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History Advanced Information > Germany - Establishing and Ruling the New Federal Republic, 1949-60 > Flashcards

Germany - Establishing and Ruling the New Federal Republic, 1949-60 Flashcards

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1
Q

FRG

A
  • Federal Republic of Germany
  • West Germany
  • Bonn is the capital
  • Member of NATO from 1949
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2
Q

GDR

A
  • German Democratic Republic
  • East Germany
  • East Berlin was the capital
  • Member of the Warsaw Pact from 1955
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3
Q

What conferences decided the fate of Germany after the war?

A

Yalta and Potsdam

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4
Q

After the conferences, how many areas was Germany split up into?

A

4 areas, which were controlled by Britain, USA, USSR and France

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5
Q

Which zone of Germany had moved the fastest in establishing democracy?

A

USA zone

  • Jan 1946 - Germans in the is zone were able to vote in local elections
  • March 1946 - they could vote in town and county elections
  • New Lander created for the USA zone and elections were held in June 1946
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6
Q

When did elections for the Lander in the British and French zones take place?

A

May 1947

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7
Q

When did ministers in the FRG design a new constitution?

A

1948, following the Marshall Plan

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8
Q

When was the Yalta Conference?

A

February 1945

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9
Q

Yalta Conference Agreements

A
  • ‘Declaration of Liberated Europe’, Polish Government of National Unity
  • UN set up (Russia invited), International War Tribunal to put Nazi war criminals on trial
  • Germany was divided up temporarily into 4 zones, Berlin was divided into 4 zones
  • Russia agreed to enter war against Japan following German surrender, and in return they would receive territory in Manchuria and Sakhalin Island
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10
Q

Yalta Conference Tensions

A
  • Stalin wanted Germany to pay USSR reparations in coal to rebuild Europe, however these demands were ignored
  • USSR wanted to extend the Polish border too far west for western allies
  • Stalin disregarded calls for free-elections and arrested non-communists
  • USSR forced Germans to sell food and raw materials to the Soviet Union
  • Some German factories dismantled and moved to the USSR
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11
Q

When was the Potsdam Conference?

A

July-August 1945

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12
Q

Potsdam Conference Agreements

A
  • New boundaries agreed (Oder-Niesse rivers formed border between Germany and Poland)
  • Nazi party was to be banned in Germany
  • Legal trials at Nuremberg of 21 Nazi leaders for war crimes
  • Allies agreed to participate fully in the UN
  • Germany and Berlin divided into separate sectors and zones as agreed at Yalta
  • Demilitarisation
  • Democracy re-established - freedom of speech and free press
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13
Q

Potsdam Conference Tensions

A
  • Stalin demanded more in reparations then the US and GB
  • US didn’t want to cripple Germany (as in WW1)
  • Stalin was suspicious about why West wanted to protect Germany and help it
  • Stalin set up communist government in non-communist Poland
  • US and GB suspicious of Stalin’s intentions (above)
  • Stalin not allowed a naval base in the Mediterranean
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14
Q

How much aid did Germany receive from the Marshall Plan?

A

£2 billion

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15
Q

Who led the SPD from 1946-47?

A

Karl Schumacher

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16
Q

Who led the CDU from 1846-47?

A

Konrad Adenauer

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17
Q

FRG president

A
  • Elected by state representative (not by a popular vote)
  • Influence was severely limited compared to Weimar
  • No control over military because this was disbanded following the end of the war (Potsdam Conference)
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18
Q

FRG Bundestag

A
  • Germany was a fully federal state with a government setting laws for the country and Lander (state parliaments) controlling certain state laws
  • Parties had to gain at least 5% of the vote to take their seats in the Bundestag to avoid smaller (extremist) parties having influence
  • Set federal taxes (i.e. across the whole country)
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19
Q

FRG government (chancellor and other ministers)

A
  • The leader of the largest party of coalition in the Bundestag was appointed as chancellor
  • They could be removed by a vote of no confidence by the Bundestag if a new chancellor had been elected by them. This was known as a ‘constructive vote of no confidence’ to stop parties using a vote of no confidence to cripple the functioning of the Bundestag
  • The power of Article 48 had been removed and no ability to suspend the Bundestag or change the constitution
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20
Q

