Allied-occupied Germany - Governance and The Emergence of Two German States

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 merged as of January 1, 1947) 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 (GDR).

In the west, the occupation officially continued until May 5, 1955, when the General Treaty ("German: Deutschlandvertrag") 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 lay 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. West Germany was also allowed to build a military, and the Bundeswehr, or Federal Defense Force, was officially established on November 12, 1955.

A similar situation occurred in East Germany. The GDR was founded on October 7, 1949. On October 10, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany was replaced by the Soviet Control Commission, although limited sovereignty was not granted to the GDR government until November 11, 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 May 28, 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 September 20, 1955. On March 1, 1956, the GDR established a military, the National People's Army.

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. Though West Germany was generally independent, the Allies maintained some responsibilities for West Germany. At the same time, East Germany was a satellite state of the Soviet Union. The provisions of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, also known as the "Two-plus-Four Treaty," granting full sovereign powers to Germany did not become law until March 15, 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 January 1, 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. The Soviet sector became known as East Berlin and while not recognized by the Western powers as a part of East Germany, GDR declared it its capital (Hauptstadt der DDR).

The German territory east of the Oder-Neisse line (Pomerania, Neumark, Silesia and East Prussia) was attached to Poland and the Soviet Union. The northern portion of East Prussia became the newly-formed Kaliningrad Oblast, a part of the Russian SFSR, with a small portion, Memelland, joined to the Lithuanian SSR.

All territory annexed by Germany during the war (from France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Yugoslavia, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Lithuania) was returned to those countries or annexed by the Soviet Union.