Defeat and Occupation

Question 1

What was strategic bombing?

Answer 1

The Allies’ principal means of weakening the morale of German civilians. It introduced determinism, fear and apathy, and encouraged hatred and anger towards the Nazis.

Question 2

What was the impact of strategic bombing?

Answer 2

. Lower morale - led to diminished industrial productivity, disillusionment in propaganda, reduced faith in leadership
. Rise in social unrest - looting, juvenile delinquency, black market activity
. Damage to transportation, food distribution, medical services, housing - damage to the German economy
. Estimated that 1/3 of the population was subject to allied bombing and that around 305,000 people were killed as a result - around 5% of the population suffered injury or death
. However wasn’t totally effective in damaging German industry - due to their control of several European states, Germany could redistribute industrial production away from destroyed areas - only in 1944 that the air campaign started to have a serious impact, and this was aided by the approach of the Soviets and the Western Allies, who could restrict territory

Question 3

How many expellees (German refugees fleeing from the east) were there?

Answer 3

. Around 12 million - fled from the easy after changes to the frontiers

Question 4

How many ‘displaced persons’ (People who had been in forced labour/concentrations camps) were there?

Answer 4

. 10 million

Question 5

What other issues were there in terms of population displacement?

Answer 5

. Families who had been torn apart by the war and were now looking for eachother
. Over 11 million German soldiers who had been taken as prisoners of war - of these 7.7 million were released by the west, while 3.3 million remained captive in the USSR - of these 1/3 perished

Question 6

What had happened in terms of housing?

Answer 6

. 20% of housing had been completely destroyed
. A further 30% had been badly damaged
. Cities such as Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin had been reduced to rubble, forcing people to accept temporary accommodation or flee to the countryside

Question 7

Food and Fuel shortages:

Answer 7

. By the winter of 1945 the average calorie consumption dropped from the recommended 2000 per day to 950-1150 a day
. The people also faced severe food shortages

Question 8

Economic dislocation:

Answer 8

. Industrial capacity had declined, but the extent of it’s destruction was exaggerated at the time
. Infrastructure of bridges, railways and utilities (eg. gas and water) had broken down by the end of the war
. State faced massive debts - led to rising inflation and a growing black market

Question 9

Which areas could be considered to be effective?

Answer 9

. Efficient civil service
. Well established banking system
. Industrial base and potential for productivity
. Fundamentals of social fabric not completely destroyed - no social breakdown with the allies able to restore law and order fairly quickly
. Christianity survived, free to practice religion
. Entrepreneurial middle class still aspired

Question 10

What was the ‘Grand Alliance’?

Answer 10

A coalition of the USSR, USA and Britain forged in 1941 due to the pressures of their military situations

Question 11

When was the Teheran conference?

Answer 11

December 1943 - First summit of the ‘Big Three’

Question 12

What was discussed at the Teheran conference?

Answer 12

. Main aim - to determine military strategy for the final phase of the war, however it became clear that there were serious disagreements about territorial changes in post-war Germany
. Central concern - The issue of the borders between Poland and Germany - the USSR wanted to keep their territorial gains from the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939, however there was also the need to compensate Poland with German territories in the west
. Allies largely agreed with Stalin’s demands, and a provisional line was agreed as the German rivers Oder and Neisse
. Roosevelt suggested Germany should be divided into smaller states as a means to eliminate the German threat - the US secretary of state went further with this and suggested turning Germany into a backward, agrarian territory - this was later overruled for practical reasons

Question 13

When was the Yalta conference?

Answer 13

February 1945 - by this point the Soviet’s had the upper hand due to territorial advances, while the power of Churchill and Britain was in decline, and GB and USA had struggled to make land progress

Question 14

What was discussed at the Yalta conference?

Answer 14

. Soviet ‘liberation’ of states in eastern Europe was viewed unfavourably, and Roosevelt and Churchill were later criticised for allowing the Soviet sphere of influence to grow in the east and Baltic states
. Agreed that the USSR would keep most of the eastern Polish territory it demanded, while Poland would receive German territory on it’s western border (the exact details of this border were postponed)
. Agreement to divide Germany up into four occupied zones - administered by the USA, USSR, Britain and France. Decisions concerning the whole of Germany would be taken to all four countries in the form of the Allied Control Council (ACC)
. Berlin would also be divided into four zones to be ruled by the ACC
. A commission would be set up to look into reparations
.