FRG Bundesrat

A
  • Made up of representatives of the Lander
  • Not directly elected but representatives were proportional to the population of each state
  • Prussia erased as a state and the Lander were given more powers than ever before to look after the people in their states
  • If federal taxes affected the Lander, the Bundesrat had to agree to them
  • Taxes were split between the government and the Lander
  • Lander had control over education and administration in their state
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21
Q

FRG elections

A
  • Proportional representation used to elect deputies to the Bundesrat every 4 years
  • Men and women over 18 could vote
  • The electorate voted twice: once for direct representative for their electoral district and another for a party list. This aimed to connect representatives to the people in a much clearer way
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22
Q

FRG civil service and judiciary

A
  • Very similar to the Weimar system in that they were both politically independent
  • The judiciary acted a check and balance to the actions of the government
  • Constitutional court established to outlaw parties it thought were undemocratic in their ideology
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23
Q

What was also set up in the FRG which was similar to Weimar?

A

New welfare state - subsidised healthcare

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24
Q

Question of Berlin

A
  • FRG only controlled the western half of the city
  • FRG saw it as politically provocative to claim West Berlin since it was deep inside the GDR
  • Berlin remained split between the 4 allied powers in 1949
  • West Berliners were considered citizens of the FRG but couldn’t vote in federal elections, however they could join political parties, albeit not representatives of West Germany
  • West Berlin was not considered a Lander so didn’t have state elections either
  • 22 members of the Berlin Assembly did, however, sit in the Bundestag, but only as observers
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25
Q

Civil liberties enjoyed in West Germany

A
  • West Berlin had a local authority led by an elected mayor (Willy Brandt) who governed the western half of the city. However this mayor had to have the approval of the western occupying powers (USA, GB and France)
  • West Berlin could reject federal laws enacted in the FRD, famously doing so regarding military conscription in the 1950s, but the majority of laws passed in the FRG also became law in West Berlin
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26
Q

Konrad Adenauer - early years and actions from 1906-1918

A
  • View shaped by humanist and Christian values with a catholic foundation
  • 1906 - was elected as alderman of the city of Cologne
  • Appointed as a member of the Prussian parliament
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27
Q

Konrad Adenauer - political influence during Weimar years (1919-33)

A

from 1921 onwards, he occupied leading positions of the Rhinedish Provincial Assembly as a member of the Prussian state council

  • 1923 - during political and economic crisis, he opposed efforts of national government to separate west Germany from the Empire
  • 1929 - was re-elected as Lord mayor after he had lost power under Nazi Germany
28
Q

Konrad Adenauer - cold war politics in west Germany (1945-66)

A
  • 4th May 1945 - appointed Lard Mayor of Cologne by US military authorities
  • 6th Oct 1945 - dismissed by GB military governor, forbidden to engage in political activity, resigned from the CDU
  • 1947 - headed the CDU/CSU Working Group
  • 1st Sept 1948 - elected president of the parliamentary council
  • 5th May 1955 - west Germany developed into the most powerful economy in Europe
  • Supported principle of ‘free-market economy’
  • 1963 - signed the ‘Elysee Treat on Franco-German Cooperation’
29
Q

Importance of Adenauer and the CDU in shaping the FRG during late 1940s/early 1950s

A
  • CDU was popular with western occupying powers because of its strong economic policies and its anti-communist stance
  • Ludwig Erhard’s (economics minister) economic programme meant that GNP trebled during the 1950s, aided by the Marshall Aid Plan
  • Adenauer was opposed to East Germany, and support from the Catholic church was seen as as strong barrier to communism
  • In the first election in the FRG, the CDU was victorious over the SPD
  • The CDU formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party and the German Party
30
Q

When was the first election in the FRG?

A

14th August 1949

31
Q

How much of the vote did the CDU win in the first election in the FRG?

A

31% and 139 seats

32
Q

How much of the vote did the SPD win in the first election in the FRG?

A

29.2% and 131 seats

33
Q

What % of West Germans were Catholics?

A

45% (compared to 30% of the pre-1945 united Germany)

34
Q

What date was Adenauer elected chancellor?

