSDAP and all organizations associated with it were prohibited, most of the punitive institutions of the Reich (including the SA, SS and SD services) were declared criminal, the army was dissolved, racial laws and acts of political significance were repealed .
The country should have consistently carried out decartelization, denazification, demilitarization and democratization. Further solution " German question", including the preparation of a peace treaty, was placed in the hands of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Allied States.
June 5, 1945 The Allied states promulgated the Declaration of the defeat of Germany and the organization of a new order of government.
The country was divided into 4 occupation zones, which were placed under the administration of Great Britain (the largest zone by territory), the USA, the USSR and France; The capital, Berlin, was subject to joint management. For solutions general issues an allied Control Council was formed from the commanders-in-chief of the four occupation armies, in which decisions would be made on the principle of unanimity. Each zone created its own administration, similar to a military governorship.
The governors were entrusted with all issues of restoring civil life, implementing the policy of denazification and demilitarization, as well as the prosecution of Nazi criminals, the return of previously forcibly displaced persons and prisoners of war of all nationalities.
After the establishment of military administration, activities were allowed in all zones political parties democratic direction. The new parties were to play a major role in the restoration of state structures and in the political organization of the population (albeit for different purposes from the perspective of the USSR and the Western powers).
In the eastern zone of occupation (USSR) the dominant political force became the revived Social Democratic and Communist Party. Under pressure from the Soviet administration and under the leadership of leaders who were in the USSR during the war, they merged into Socialist Unity Party of Germany(April 1946), which set the goal of establishing a socialist state in the country in the spirit of revolutionary Marxism and with a complete social reorganization of the country along the Soviet model.
In the occupation zones of the Western powers, the newly formed party became the head of the political processes - Christian Democratic Union(June 1945); in Bavaria, a similar association became Christian Social Union(January 1946). These parties stood on the platform of democratic republicanism, the creation of a social market economy society based on private property.
At the same time, the Social Democratic Party of Germany was revived in the western zones (June 1946). In the autumn of 1946, in an atmosphere of political pluralism, the first elections of local bodies and state councils were held.
Differences in the political courses of the parties in the eastern and western zones led to civil confrontation in the country, which was aggravated by a sharp divergence in the military-political goals of the USSR and the USA in Europe, their positions on the fate of Germany (the USA assumed the political fragmentation of the country into several independent lands, the USSR - the creation single state"people's democracy")
Therefore, the situation predetermined the state division of Germany
21.1.2 Course towards the creation of a West German “welfare state”. The role of the state in regulating the economy.
Allied management of the German economy at first was reduced to the introduction of a system of strict control over production and distribution in order to provide the Germans with essential products and reparation supplies to compensate for damage to countries affected by the war.
The first step towards democratization in Germany was supposed to be decartelization.
According to the Potsdam Agreements, a plan was developed “for reparations and the level of the post-war German economy,” providing for the dismantling of industrial enterprises and the introduction of restrictions and bans on the production of many types of products.
The production of any type of weapons was completely prohibited. However, the Union Control Council was never able to develop general criteria for the concept of “monopoly association”. In this regard, decartelization began to be carried out according to the principle of denazification.
This was facilitated by the fact that a significant part of the large German industrialists were arrested for complicity in the crimes of the Reich, and their property was sequestered. With the exception of that part of it that was used for reparation supplies, it was transferred to the disposal of the lands.
The destruction of major economic potential during decartelization in the Anglo-American zone ended by 1950, in the Soviet zone even earlier.
It also had certain positive consequences, expressed not only in the structural restructuring of industry, in the updating of production technology, but also in a fundamental change in the entire state economic policy, no longer aimed at militarization, but at the restoration and growth of industrial production in for peaceful purposes.
With the beginning" cold war"in 1946-1947.
In the western zones, a policy of improving the German economy began to be increasingly pursued in the name of ensuring “security with the Germans.” The Germans themselves had to restore the economy and determine the strategic direction of its future development.
A series of reforms were carried out aimed at restoring the country’s destroyed financial system (currency reform, tax reform, etc.)
The state decisively refused to finance industrial development.
Only the fuel and energy, mining industry, ferrous metallurgy in 1948-1951. subsidized by the state. Direct government subsidies were subsequently limited to three areas: implementation scientific achievements, social assistance for personnel retraining, development of transport infrastructure.
In January 1948
The central bank was also recreated, called the Bank of German Lands (BNZ), which, according to the law, was supposed to pursue an independent monetary policy, not subject to the instructions of any party, public or state (except judicial) bodies. Moreover, his activities, according to Art. 4 of the Law, was equal to the governing bodies of the united Western economic zone.
