Allied Occupation Zones in Germany

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Cite This Source

The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during the period 1945-1949. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, American forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed boundaries for the future zones of occupation, in some places by as much as 200 miles. The line of contact between Soviet and American forces at the end of hostilities was temporary. After some two months during which they had held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone, American forces withdrew in July 1945. Some have concluded that this was a crucial move that persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American and British forces into their predesignated zones in Berlin, which occurred at roughly the same time (July 1945), although the need for intelligence gathering (see Operation Paperclip) may also have been a factor.

The Zones of Occupation

American Zone of Occupation

The American zone consisted of Bavaria, Hesse and the northern portions of the present-day state of Baden-Württemberg. The port cities of Bremen (on the river Weser) and Bremerhaven (at the meeting of the Weser and North Sea) were also placed under the control of the U.S. The headquarters of the American military government was the former IG Farben Building in Frankfurt.

British Zone of Occupation

The British zone consisted of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and the present-day state of North Rhine-Westphalia with the British military government being headquartered in Bad Oeynhausen.

French Zone of Occupation

Initially, despite being one of the Allied powers, the French were not to be granted an occupation zone due to concerns over the great historical animosity between France and Germany, as well as the smaller role played by the French within the alliance. Eventually, both the British and the Americans agreed to cede small portions of their respective zones to France. This arrangement resulted the French zone consisting of two non-contiguous areas, however both areas shared a border with France itself. The headquarters of the French military government was in Baden-Baden.

An area within the French zone previously known as the Saargebiet, which had been created under a League of Nations mandate following World War I, was re-established in 1945 as the Saar protectorate. It was intended that an independent nation be established there and as a result this area was more closely administered by France during the period of the occupation.

Soviet Zone of Occupation

The Soviet occupation zone incorporated Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The headquarters of the Soviet military government was in Berlin-Karlshorst.

Berlin

While located wholly within the designated Soviet zone, because of its symbolic importance as the nation's capital and seat of the former Nazi government, the city of Berlin was jointly occupied by the Allied powers and was itself subdivided into four sectors. Berlin was not considered to be part of the Soviet zone.

Governance and the emergence of two German states

The original Allied plan to govern Germany as a single unit through the Allied Control Council broke down in 1946-1947 due to growing tensions between the West and the Soviet Union, and was never fully implemented. In practice, each of the four occupying powers wielded government authority in their respective zones and carried out different policies toward the population and local and state governments there. A uniform administration of the western zones evolved, known first as the Bizone (the American and British zones) and later the Trizone (after inclusion of the French zone). The complete breakdown of east-west allied cooperation and joint administration in Germany became clear with the Soviet imposition of the Berlin Blockade that was enforced from June 1948 to May 1949. The three western zones were merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany in May 1949, and the Soviets followed suit in October 1949 with the establishment of the German Democratic Republic.

In the west, the occupation officially continued until 5 May 1955, when the Deutschlandvertrag ("Germany Treaty") entered into force. However, upon the creation of the Federal Republic in May 1949, the military governors were replaced by civilian high commissioners, whose powers was somewhere between those of a governor and those of an ambassador. When the Deutschlandvertrag became law, the occupation officially ended, the western occupation zones ceased to exist, and the high commissioners were replaced by normal ambassadors.

A similar situation occurred in East Germany. The GDR was founded on 7 October 1949. Three days later, on 10 October, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany was replaced by the Soviet Control Commission, although limited sovereignty was not granted to the GDR government until 11 November 1949. After the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953, the Soviet Control Commission was replaced with the office of the Soviet High Commissioner on 28 May 1953. This office was abolished (and replaced by an ambassador) and (general) sovereignty was granted to the GDR, when the Soviet Union concluded a state treaty (Staatsvertrag) with the GDR on 20 September 1955.

Despite the grants of general sovereignty to both German states in 1955, full and unrestricted sovereignty under international law was not enjoyed by any German government until after the reunification of Germany in October 1990. In fact, the provisions of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, also known as the "Two-plus-Four Treaty," granting full sovereignty to Germany did not become law until 15 March 1991, after all of the participating nations had ratified the treaty.

A 1956 plebiscite ended the French administration of the Saar protectorate within the former French occupation zone and it joined the Federal Republic as the Saarland on 1 January 1957.

Officially, the city of Berlin was not part of either state and continued to be under Allied occupation until the reunification of Germany in October 1990. For administrative purposes, the three western sectors of Berlin were merged into the entity of West Berlin, while the Soviet sector became known as East Berlin. And while not technically a part of East Germany, East Berlin functioned as the capital of the GDR (Hauptstadt der DDR).

All German territory east of the Oder and Neisse (Pomerania, Neumark, Silesia and East Prussia) was annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union. The northern portion of East Prussia became the (newly-formed Kaliningrad Oblast, part of the Russian SFSR). Klaipeda (Memel) and its region were reassigned to the Lithuanian SSR. The territory annexed by Germany during the war from France, Belgium, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Lithuania was returned to those countries or annexed by the Soviet Union.

Occupation Policy

By December 1945 over 100 000 German civilians were interned as security threats and for possible trial and sentencing as members of criminal organizations.