A

15th September 1949 (remained until 1963)

35
Q

Who was the first president of the FRG?

A

Theodor Heuss

36
Q

Ulbricht Group and political parties in the GDR

A
  • Walter Ulbricht led a small group of committed socialists, who had arrived in Berlin from exile (April 1945) during WWII in the USSR
  • They were determined to achieve political power despite the murder of the communist party leader, Thälmann, by the Nazis
  • Influenced measures adopted by the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD)
  • To de-Nazify the state, leaders at Potsdam agreed that democratisation would be the best method
  • Soviet zone allowed the parties to form - promotion of the KDP, and Weimar parties reformed
37
Q

Creation of the SED

A
  • Due to close links with the USSR, the KPD faced a difficult task in gaining support from the population in East Germany
  • Many Germans believed the anti-communist propaganda from Nazi Germany
  • This made the KPD unable to win as much support as the SPD was more popular, and thereby remained the largest party
  • From 1945-46, the SPD faced pressure to merge with the KPD and form the Socialist United Party of Germy (SED). This formally happened on the 22nd Apr 1946
  • 23rd April 1946 - Neues Deutchland (SED newspaper) was published
38
Q

Communist Young (FDJ) and mass organisations

A
  • Young people were urged to become members of the FDJ - this was because they were vital to the development of support for the new regime
  • FDJ was set up in March 1946 for ages 14-25, however excluded those who had been part of Nazi oeganisations
  • All other young organisations were banned unless they were church groups
  • Women’s Democratic Association
  • German Cultural League
  • German-Soviet Friendship Association
  • By 1947, the vast majority of those living in the USSR zone were members of at least 1 organisation
39
Q

Economic changes in the GDR

A
  • Economic reforms undertaken of socialist principles
  • Involved the state control of former privately owned banks, and the nationalisation of industry and commerce (60% by 1949)
  • Extensive land reform (known as ‘Junker lands to peasant hands’) - this reduced the power of the group and involved 7000 estates
40
Q

Education under the GDR

A
  • Aims were to remove Nazi-nurturing aspects to create a more equal society, and to implant socialist values instead. The removal of Nazi teachings, however, led to severe teacher and textbook shortages
  • 1946 - Law for the Democratisation of German Schools was passed leading to the creation of more comprehensive schools, and Oberschule for children aged 14 and above
  • The proportion of young people going to universities doubled in almost 3 years
41
Q

Importance of Adenauer and the CDU in shaping the FRG during the 1950s/1960s

A
  • Adenauer believed that the survival of West Germany and Europe lay in greater economic and political cooperation
  • The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), signed in 1951, combined heavy industry in France, West Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg into one common market
  • European Economic Community (EEC), signed in 1957, abolished tariffs between member states and therefore improved west German exports
  • Adenauer’s social policies in the 1950s helped improve home-ownership and access to consumer goods. This led to real wages doubling
  • The CDU discouraged women from entering the workforce, preferring them to focus on family life
42
Q

When did real wages double in the FRG?

A

1950-64

43
Q

What agreement between the allies and the chancellor of the FRG meant that West Germany had to prevent the formation of the armed forces?

A

Petersburg Agreement, 22nd November 1949

44
Q

Why did the FRG eventually form an army?

A
  • During the Korean war, many were afraid of a similar communist takeover of East Germany to the FRG
  • Adenauer proposed the creation of an army of 150,000 men in 1950
  • He was opposed to by the SPD, the church and trade unions
  • However, West Germans were also afraid of a communist takeover, leading him to win the election of 1953 (won 45.2% of the vote)
  • 5th May 1955 - General Treaty/German Treaty came into force. This handed over foreign policy to the FRG within NATO and allowed the FRG to have its own military force
45
Q

Hallstein Doctrine

A
  • Set up alongside West Germany’s joining NATO in 1955
  • A response to the USSR’s recognition of the GDR as a sovereign nation
  • This Doctrine stated that the recognition of the GDR by anyone else other than the USSR was a hostile act against the FRG, and that no country could gain financial assistance from the FRG if they recognised the GDR
  • This was set up in order to financially isolate the GDR in the hope that it would collapse and reunite with West Germany
  • Ended in 1972 when Willy Brandt (chancellor) agreed to recognise the GDR in order to improve political relations
46
Q