In April 1948, the Marshall Plan came into force. Billions of dollars were poured into the German economy.
The new currency was recognized by the population.
During the referendum held back in 1945 on the issue of property in both the Soviet and American zones, preference was given to social forms of ownership. In the American zone this decision was not implemented. In the English zone, the "socialization" of property was vetoed by the occupation authorities. The majority of Germans were inclined to choose some kind of centrist “third course”, the creation of a “social market economy” and a “welfare state”.
Discussions in the Parliamentary Council revolved around two models.
Bourgeois Christian parties proposed the creation of “social capitalism.” Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) - the creation of "democratic socialism". There was a lot between them common points contact.
In the elections of August 14, 1949, the Germans voted for the CDU/CSU, which, together with the small bourgeois parties, received a majority in the Reichstag. They thereby voted for the creation of a “social market economy”, a “welfare state” in Germany.
The creation and maintenance of market competitive orders was identified as a strategic direction.
The state pursued a policy of deconcentration of production, introduced control over the activities of monopolies, over pricing, in every possible way encouraging the creation of new, primarily medium and small firms. For this purpose, we simplified legal forms their registration upon receipt of the status of a legal entity, preferential loans were provided, etc.
The implementation of the social market economy policy led to rapid economic growth, which was called an “economic miracle” in the West German press. The level of pre-war development was achieved in West Germany as a whole by the end of 1950.
Division of Germany.
During 1945 - 1948
the western zones were consolidated. Administrative reforms were carried out in them. In 1945, the division into historical lands was restored, and local representative bodies - Landtags and land governments - were revived under the control of military authorities. The unification of the British and American zones of occupation (into the so-called Bisonia) in December 1946 led to the formation of a unified body of power and administration.
This became the Economic Council (May 1947), elected by the Landtags and authorized to make general financial and economic decisions. In connection with the spread of the American “Marshall Plan” (which provided for financial and economic assistance to devastated Europe) to Germany, these decisions acquired an increasingly unifying significance for the Western zones.
(And at the same time, the implementation of the “Marshall Plan” contributed to the separation of the eastern zone, since the USSR government rejected it). The Council of Lands took shape in Bisonium - a kind of second government chamber, as well as the Supreme Court; in essence, the functions of the central administration were performed by the Administrative Council, controlled by the Economic Council and the Council of Lands.
Further differences between the Western Allies and the USSR regarding the post-war structure of Germany, the difference between the former economic reforms in the East and West of Germany predetermined the course of the Western Allies towards state isolation of the western zones.
In February-March and April-June 1948, at the London conferences of 6 allied countries (USA, UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg), a political decision was made to create a special West German state.
In 1948, the French zone of occupation was annexed to Bisonia (the so-called “Trisonia” was formed). In June 1948
the West German states carried out their own monetary reform. On July 1, 1948, the military governors of the Western powers proclaimed the conditions for the formation of the West German state (according to special instructions to the group for the preparation of the constitution, which began work in August 1948, the Western state was to become federal).
In May 1949, the process of discussion and approval of the developed West German constitution was completed. At the next session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the victorious states (May-June 1949), the split became, as it were, officially recognized.
Germany joined NATO. The corresponding agreements were signed in Paris, ratified by the Bundestag on February 27, 1955 and entered into force in early May 1955. The Paris agreements determined the sovereignty of Germany, on the basis of which the country received the right to create a half-million-strong army (12 divisions), and at NATO headquarters Bundeswehr officers began working.
In October 1949
In response to the creation of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bonn Constitution), a socialist Constitution was adopted in the GDR. It had certain similarities with the Bonn Constitution.
However, the course towards building socialism taken by the leadership of the GDR from the early 50s. XX century was accompanied by non-compliance with many democratic principles. In 1952
The federal political-territorial structure became unitary: instead of five states as subjects of the East German federation, 16 districts were formed. On August 19, 1961, the GDR government built first a fence and then a well-known wall along the entire border of West Berlin.
A referendum was held in the GDR on the adoption of a new Constitution. Over 94% of GDR citizens voted “for” the socialist norms and principles of the Constitution, in particular for a planned economy.
All this contributed to the further disunity of the German lands.
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany 1949
The development of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany was carried out by a special government commission on behalf of the conference of prime ministers of the states of the western zones in August 1948.
