Potsdam and establishment of the Soviet zone Flashcards
What was agreed at Yalta?
‘Spheres of influence’
- Germany to be split into 4 zones
What were the 2 spheres?
Western Europe and US in one and East Europe in the other
When was Potsdam?
July 1945
What was agreed at Potsdam?
- Germany to be demilitarised, denazified and democratised
- Germans in Poland, Hungary etc sent back to Germany
- Loss of land to Poland - Oder-Neisse line
What was Churchill’s western view?
‘Iron curtain’ - a physical division within Europe
What did Stalin respond with to Churchill?
Germans able to move freely, blamed it on East; he wants a buffer to protect country
What was the Domino theory?
Greece, Turkey then the rest of the world to fall to communism - resulted in Truman Doctrine
What was the modern revisionist viewpoint?
That the US stirred up the Cold War
How was the West democratized?
- NSDAP disbanded
- Parties encouraged to form at a more local level
- Socialist party banned
- Basic Law banned KPD
- Military licence needed in each zone
Who led German communists?
Walter Ulbricht
When did communists arrive?
April 1945
What parties merged to form the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)?
Zentrum and Protestant
When were the Nuremberg War Trials?
November 1945-October 1946
What leading Nazi officials committed suicide?
Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels
What were the 4 crimes committed by the officials?
- Conspiracy to commit crimes alleged in other 3 counts - helping others to do so below:
- Crimes against peace
- War crimes
- Crimes against humanity
What was a ‘Fragebogen’ and why was it bad?
Questionnaire based on your participation with the Nazi party; open to lies and interpretation
What were former Nazis banned from?
Public office
What were ‘Persil certificates’ and why were they bad?
Certificate of a clean political past; again open to lies and interpretation as given by friends
How many were sentenced and executed?
4700 and 660
What did the US do to save some Nazis from sentencing + example?
Used those who could help in Cold war e.g. Werner Von Braun created Saturn 5 - rocket to the moon
What was operation ‘Odessa’?
Operation ran by SS and Roman Catholic church - smuggled Nazis into South America under new portfolio
Where were Nazis in the East put?
Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen - terrible conditions
What happened after 1947 in terms of denazification?
Nazi legacy downplayed, hidden behind ‘anti-facist- regime
Why were Nazis downplayed?
To reduce risk of economic collapse, which led to the rise in the Nazi party in the first place
What is monopoly capitalism?
When the state intervenes with large monopolies to protect them
What was confiscated from former Nazis in Sep 1945 and what happened to it?
Land and property; redistributed to landless or taken into state ownership
What happened to banks in 1945-46?
Nationalised by state or SAG (Soviet group of companies then handed to GDR
What did the Soviets seize?
Equipment, machinery, engineers, scientists etc
What was the first reason as to why allies fell out?
US order halt of deliveries of industrial goods to Soviets because food wasn’t being returned
When and why did UK reintroduce rationing?
1946-47; in order to supply Germany with food
What caused large scale famine in Germany?
1946-47 Winter
What became a serious issue?
Hoarding of food and fuel
What did the black market do?
Caused bartering of goods for other goods and services, money now worthless
What class were better off?
Rural workers > industrial workers
What was created in Jan 1947?
Bizonia
What was Bizonia?
Merging of US and UK zones, France resisted
When was Trizonia formed?
1949
What currency introduced and what was it backed by?
Deutschmark and $
What happened to the economy in the west?
Became unified (was unchanged)
What did Soviets introduce in retaliation to new currency?
Ostmark
What was the Marshall plan and when was it introduced?
A plan which meant the US provided economic assistance to reinstate Europe’s economic infrastructure and 1947