CDU’s continued successes under Adenauer

A
  • 1957 election - CDU became the fist political party in German history to win an overall majority with 50.2%
  • They campaigned with the slogan ‘no experiments’, calling for the people of west Germany to stick with the party that had led the country successfully since the end of the war and not to risk the unknown supporting the SPD
  • Adenauer gained support from west Germany’s ‘economic miracle’, and because he successfully negotiated the release of German prisoners of war from the USSR in 1955 (in return for the FRG’s recognition of the USSR)
  • The USA and their military supported Adenauer further following the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 (a protest against communist rule)
  • The SPD’s policies were left-wing, making it easy for Adenauer to link them to the GDR
47
Q

Changes in the SPD and their significance in the FRG

A
  • Schumacher had spent 10 years in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau due to his activities with the SPD - this led to sympathy and his experience of concentration camps meant he understood what was to be done for denazification, however his disability meant support was reduced
  • He refused to collaborate with the KPD and wanted to push the SPD in a socialist but anti-communist direction - dissociation from the USSR, however refused to collaborate with members of his own party
  • Schumacher was a nationalist who wanted German reunification and believed the only way the SPD could win elections was to appeal to middle class and working class voters (particular economic focus) - similar ideology to Adenauer, however involved the middle class when the SPD was traditionally focused on workers
  • He argued that Adenauer was a puppet of the Catholic church who wanted to exploit the working class for economic profit - felt as an attack on the church and alienated German catholics
  • Schumacher was a protestant from Prussia in contrast to Adenauer who was a catholic from the Rhineland - West Germany had a larger catholic population, which led to increased votes for Adenauer
  • The SPD proposed a ‘planned economy’ in 1949, which would be controlled by central government - this contrasted with the CDU’s free market economy which had been in place since 1945, and was associated with communism (Stalin’s ‘command economy’ policy)
  • The SPD wasn’t backed by USA as the CDU was - lack of popular support, especially from the world’s biggest superpower
48
Q

SPD as the party of opposition under Schumacher and Ollenhauer

A
  • Schumacher opposed FRG’s integration with west Europe and NATO due to unification being less likely
  • Schumacher argued that Germany could only integrate if west Europe was based on socialist values, and that Adenauer was too eager to work with allied occupying powers
  • Schumacher rejected the idea of western European economic integration - argued that it would force a free-market capitalist economy
  • Cooperation with France, USA and West Europe was only secondary to reunification - Schumacher fought against Adenauer’s plans to create a FRG military
  • After Schumacher passed away, Ollenhauer took over. he wasn’t a strong political opponent - during the 1953 elections, the CDU’s vote increased considerably
49
Q

SPD under Willy Brandt and the Godesberg Programme

A
  • 1959 - Godesburg Programme = fully endorsed the capitalist market economy, which was a change from Marxist roots. It also supported the FRG’s integration with Western Europe and membership of NATO
  • Was willing to work with the CDU in a coalition if requested - led to SPD-CDU coalition government in 1966
  • 1969 - Brandt became the 1st SPD chancellor of the FRG and the first SPD chancellor in Germany since 1928
  • The SPD gained the backing of US president Kennedy
50
Q

Significance of Nazi Germany?

A
  • Many people had voted and cheered when Hitler became chancellor
  • People had benefitted under the regime and joined the party, the Hitler Youth or taken part in KDF holidays
51
Q

USA and the Fragebogen

A
  • The US area of west Germany had a questionnaire (fragebogen) that judged citizens on whether they were Nazis or not
  • There were 133 questions, including involvement in the German army, whether they had relatives in the Nazi party, who they voted for in the 1933 election, and whether they were a Junker
  • Even people who had been persecuted by the Nazis (i.e. put in concentration camps) had to complete the questionnaire
  • Anyone wanting to work in the US zone had to complete the Fragebogen, as otherwise they couldn’t apply for state relief and apply for jobs
  • The compulsory membership of the Hitler Young following 1939 and the membership of the Nazi party was a pre-requisite career advancement in the Nazi state was ignored by the USA - ideology not necessarily spread
52
Q