One of the most important tasks was the full revival of state federalism, as well as the creation of legal guarantees against presidential usurpation of power compared to what was established in the Weimar Constitution. These internal political and legal tasks predetermined much in the content of the basic law of the restored republic. To adopt the constitution, a special Parliamentary Council was formed - consisting of 65 councilors elected from 11 state parliaments on the basis of party representation (as well as 5 more Berlin delegates).
All the main political parties of the then Germany were eventually represented in the Parliamentary Council: the Christian Democratic Union, the Christian Social Union (Bavaria), the SPD, the Free Democratic Party, the KPD, etc. On May 8, 1949, by a majority vote (53:12) Council adopted the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was then approved by the Landtags of the states (except Bavaria), the Western military governors, and on May 23, 1949.
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany came into force.
The German Basic Law of 1949 originally consisted of a preamble and 172 articles. Despite the “rigid” nature of the document (constitutional amendments require the consent of 2/3 of both houses of parliament), since 1951 changes have been made to it almost every year.
As a result, the Basic Law was enlarged: to date, an additional 42 articles have been included in it (and only 5 have been excluded). It now consists of 11 chapters and 146 articles. The basic law is preceded by a meaningful preamble.
The Constitution proclaims the Federal Republic of Germany to be a democratic, legal and social state.
A significant place in it is given to the rights and freedoms of citizens (personal freedom, equality before the law, freedom of religion, freedom of belief, press, assembly, etc.). Freedom and inviolability of property were guaranteed.
But at the same time, it was declared that “property is obligatory, and its use must serve the common good,” with the benefits of public property being secured. It proclaimed party pluralism; the primacy of international law over national norms has been established.
The main government bodies of the Federal Republic of Germany are: the Bundestag, the Bundesrat, the federal president, the federal government headed by the chancellor, and the federal constitutional court.
The Bundestag is the lower house of parliament, elected for 4 years by universal, direct and secret suffrage, using a mixed electoral system.
The existing 5% barrier allows us to weed out the most radical groups of both the right and left. The Bundestag is the main legislative body.
Bundesrat (upper house of parliament) - is formed from representatives of the states, its consent is necessary for the adoption of laws that change the constitution, borders and territory of the states, the structure of land authorities, etc.
The Federal President is elected for a 5-year term by the Federal Assembly.
Has limited powers: represents the head of government for approval, appoints and dismisses federal judges and officials, represents the country in the international arena.
The real leadership of the executive branch is exercised by the federal government, headed by the Chancellor. The Chancellor presides over the government; has the right to form this government; selects candidates for ministers and puts forward a proposal binding on the federal president regarding their appointment and dismissal.
Has the right of legislative initiative. The Federal Chancellor is also the only person in the government elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the Federal President. The president always proposes for the post of chancellor the candidate who is the leader of the coalition party bloc - which means that the head of the German government combines party and state-political powers.
Thus, a “regime of chancellor democracy” has emerged in Germany.
In the system of separation of powers, the executive branch comes to the fore.
Introduction
After World War II, Germany ceased to exist as an independent state and was occupied. Part of its territories was taken away. It was a country where, as one contemporary wrote, “hope died in the midst of hunger and cold.”
At that time, Germany faced the urgent task of restoring the economy, reviving industrial production, agriculture, trade, financial and banking system, the return of people's lives to a peaceful way of life and the new development of the public administration system.
Purpose of the work: To identify the state of the German economy in the second half of the 20th century.
Based on the purpose of the work, we define the tasks:
- Consider the economic situation of Germany in the first post-war years.
- Consider Marshall's plan.
- Consider the reforms of L. Erhard. "Economic miracle"
The economic situation of Germany in the first post-war years.
If after World War I the territory of Germany was practically not affected by military operations, then after World War II the country lay practically in ruins. Industrial production was at a third of pre-war levels, the housing problem was acute, most of the housing stock was destroyed during the war, at the same time more than 9 million Germans were deported to Germany from East Prussia and lands along the Oder and Neisse.
The standard of living fell by 1/3. Money depreciated, the money supply had no commodity coverage, and barter trade spread. According to the calculations of the occupation authorities at that time, the income of the average German allowed him to purchase a pair of shoes once every twelve years, and a suit - once every fifty years.
Moreover, the occupation authorities began dismantling and removing industrial equipment to pay for reparations. Among the goals of the occupation of Germany declared by the Potsdam Conference, which had primary economic consequences, were: the complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany, including the liquidation of or control over all its war industries, as well as the right of peoples who suffered from German aggression to receive reparations, in particular, dismantling of industrial enterprises and division of the entire German fleet between the USSR, USA and Great Britain.