Question 15

When was the Potsdam conference?

Answer 15

17th July - 2nd August 1945, after the German surrender
The relationship between the Soviet’s and the Western Allies had deteriorated rapidly in this period

Question 16

What did the ‘Big Three’ want out of the Potsdam conference?

Answer 16

. Roosevelt had died in April, leaving the inexperienced Truman as his successor. Truman was prepared to continue with American policies for post-war Germany, but he was less trustful towards Stalin due to their conflicting views on Democracy
. Churchill was also increasingly antagonistic towards Stalin, and saw his promises of democracy in the east European states as false. He encouraged limits to be placed on the Soviet sphere of influence, but Britain was becoming increasingly limited as world power, and a general election in the middle of the summit replaced Churchill with Labour PM Clement Attlee
. Stalin concerned with reparations and security - they had lost around 20 million people and the USSR’s industry and infrastructure in the west was badly damaged - agrarian production had decreased by 40% and steel production by 50% - so Stalin was opposed to the division of Germany as he needed access to industrial areas along the Rhine and Ruhr

Question 17

What was agreed at Potsdam?

Answer 17

. Occupied Germany was to be built on the principle of the 4 D’s - De-Nazification, Demilitarisation, Decentralisation, Democratisation
. Confirmed the division of Germany into 4 zones controlled by the 4 powers, which would be administered independently
. It was assumed at the time that the Allies would negotiate a final settlement for the whole of Germany. . In the meantime Germany was to be treated as one economic unit, and all issues concerning the country were to be dealt with unanimously
. Churchill refused to accept the Oder-Neisse border that the Soviet’s wanted. Discussions over this were then postponed to a final, comprehensive peace conference - in practice however the Polish administration of this area and the expulsion of millions of Germans was accepted by the Western Allies
. USSR demanded reparations of $20 billion - seen as unreasonably high by the Allies, although they had estimated that Soviet damages were actually even higher than this at around $35.7 billion)
. Final agreement that each ally could take reparations from their own zone, but that the USSR was to receive 1/4 of the reparations from the Western Zones, partially in exchange for the supply of raw materials and agricultural goods
. All German military forces were disbanded, and they were prevented from having any independent military presence under Allied occupation

Potsdam left several questions about the future of Germany - the borders of the German state were undefined, uncertain as to whether Germany would still be considered one state after the time of occupation, uncertain as to if there would be a central government at some stage or if the division was permanent

Question 18

What were the 3 root sources of conflict in discussions about the division of Germany?

Answer 18

. Ideology - Communism vs democracy and capitalism
. Security - Power of the Red Army’s land forces vs American development of the Atomic bomb
. Economy - American desire to maintain world trade vs Soviet aim to recover their economic losses from the war

Question 19

When did the Nuremburg trials take place?

Answer 19

1945-1949, with the first trial taking place on the 20th November 1945

Question 20

What four counts could Nazis be charged on?

Answer 20

. War crimes
. Crimes against peace
. Crimes against humanity
. Conspiracy to commit any of the first three crimes

Question 21

What were some of the charges brought about by the Nuremberg Trials?

Answer 21

. 12 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death, but only 10 were actually executed
. 3 life sentences were passed
. 4 sentences of up to twenty years’ imprisonment were passed
. Von Papen, Schacht and Fritzsche were acquitted
. The NSDAP was condemned as criminal and forbidden
. In the following years similar trials were conducted against leading lawyers, doctors and industrialists

Question 22

Why were the Nuremberg trials controversial?

Answer 22

Some people argued that the trials did not go far enough - many Nazi’s responsible for war crimes weren’t brought to trial - while others saw the process as ‘show trials’ or kangaroo courts, based on the questionable evidence in some cases and the argument that the victors’ justice applied to two different sets of morals, with Allied war actions eg. the atomic bomb and the sexual violence of Soviet troops not judged by the same standards.
However ultimately Germany seemed to accept and acknowledge the principles of the trial - it was the process of De-Nazification and re-education which proved controversial

Question 23

What is meant by De-Nazification?