Issues with the Fragebogen

A
  • It depleted number of key workers in the US zone who were needed to rebuild following the war
  • As a result, and because of a lack of experienced managers in various industries, the allies begun to relax their strict de-Nazification by the end of 1946
  • There were too many people to be vetted: in one Lander, 2.5 million Germans were being investigated for possible Nazi sympathies
  • To deal with this, a new 5 category method was introduced in October 1946: less members (little evidence of Nazi party involvement, but may have been involved) being placed on probation for 2-3 years whilst they worked to rebuild Germany
  • Special tribunals were introduced to deal with questionable cases - more efficient than the Fragebogen
  • A black market developed where certificates of de-nazification were available
  • Tensions increased between US and USSR and de-nazification became less of a priority. This led to the policy officially ending in 1955
53
Q

By 1947, how many Germans were found to be in the serious Nazi category and had to be detained in prison camps (5 category system)?

A

90,000

54
Q

Process of de-Nazification

A
  • Nuremburg Trials of October 1946 - sentences ranged from acquittal to death
  • Teachers and doctors were needed in allied zones for German recovery, which kept them away from communist ideology and reduced the spread of it
  • The allies maintained a particular focus on soldiers in the armed forces (Wehrmacht)
55
Q

Losses of de-Nazification

A
  • In all zones, there were many examples of soldiers being arrested, held in prison camps and then released without any explanation
  • Some important Nazis (e.g. doctor Josef Mengele, Adolf Eichmann) managed to escape
  • Other Germans were wrongly arrested and some reasonably important Nazis even managed to secure influential jobs in both the FRG and GDR
56
Q

Successes of de-Nazification

A

The first ‘Auschwitz Trials’ were held in Poland in 1947 when Rudolf Höss, the longest serving commander of the camp, and five other camp officials, were tried and executed

57
Q

Denazification under Adenauer in the 1850s

A
  • Believed that the allies’ attempt at denazification was too harsh, so pursued a policy of ‘politics of the past’. This aimed to annul many of the allies punishments for millions of Germans who had been deemed to be Nazi sympathisers
  • The FRG needed to be a stable society and this included recruiting experienced people (Nazis) for important government positions
  • Amnesty laws were passed which benefitted some Germans who had been classed as Nazi criminals
  • There were concerns over migrant workers still being treated as a social underclass, which challenged the FRG’s bold claims about being a healthy democracy
58
Q

How many Germans did the Amnesty Laws support and when were they passed?

A

800,000, 1951

59
Q

How many German officials were allowed to return to their original positions of government administration benefitted from the First Amnesty Law (131 law)?

A

150,000 German officials

60
Q

Examples of German officials were allowed to return to their original positions of government administration, who had benefitted from the First Amnesty Law (131 law)?

A
  • Hans Globke - worked in Adenauer’s cabinet from 1953-63, key in writing the Nuremberg laws
  • Hans Krüger - Adenauer’s minister for refugees, had participated in Hitler’s Munich Putsch or 1923
61
Q

When was the 2nd Amnesty Law passed? How many people did this support (annulled BG process of denazification)?

A

1954, 400,000

62
Q

When was the neo-Nazi socialist Reich party banned?

A

August 1952

63
Q

In 1952, Adenauer had admitted that what % of foreign office diplomats were former Nazis?

A

66%

64
Q

What date did Adenauer agree to pay Israel how much in compensation for the treatment of Jewish people during the war?

A

10th September 1952, DM3 billion - patronising blood money, didn’t change mindset

65
Q

How many migrant workers from Italy, Turkey and Yugoslavia took up much of the low paid and unskilled employment in Germany following the war?

A

8 million

66
Q

Response to Adenauer’s policies on de-Nazification

A
  • Protests from university professors and students following the close appointment of Leonard Schulter (Nazi sympathiser) as minster of education
  • SPD Parliamentarian Walter Menzel spoke out about the amnesties as they pardoned those who murdered innocent people
  • The older generation wanted to move on - economic boom of 1950s, better living standards
  • SPD supported Adenauer’s policies - wanted to achieve social cohesiveness

History Advanced Information (20 decks)

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