The Soviet occupation command primarily considered the possibility of obtaining maximum compensation to the Soviet Union for losses incurred during the war. The share of surviving industrial enterprises that were dismantled and transported to the USSR amounted to 45% in the Soviet zone (in the zones of other victorious states it did not reach 10%).
At the same time, the USSR supported political changes aimed at orienting Germany towards the communist (socialist) path of development. The initial plan of the US administration was to weaken Germany as much as possible while preserving it as an agricultural country. Thus, by 1948, Germany found itself politically divided and economically bankrupt. Goods, the influx of which was already meager, mostly ended up in warehouses and only a small part of them reached the market.
The incredibly swollen (5 times) money supply - a consequence mainly of unbridled financing of military projects - did not provide any opportunity to pursue a reasonable monetary and financial policy.
Although through total rationing, freezing prices and wages Somehow it was possible to maintain external order, all attempts to curb inflation (600% of the pre-war level) with frozen prices were doomed to failure and the economy fell into a primitive state of barter trade. The black market and barter exchange flourished. The deterioration of the economic situation was facilitated by the influx of refugees from the eastern zone and countries of Eastern Europe into the western zones of occupation.1
Marshall's plan.
As part of the West's emerging focus on rebuilding the German economy, a plan was developed that George Catlett Marshall, then US Secretary of State, announced on June 5, 1947. The European Recovery Program, later called the Marshall Plan, was adopted by the US Congress in 1948.
This plan provided for assistance to European countries affected by the war in the form of loans, equipment, and technology. The plan was designed for 4 years, the total amount of allocations allocated as part of economic assistance to European countries amounted to about 12.4 billion from April 1948 to December 1951.
dollars, of which the bulk came from the UK ($2.8 billion), France ($2.5 billion), Spain ($1.3 billion), West Germany ($1.3 billion), Holland ($1.0 billion) . dollars).
It should be noted that the implementation of the Marshall Plan faced some opposition in the United States. Even a year after the start of the Program, Marshall criticized his employees for working too slowly and not even beginning practical actions.
In order to pass the Marshall Plan through Congress, the government had to do a tremendous amount of work. Many deputies, like the people, were against financial assistance Europe. Marshall staff gave lectures and showed films about the destruction in Europe.
They organized a kind of excursion overseas for congressmen from among the doubters. Interestingly, one of these MPs was Richard Nixon. After a trip to Europe, he turned 180 degrees and became an ardent supporter of Marshall's idea.
Although the Marshall Plan was not the only one driving force post-war reconstruction, yet it became an important incentive to accomplish what at first seemed impossible.
Just a few years passed, and agricultural and industrial production exceeded pre-war levels.
An important feature of the Marshall Plan was a fundamentally new scheme for calculating loans, which led to a multiple increase in the funds involved.
For example, a German factory ordered some parts from the USA. However, the American manufacturer of these parts received dollars for them not from the customer, but from the government's Marshall Plan fund. The customer contributed the equivalent in German marks to a specially created European fund.
In turn, long-term soft loans to enterprises for new investments were financed from this fund. Ultimately, as enterprises repaid their debts, the fund's funds allowed European states to pay off the United States.
The Marshall Plan had three main goals: first, it encouraged European countries to resume political and economic cooperation and increased their integration into the world economy. Secondly, it allowed them to purchase raw materials and equipment from countries with hard currency.
Thirdly, this plan was simultaneously a program of government support for the economy of the United States itself, since it stimulated American exports. The Federal Republic of Germany officially became one of the countries participating in the Marshall Plan on December 15, 1949, that is, shortly after its founding, and its participation continued until the end of the plan.
George Marshall's contribution to the economic recovery of Europe after the Second World War led to him being awarded Nobel Prize world in 1953.2
3. Reforms of L. Erhard. "Economic miracle".
The most important figure with whom the economic side of the success of the post-war reconstruction of Germany is traditionally associated was Ludwig Erhard (1897-1977).
The main elements of the development model of the “social market economy” proposed by Erhard were:
- target setting – high level well-being of all segments of the population;
- the way to achieve the goal is free market competition and private enterprise;
- the key condition for achieving the goal is the active participation of the state in ensuring the prerequisites and conditions for competition.
At the end of 1949, the first, most dangerous phase in the development of the economic situation ended, which was characterized by tension between the volume of goods and the volume of money supply and manifested itself in an almost chaotic rise in prices.
