Establishing +consolidating communist rule in GDR, 1949–61

• In 1949, four years after the end of the Second World War, the German

  Democratic Republic (GDR) was formally established. The GDR existed as a

  communist state for just over 40 years until it became part of the Federal Republic

  of Germany (FRG) in October 1990. Throughout its history, the GDR found itself

  on the very front line of the Cold War , and its capital, Berlin, often became a stark

  focus of the superpower rivalry between the USA and the USSR (Soviet Russia).
• Many, in both the GDR and the FRG, believed Germany’s post-war division was only temporary. Even its national anthem anticipated reunification and included lines that referred to Germany as one nation. The original GDR constitution was deliberately drawn up to be very similar to the FRG’s in order to accommodate possible reunification.
• To threaten the GDR’s existence was the fact that, every year, hundreds of thousands of its citizens illegally emigrated to the FRG. The vast majority of those who emigrated were young, skilled workers – the very individuals the GDR needed most for its economic livelihood, as well as for its political credibility
• By the late 1950s, living standards in the GDR were the highest in the Eastern bloc . In 1958, the GDR’s government boldly asserted that, within a few years, the superiority of socialist societies would be proven as the GDR’s economy would surpass that of the FRG. In 1959, the GDR added its coat of arms to the German flag, symbolising its growing confidence and increasingly separate identity from the FRG.
• By the late 1950s, the GDR’s continued loss of hundreds of thousands of its citizens to the FRG could no longer be ignored. In 1961, the GDR government ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall. This sealing of the border between East and West Berlin was crucial in the development of the GDR. The government could now undertake economic planning with a guaranteed labour supply, and state security would be much less at risk from Western espionage. Germany’s post-war division and therefore the existence of the GDR seemed assured for the foreseeable future.
• WHY DID EVENTS IN THE YEARS 1945 TO 1949 LEAD TO THE DIVISION OF GERMANY?

  During the Second World War, Britain, the USA and the USSR had fought as allies in the Grand Alliance to defeat Nazi Germany. When the war ended, the lead issue facing the Allied leaders was how to deal with post-war Germany. Germany’s size meant that it had the potential to become strong economically, and its geographical position in central Europe made it strategically important. But, in 1945, within four years, Germany would find itself divided into two separate states, with one in each of the opposing Cold War camps
• WHY DID EVENTS IN THE YEARS 1945 TO 1949 LEAD TO THE DIVISION OF GERMANY?

  In May 1949, the FRG was formally established from the US, British and French zones of occupation, and then became firmly allied with Western Europe and the USA. The remaining Soviet zone of occupation then became GDR in October 1949 and part of Eastern bloc communist countries controlled by the USSR.
•  WHY DID EVENTS IN THE YEARS 1945 TO 1949 LEAD TO THE DIVISION OF GERMANY?

  During the Cold War, most Western historians supported one of two explanations for Germany’s post-war division. One argument was based on the belief that the FRG was set up to prevent Stalin’s aim of establishing Communist control over the whole of Germany. Another interpretation viewed Stalin as only planning for a communist East Germany. Consequently, the FRG was a necessary response to counter Stalin’s aims for a separate communist German state.
• Decisions reached at Yalta

  1. The big three would each be allocated an occupation zone of Germany as well as a sector of Berlin

  2. The east part of Germany would become the USSR's zone of occupation

  3. Berlin would be totally surrounded by the Soviet zone of occupation, western powers would have to come through soviet zone to reach berlin
• WHY DID EVENTS IN THE YEARS 1945 TO 1949 LEAD TO THE DIVISION OF GERMANY?

  The three powers met again after Germany’s surrender at Potsdam in July 1945. Here it was also decided that each power would be able to take reparations from its zone of occupation as compensation for war damage.
• Potsdam + Yalta consequences:  Stalin began the ruthless extraction of reparations from the Soviet zone, which he regarded as justified given the USSR’s huge losses –estimated 25 million Soviet lives and the destruction of huge amounts of Soviet territory. These decisions were an immediate source of growing tension between the Western powers and the USSR. The West’s access to their sectors of Berlin was clearly dependent on the USSR, and the extent of reparations taken from the Soviet zone was regarded by the Western powers as detrimental to the zone’s economic and political development.
• Creation of the Socialist Unity Party-SED