Answer 23

The process of erasing Nazism and re-educating the German people in democracy

Question 24

What were the problems in implementing De-Nazification?

Answer 24

. Upon the Nazi party being declared illegal, the vast majority of its 6.5 million members had destroyed membership cards to distance themselves from the regime
. The Allies needed German experts such as engineers to rebuild the economy and deal with urgent problems
. Skilled labour shortage - Allies needed to find skilled workers who hadn’t been involved in Nazism, which was almost impossible due to the entanglement of state and party in Nazi Germany. Non-loyal elements had been purged in the 1930’s. As a result the US plan to remove all Nazis from their offices had to be re-evaluated

Question 25

How was De-Nazification enforced initially?

Answer 25

. Britain and the USA forced thousands of Germans to visit the concentration camps in their neighbourhoods to make them confront their guilt - this was accepted by many Germans, but led to resentment as the Allies appeared to be blaming the entire German population
. Summer 1945 - Rigorous screening for Nazi’s enforced - all ex-members of the NSDAP were banned from leading positions in private and public service, and thousands of officials and subjects were arrested and placed in internment camps
. Late 1946 - nearly quarter of a million Germans were being held - nearly half of the internees had been from the American zone
. Questionnaire issued to all adult German citizens - 131 questions whose responses would classify them as either major offenders, incriminated offenders, less incriminated offenders, sympathisers, and exonerated persons - those in the first three classes had to appear in court - of course many Germans played down their involvement

Question 26

How did the US Zone deal with De-Nazification?

Answer 26

. Missionary zeal in their approach - Americans were seen to judge Nazism most sternly
. Didn’t want to destroy Germanys capitalist structure, but felt that it was necessary to purge German society of Nazism.
. All those who were party members before 1937 were dismissed from office
. Students with Nazi connections were forbidden to enroll in university

Question 27

How did the British Zone deal with De-Nazification?

Answer 27

. Took a more pragmatic approach - worked on a case-by-case basis and the questionnaire was not as thoroughly enforced
. Allowed ex-party members to return to their positions, and ex-Nazi’s were able to assume leadership roles in the zone
. Students allowed to enroll in university, despite having Nazi connections

Question 28

How did the French Zone deal with De-Nazification?

Answer 28

. The French Zone was relatively small with limited firepower, so de-Nazification could not be thoroughly enforced
. Also it was a relatively low priority compared with their concerns over defence and security

Question 29

How did the Soviet Zone deal with De-Nazification?

Answer 29

. Blamed the capitalist system for the rise of Nazism, so they saw the best method of preventing fascism as being the development of new social and economic conditions
. Sharp and decisive approach - immediate mass internments in former Nazi concentration camps, which resulted in the deaths of many inmates
. However there was no overall ‘Nazi hunt’ and the US questionnaire was not applied
. By early 1948 - a number of war criminals had been executed, leading Nazi functionaries had been imprisoned, Nazi property was confiscated and redistributed, and 450,000 ex-party members had been dismissed from office, including teachers and lawyers
. However they needed skilled workers, so many Nazi’s were later reappointed (especially engineers and doctors)
. De-Nazification was more of a tool to get rid of opposition to the new form of society, rather than a serious attempt to restore justice
. Many Germans felt that by aligning with the new anti-fascist state, they could be freed from the taint of a Nazi past

Question 30

What factors limited the success of De-Nazification?

Answer 30

. Justice - Process undermined by too many examples of injustice, with smaller Nazis being punished while larger members escaped. Character references were traded on the black market, or signed in exchange for favours, and could be used to prove innocence. There were also many loopholes in the system, with many imprisoned Nazis given amnesties from 1951
. Size of the task - The Allies lacked the staff to enforce de-Nazification, which was made clear in the paperwork involved in the questionnaire and court cases - many of the paperwork was actually passed to local German authorities
. Differences between zones - Became clear that the zones were not in agreement, and this undermined their initial aim
. German attitudes - German opposition to de-Nazification increased due to the introduction of the questionnaire and the inconsistencies in the process. They were more interested in looking forward, rather than deconstructing the past
. Cold War - In 1947-8 the Allies’ interests moved towards the Cold War and containing the Soviet sphere of influence by strengthening Western Germany.