In the first half of 1950, German production grew monthly by 3-5 percent, setting an absolute record of 114% compared to 1936, during foreign trade within six months, it was possible to even double exports; mechanical engineering, optics, and electricity production developed at an accelerated pace. In the same 1950, the card system was abolished in Germany. By the mid-fifties, after a slight slowdown in economic growth, a new boom 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 USA and Great Britain, and in some types of production it surpassed Great Britain. At the same time, the basis of the rapidly growing economy was small and medium-sized businesses: in 1953, enterprises with fewer 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 early sixties, Germany was second only to the United States in terms of production and exports. The rapid development of the German economy in the fifties and sixties was called the “economic miracle”.
Among the factors that contributed to the development of the economy, it should be noted the renewal of fixed capital, intensification of labor, and a high level of capital investment, including foreign.
The direction of budget funds for the development of civilian industries by reducing military spending, as well as increasing taxes on corporate profits, was also important.
The agrarian reform, which handed over the bulk of land to small average owners, deserves special mention. Developing intensively Agriculture Germany was characterized by the rapid introduction of the latest achievements of agricultural science into practice, which ensured an increase in agricultural productivity and yields.
As production intensified, small-scale farming gave way to larger ones. The post-war reconstruction of Germany laid the foundation for the “economic miracle” - the rapid growth of the German economy in the fifties and sixties, ensured Germany’s position in the European economy throughout the second half of the twentieth century, and became the economic basis for the unification of Germany at the end of the twentieth century.3
Conclusion
Thus, the history of the economic revival of Germany after the Second World War is one example of the successful implementation of the ideas of economic liberalization with balanced participation of the state in the economic life of the country and ensuring the social nature of economic transformations.
Necessary conditions for the success of the post-war reconstruction of Germany were external (Marshall Plan) and internal (political stability, political support for reforms, monetary reform, liberalization of prices and trade, including foreign, targeted and limited government intervention in economic life) factors.
Determine which country the characteristics of its development in the second half of the 19th century relate to.
1. Capitalist development begins after the revolution of 1868 (introduction monetary unit, abolition of internal customs, monetary compensation to feudal lords)
2. Gradual loss of leadership in the world economy while maintaining the role of the “world driver” and active export of capital to the colonies.
Parcel private ownership of land, outflow of capital from their industry to the credit and banking sector.
4. Slow solution to the agrarian question in the 60-70s. gg. XIX century hampered economic development, a sharp rise in the 90s; significant role of foreign capital; high degree of concentration of production
Increasing the pace of development after unification in 1871, the predominant growth of heavy industry and the latest knowledge-intensive industries; significant role of the state in stimulating the development of heavy industry and the military-industrial complex.
A. Germany.
B. Japan.
V. England.
G. Russia.
D. France.
Answer:
A. Germany. - 5
B. Japan. - 1
V. England. -2
G. Russia. — 3
France. - 4
Bibliography
- History of the world economy. Textbook for universities / Ed. Polyaka G.B., Markova A.N. – M.: UNITY, 2004.- 727 p.
- Bor M.Z. / History of the world economy, 2nd ed., M., -2000. – 496 p.
- Russian history. Educational manual for universities / Markova A.N., Skvortsova E.M.
- Erhard L. Welfare for everyone: Trans. with him. - M.: Nachala-press, 1991
- History of Economics.
Textbook for universities / Konotopov M.V., Smetanin S.I., - M., 2007 - p.352
Germany surrendered on May 8th, 1945. The Great Patriotic War ended. The history of post-war Germany is a tale of unrest, civil strife and rebirth. History of the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany.
The post-war situation led to the division of Germany. The Cold War that followed World War II split the world into two camps: the communist east, led by the Soviet Union, and the capitalist western world, led by the United States. Germany was divided into 4 parts: the north-west was under British rule, southwestern part was captured by the French, the south was under US control, and the Soviets established their control over eastern Germany.
The Potsdam Conference in 1945 decided the future of Germany. It was decided that Germany would compensate the Allied States for the losses they suffered during the war. Compensation was in the form of goods and equipment. USSR received the lion's share reparations. However, disagreements arose between the countries regarding the share of compensation and the future of the country. The USA and Great Britain sought democracy and economic independence for Germany. The Soviets wanted more territory and were against the idea of German development. The French also wanted a significant portion of the land and vetoed the country's government unification plan. The consensus that satisfied everyone was the formation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) under the leadership of the USSR in the east, and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the west under the auspices of the USA and Great Britain. From the very beginning of the division, the territory under Soviet control began to lag behind economically.
