Events leading to division

Question 1

Defeated Germany to divided Germany:

what were the events from 1945 to 49?

Answer 1

‘45 - Germany surrendered + Potsdam conference
‘46 - Nuremberg trials
‘47 - Formation of Bizonia, Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan.
‘48 - Reformed currency in Western Zone, blockade and Airlift.
‘49 - Blockade and airlift ended, the formation of GDR and FRG

Question 2

What are the 4 points Potsdam (‘45) focused on?

Answer 2

1. Disarmament
2. Denazification
3. Territorial adjustment
4. Reparations

Question 3

What were the agreements around demilitarisation?

Answer 3

Allies agreed Nazi expansion policy caused WW2.

Question 4

What happened at the Nuremberg Trials (‘46)?

Answer 4

Leading Nazis on trial. Locations chosen for its association with the Third Reich.

Question 5

What were the territorial adjustments discussed at Yalta and Potsdam (‘45)?

Answer 5

1. Germany to be divided into 4 zones.
2. USSR got 30% of the industrial production.
3. Friction over Poland; nothing finalised. Poland already pro-communist.

Question 6

What were the agreements surrounding reparations?

Answer 6

1. reparations taken in the form of machinery and equipment.
2. USSR lost 25 million Soviet lives lost so 1/4 industrial goods sent to Russia.

Question 7

What were the conditions surrounding post-war Germany?

Answer 7

1. German refugees came back to Germany after being robbed in places like Czechoslovakia..
2. Rumours of cannibalism.
3. By early 50s, FRG made university take quota of displaced persons.
4. Estimated 2 million German women raped by Soviet soldiers. 90% of pregnancies in that sector were aborted.

Question 8

What were the agreements of trade between Stalin and the Western sector?

Answer 8

Stalin to receive extra 10% of industrial goods from the Western sector, in return for food and agriculture.

Question 9

After the war what was the ration of males to females in Germany?

Answer 9

male: female
1: 35

Question 10

What was Stalin’s policies towards reunification and take over of Germany?

Answer 10

Wanted reunification -> set up an “anti-fascist democracy” -> success leading to support by working class. Stalin wanted reunification under Communist rule.

Question 11

What did the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) control before the GDR was officially formed in 1949?

Answer 11

1. Military affairs
2. The economy
3. Civil administration
4. Political questions
5. licencing political groups

Question 12

What did Karl Marx believe?

Answer 12

The working class were being exploited by capitalism and they would eventually rise up and overtake. He wanted the state to “look after” the people and slowly wither away as people became self sufficient.

Question 13

what were the 2 socialist parties in the Soviet zone?

Answer 13

1. KPD

2. SPD

Question 14

Why did the KPD and SPD merge?

Answer 14

To create a large enough party (SED) to win elections in 1946.
1946 SED had 1,200,000 members but in 1948, it had gained 2,000,000 members.

Question 15

Where were Nazi party members sent?

Answer 15

1. concentration camps
   - > ‘45-‘50, 43,000 died in the camps.
2. worked as slaves and lived inhumanly

Question 16

what were the reforms made after the end of WW2?

Answer 16

1. landowners who supported Nazis lost 100 hectares
2. Property of Nazis either public or owned by USSR (compensation)
3. higher edu open to working class
4. 12,000 km of railway torn up for metal and sent to USSR

Question 17

What was the official moment signifying the split of E and W Germany?

Answer 17

The creation of the new currency, Deutschmark, n trizonia in 1949. FRG officially created and succeeded with the help of Marshall Aid. GDR formed and created Ostmark.

Question 18

When was Adenauer elected as Chancellor of the FRG?

Answer 18

1949