Question 31

How was De-Militarisation enforced?

Answer 31

. No armed forces permitted across Germany
. Manufacture of all arms were banned

Question 32

What is meant by De-Centralisation?

Answer 32

The Allies agreed that Prussia was associated with militarism, nationalism, and power politics. As such, it couldn’t remain a political unit and had to be dissolved.

Question 33

How was De-Centralisation enforced in the Soviet Zone?

Answer 33

. By 1945, the Soviet zone had created 5 Lander as states. However these proved to be of less political importance than initially thought
. The soviets distrusted the idea of a genuinely federal structure - at the same time as the Lander states, they established a range of centralised authorities responsible for housing, transport etc..
. Regional authorities were controlled and directed by communists, and dissolved in 1952

Question 34

How was De-Centralisation enforced in the US Zone?

Answer 34

. The Americans were the strongest supporters of decentralisation, as they were familiar with the concept due to their own federal system.
. 3 Lander had been established in the zone quickly
. May 1946 - first free federal state elections were held

Question 35

How was De-Centralisation enforced in the British Zone?

Answer 35

. The British initially doubted the Germans’ ability to build up a genuine democracy, and were wary of giving them political power - preferred to keep close control of their zone through centralised administration, and while they employed German experts, their input was limited
. However the growing financial costs of the occupation pushed the British towards encouraging decentralisation, and they began to return political responsibility to the Germans
. May 1947 - free elections for federal state parliaments

Question 36

How was De-Centralisation enforced in the French Zone?

Answer 36

. France was the strongest supporter of the lasting dismemberment of Germany, as it benefitted their security and financial interests - this resulted in them blocking any attempts by the Western powers in the ACC to co-ordinate control of Germany
. The French zone was held under tight control and was economically cut off from the other zones
. They also resisted the establishment of democratic parties, and it was only in March 1947 that Lander elections were permitted

Question 37

Evaluate De-Centralisation?

Answer 37

The Allies believed decentralisation would be achieved by restructuring Germany to reflect some of its historical territories. However progress in this field was implemented at different rates across the 4 zones. By 1947 a clear contrast lay between the Soviet zone and its centralised authorities, and the three Western zones who had nine newly created federal lander (although they were under strict Allied control)

Question 38

What was Democratisation?

Answer 38

In order to fully extinguish Nazism, there needed to be a viable democratic alternative. As early as the 10th of June 1945 the Soviets permitted the re-establishment of democratic parties and the formation of unions, and the Western Allies allowed the formation of democratic parties within the ensuing months. As a result, by the end of 1945 the essence of party politics had been established through the emergence of the SPD, CDU, LDPD and KPD

Question 39

Social Democrats (SPD)

Answer 39

. Easily reestablished as they had a large and loyal following of workers - revived old structures that had existed before 1933
. Led by Kurt Schumacher - main concern was the pressure from the left side of the party to merge with the communists. He managed to prevent this in the Western zones, but not in the Soviet Zone where the SPD became the SED
. Committed to a socialist economy, anti-capitalist
. Wanted to improve living conditions
. Deeply opposed to the communists and refused any political compromise
. Advocated for a neutral, unified, socialist Germany

Question 40

Christian Democrats (CDU)

Answer 40

. Appealed to Catholics from the ZP and Protestants from the DVP and DNVP - stressed its desire to unite all Christians
. Built on Christian social ideas, but later adopted more radical social polices in some areas, such as public ownership of key industries and increased influence of workers unions on politics

Question 41

Liberal Parties (LDPD and FDP)

Answer 41

. Initially attempted to establish one German Liberal Democratic Party across the zones, however the eastern section had to conceded to the supremacy of the SED
. Western section formed the FDP in 1948, stressing the right of private property and advantages of a free market. Initially led by Theodor Heuss, first president of Germany

Question 42

Communists (KPD)

Answer 42

. Still had grassroots support
. Aimed to unify the working classes of Germany under its leadership
. Enjoyed full political backing in the Soviet zone
. Had limited power in the Western zones, as it came to be seen as a tool of the soviets