The GDR workers' uprising occurred on June 17, 1953, when a series of strikes and demonstrations took place throughout East Germany.
The beginning of the Berlin Uprising is associated with Berlin workers who built elite housing for the nomenklatura. On June 16, 1953, workers took to the streets to protest against the Government decree raising labor standards by 10 percent. Very soon, political protest was added to the social one: the first demands for the resignation of the government were heard. The Germans demanded free elections and withdrawal Soviet troops. Residents of other cities also heard about the Berlin events on the radio. On June 17, the whole country was in flames in popular unrest. About a million people took to the streets. More than a thousand enterprises went on strike. In Hala, Bitterfeld and Görlitz, demonstrators seized city power. The government responded harshly, with the help of Soviet troops and the Stasi, suppressing the wave of protest, killing leaders and imprisoning activists. According to the declared state of emergency, all demonstrations, meetings, rallies and gatherings of people of more than three people on streets and squares, as well as in public buildings, were prohibited. The movement of pedestrians and vehicles at night was prohibited. Violators of this order were punished according to martial law. In just a couple of days, life returned to normal. However, the protest continued to live.
The socialist government of the GDR announced the creation of a wall that would prevent Western influence. Many people fled west before construction, some were killed during its construction and many more while trying to overcome it. Berlin Wall, which showed the complete difference between communism and the capitalist world, was completed in August 1961.
The 70s and 80s were marked by rapid economic growth in both East and West Germany. Two systems, socialism and capitalism, competed with each other, building an economic miracle on the territory of one single country. While East Germany was the political scapegoat of the stubborn communist regime and the "little brother", there was unchecked corruption and political instability in the West. The need to unite East and West came primarily from the “Vestis” (East Germans). Thanks to declining Soviet influence and great pressure from the population, East and West were
One of the main tasks that the allies set for themselves after the defeat of Germany was denazification of the country. The entire adult population of the country completed a survey prepared by the Control Council for Germany. The questionnaire "Erhebungsformular MG/PS/G/9a" had 131 questions. The survey was voluntary-compulsory.
Refuseniks were deprived of food cards.
Based on the survey, all Germans are divided into “not involved”, “acquitted”, “fellow travelers”, “guilty” and “guilty of highest degree" Citizens from the last three groups were brought before the court, which determined the extent of guilt and punishment. The “guilty” and “highly guilty” were sent to internment camps; “fellow travelers” could atone for their guilt with a fine or property.
It is clear that this technique was imperfect. Mutual responsibility, corruption and insincerity of the respondents made denazification ineffective. Hundreds of thousands of Nazis managed to avoid trial using forged documents along the so-called “rat trails”, and just a few years later - to occupy prominent positions in the state apparatus of the Federal Republic of Germany. Thus, the third Federal Chancellor of Germany, Kurt Georg Kiesinger, was a member of the NSDAP since 1933.
The Allies organized a large-scale campaign in Germany to re-educate the Germans. Movies about Nazi atrocities were continuously shown in cinemas. Residents of Germany were also required to attend sessions. Otherwise, they could lose the same food cards. The Germans were also taken on excursions to former concentration camps and involved in the work carried out there. For most civilian population the information received was shocking. Goebbels' propaganda during the war years told them about a completely different image of Nazism.
Demilitarization
According to the decision of the Potsdam Conference, Germany was to undergo demilitarization, which included the dismantling of military factories. The Western allies adopted the principles of demilitarization in their own way: in their occupation zones they were not only in no hurry to dismantle factories, but also actively restored them, while trying to increase the metal smelting quota and wanting to preserve the military potential of Western Germany for a future war with the USSR.
By 1947, in the British and American zones alone, more than 450 military factories were hidden from accounting.
The Soviet Union was more honest in this regard. According to historian Mikhail Semiryagi, in one year after March 1945, the highest authorities of the Soviet Union made about a thousand decisions related to the dismantling of 4,389 enterprises from Germany, Austria, Hungary and other European countries. However, this number cannot be compared with the number of facilities destroyed by the war in the USSR. The number of dismantled German enterprises was less than 14% of the pre-war number of Soviet factories. According to Nikolai Voznesensky, then chairman of the USSR State Planning Committee, supplies of captured equipment from Germany covered only 0.6% of direct damage to the USSR
Marauding
The topic of looting and violence against civilians in post-war Germany is still controversial. A lot of documents have been preserved indicating that the Western allies exported valuable property of citizens defeated Germany literally ships.
“Differentiated” in collecting trophies and some Soviet officers. Thus, when Marshal Zhukov fell out of favor in 1948, 194 pieces of furniture, 44 carpets and tapestries, 7 boxes of crystal, 55 museum paintings and other luxury items were discovered and confiscated. All this was exported from Germany.
As for the soldiers and officers of the Red Army, according to the available documents, not many cases of looting were registered. The victorious Soviet soldiers were more likely to engage in applied “junk,” that is, they were engaged in collecting ownerless property. When the Soviet command allowed parcels to be sent home, boxes with sewing needles, fabric scraps, and working tools went to the Union. At the same time, our soldiers had a rather disgusting attitude towards all these things. In letters to their relatives, they made excuses for all this “junk.”
Strange calculations
The most problematic topic is the topic of violence against civilians, especially German women. Until the time of perestroika, the topic of mass rape of German women was not raised either in the USSR or by the Germans themselves.
In 1992, a book by two feminists, Helke Sander and Barbara Yohr, “Liberators and the Liberated,” was published in Germany, where a shocking figure appeared: 2 million.
The justification for this figure left a lot of room for criticism: the data were based on records in only one German clinic, and then were multiplied by the total number of women. In 2002, Anthony Beevor's book The Fall of Berlin was published, in which the author cited this figure without paying attention to its criticism, and the data sources were described with the phrases “one doctor concluded”, “apparently”, “if” and “appears”.
According to estimates from the two main Berlin hospitals, the number of victims raped by Soviet soldiers ranges from ninety-five to one hundred and thirty thousand people. One doctor concluded that approximately one hundred thousand women were raped in Berlin alone. Moreover, about ten thousand of them died mainly as a result of suicide. The number of deaths throughout East Germany is apparently much higher if one takes into account the one million four hundred thousand raped people in East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia. It appears that in total about two million German women were raped, many of whom (if not most) suffered this humiliation several times.
In 2004, this book was published in Russia and was picked up as an “argument” by anti-Soviet activists, who spread the myth of the unprecedented cruelty of Soviet soldiers in occupied Germany.
In fact, according to the documents, such facts were considered “extraordinary incidents and an immoral phenomenon,” for which punishment followed. Violence against the civilian population of Germany was fought at all levels, and looters and rapists were put on trial. Thus, in the report of the military prosecutor of the 1st Belorussian Front on illegal actions against the civilian population for the period from April 22 to May 5, 1945, there are the following figures: for the seven armies of the front, 124 crimes were recorded for 908.5 thousand people, of which 72 were rapes . 72 cases per 908.5 thousand. What two million are we talking about?
There was also looting and violence against civilians in the western occupation zones. Naum Orlov wrote in his memoirs: “The English who were guarding us rolled chewing gum between their teeth - which was new to us - and boasted to each other about their trophies, raising their hands high, covered in wristwatches...”.
Osmar Wyatt, an Australian war correspondent who could hardly be suspected of partiality towards Soviet soldiers, wrote in 1945: “Severe discipline reigns in the Red Army. There are no more robberies, rapes and abuses here than in any other zone of occupation. Wild stories of atrocities emerge from the exaggerations and distortions of individual cases, influenced by nervousness caused by the excess of manners of Russian soldiers and their love of vodka. One woman who told me most of the hair-raising tales of Russian atrocities was finally forced to admit that the only evidence she had seen with her own eyes was drunken Russian officers firing pistols into the air and at bottles..."
After the war, Germany lay in ruins. Industry was destroyed, food was issued on ration cards. But in 1948 a “miracle” happened. Factories began to open, goods appeared on the shelves, and the German mark became the most desirable currency in the world.
Let's find out how, in just a few years, Germany has once again become one of the leading powers in the world.
Marshall Plan
First post-war years in Germany they were called "zero". As the “father” of the German miracle, Ludwig Erhard, later wrote: “That was the time when we in Germany were making calculations, according to which there was one plate per capita every five years, a pair of shoes every twelve years, every fifty years - one suit at a time.”
The first step towards Germany's exit from this crisis was the well-known “Marshall Plan”.
In addition to preparing the ground for the subsequent Cold War, he had clear economic objectives. Western Europe has always been the most important market for American capitalism. Even during the Great Depression, the United States was able to get out of the crisis by conquering the European sales market.
The “mechanism” is simple - the greater the demand in Europe, the greater the supply from the United States, the more jobs there, the higher the purchasing power of American citizens.
In the post-war period, Europe needed American goods more than ever. There was only one problem: there was nothing to buy them with, national currencies were depreciating. Therefore, in 1947, the United States found itself at a crossroads - either to abandon promising markets and slow down the growth of its own economy, or to provide material support to post-war Europe and gain not only a “regular buyer and client,” but also an ally. The USA bet on the latter and were right.
In accordance with the Marshall Plan, Germany was provided with a total of $3.12 billion in loans, equipment and technology over 4 years. And although the “plan” was not the main active force in the post-war reconstruction of Germany, it later made it possible to realize what would be called the “German miracle”. Within a few years, production of both agricultural and industrial products will exceed pre-war levels.
"Prosperity for all"
The main creator of the “new Germany” was not the American Secretary of State, but the first Minister of Economics of the Federal Republic of Germany, later Federal Chancellor, Ludwig Erhard. Erhard’s main concept was contained in the postulate that the economy is not a soulless mechanism, it rests on living people with their desires, aspirations and needs.
Thus, free enterprise was to be the foundation for Germany's economic revival. Erhard wrote: “I see an ideal situation where an ordinary person can say: I have enough strength to stand up for myself, I want to be responsible for my own destiny. You, state, do not worry about my affairs, but give me so much freedom and leave me so much from the result of my work that I can myself and at my own discretion provide for the existence of myself and my family.”
In Erhard’s policy, the state was assigned the role of a “night guard” who “protected” entrepreneurial activity from monopoly, external competition, high taxes and other factors that stood in the way of the liberal market.
The introduction of a free market economy in post-war Germany was not simple solution. It was exclusively Erhard’s initiative, an “anti-law” that contradicted the policies of the occupation authorities and nullified all previous attempts to pull Germany out of the crisis through a planned economy and state regulation.
And it worked. Some time later, two Frenchmen Jacques Rueff and Andre Pietre, who were in Germany at that time, wrote: “Only eyewitnesses can tell about the immediate effect that the currency reform had on the filling of warehouses and the wealth of storefronts. From day to day, stores began to be filled with goods and factories began to resume work. The day before, hopelessness was written on the faces of the Germans, the next day the whole nation looked to the future with hope.”
New brand
But free enterprise needed one more thing. important condition– currency stability. In the post-war period, the Reichsmark was valued no more than the “Kerenki” once was in the RSFSR.
On June 21, 1948, a monetary reform was carried out aimed at confiscating worthless money and creating a hard currency. This is how the Deutschmark appeared, which later became famous as one of the most stable currencies of the 20th century.
The monetary reform was prepared in the strictest secrecy. Firstly, in order not to provoke intervention by the USSR, and secondly, in order to avoid a panicky disposal of the old Reichsmarks.
But on the eve of the reform, rumors still leaked to the masses, causing real “shopping hysteria” - the Germans tried to buy everything that money could still buy. As a result, prices on the black market have skyrocketed.
The exchange rate of the old currency for the new was purely confiscatory in nature. Firstly, for 10 old marks they gave one new one, with the same paying ability. Secondly, every adult could exchange only 400 Reichsmarks for 40 Deutschmarks at a time on June 21, and then another 200 Reichsmarks for a new 20 within a few days. Upon expiration, all remaining Reichsmarks were either partially retained in banks or devalued.
Through such tough measures, Erhard managed to ensure a stable exchange rate for the new currency, as well as achieve an even distribution of funds between different segments of the population, while before that most of the country's currency was concentrated in the hands of a small but very rich group of people. Now a broad and stable middle class was emerging.
In the 50s, the German mark became one of the most reliable currencies in the world, in which residents of many countries kept their savings. Even when DM devalued in 1977 to almost half its value in the 1950s, its purchasing power remained one of the best in the world.
Freedom to prices!
Literally a few days after the monetary reform, prices were “set free.” From now on, pricing policy was based on the principle of liberalization, with the only caveat that the state retained the right to partial control over them. So he compiled a list of “appropriate prices” for some consumer products, and also adopted a ban on arbitrary price increases in order to avoid the greed of entrepreneurs.
It was followed by antitrust decrees, according to which the market share of one company could not exceed 33%, two or three - 50%, and four or five - no more than 65%.
Were introduced tax benefits, which discouraged companies from “shadow business”. In general, numbers speak louder than words. By 1950, Germany had reached the pre-war level of production, and by 1962 it exceeded it three times.
Once, after the restoration of the German economy and its entry into the first positions in the world market, Erhard was asked what the key to successful economic development was. To this he replied: “the resourcefulness of entrepreneurs, the discipline and hard work of workers and the skillful policies of the government.”