  30 April 1945, days before the end of the war in Europe, a group of German communists led by Walter Ulbricht (the Ulbricht Group ) arrived in Berlin.most of the period of the Third Reich , the group’s members had been in exile in Moscow. Their first task was to ensure that the KPD (the German Communist Party) controlled as many key local administrative positions as possible and to encourage popular support for the party. However, by the local elections that summer, it was clear that the SPD (the German Social Democratic Party)had far more support
• In April 1946, 600,000 KPD members and nearly 700,000 members of the SPD merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The very next day saw the first edition of the SED newspaper, Neues Deutschland. This controversial merger came about as a result of Soviet pressure on the SPD to disband and a general desire to avoid having two left-wing political parties competing for votes. As well as splitting the left-wing vote, many Germans regarded the failure of the KPD and SPD to co-operate

  in the early 1930s as a major reason why the Nazis had been able to achieve power.
• SED leaders swiftly ensured that this new political party (merger of KPD and SPD) was dominated by communists. There was a purge of SED members who had been former politicians and supporters of the pre-Second World War SPD. In 1948, only two years after its formation, the SED officially stated its commitment to Marxist-Leninist principles. By 1950, approximately 5,000 former SPD members had been arrested and sent to Soviet prisons.
• Bizonia and the Truman Doctrine - Increased demarcation

  In January 1947, after almost a year of secret negotiations, the US and British governments announced their decision to merge their zones into one economic unit that became known as Bizonia. Stalin regarded this as the first deliberate step by Britain and the USA towards the creation of an independent, capitalist West German state. He argued that the measures to develop economic unity between zones should have been discussed beforehand with both the USSR and France.
• Bizonia and the Truman doctrine: Then, in March, US President Truman announced his policy of containment and what became known as the Truman Doctrine . This would require stable and prosperous states in Western Europe. Three months later, the USA announced significant amounts of financial aid for war-damaged Europe with the Marshall Plan, the economic policy to directly support the Truman Doctrine.
• Bizonia + Truman Doctrine: In June 1948,Britain and the USA announced the introduction of the Deutschmark (DM),into the Western zones of occupied Germany and Western sectors of Berlin. Economically,the new currency was essential in order to boost trade, increase industrial production and eradicate the extensive black market,but it had serious political consequences.For the USSR,the reform was an act of aggression.The Soviets regarded it as a deliberate strategy to undermine the Soviet zone by disrupting Berlin’s economic unity and disregarding principles of allied decision-making over Germany.
• Growing divisions among the victor powers

  In the summer of 1945, the US, British and Soviet heads of government met at Potsdam, near Berlin, for a post-war conference. It was clear that relations were becoming strained, and areas of disagreement between the Western allies and the USSR soon emerged. This was partly due to the death of US President Roosevelt in April 1945 and the new, more anti-communist successor, Truman. One major source of tension was the USSR’s demands for reparations, which were regarded by the Western Allies as excessive and likely to hamper Germany’s economic recovery.
• Potsdam: disagreements on reparations. The Western Allies believed a weak economy and low living standards would increase the appeal of communism. Another major disagreement was the location of Germany’s eastern border with communist Poland. The Western Allies viewed Stalin’s preferred location as too far west, giving Poland territory that contained millions of displaced Germans. This issue remained unresolved at the end of the conference and it was agreed to come to a decision at a future meeting. it was not until 1990 that the question of the German-Polish border was finally settled.
• Berlin Airlift

  Operation to supply West Berlin with food, fuel and medical supplies after the USSR severed all rail, road and canal links from West Berlin to the Western zones
• Berlin Airlift

  1. Blockade by USSR

  2. Western allies decide to use airlift

  3. Airlift begins on 26 June

  4. At height, aircraft landed every 90 seconds delivering 8,000 tonnes per day

  5. Airlift ends in May 1949 after 322 days, 277,000 flights and 5 million charity packages
• The Berlin Airlift became the defining event of the early Cold War
• Berlin was transformed from being viewed as the centre of the recent Nazi state to instead representing Western democratic values
• After the Berlin Airlift

  The Western Allies decided to co-ordinate their armed forces, which was a fundamental reason for the creation of NATO
• The USSR appeared much less certain or deliberately evasive over its intentions for Germany's future
• Many Western politicians believed the USSR's real aims were for the eventual establishment of a united, communist Germany
• Within the Western zones there was considerable support for Konrad Adenauer, the leader of the new Christian Democratic Union (CDU) political party
• By the end of 1949, it was clear that the division of Germany, which had been viewed by the superpowers as a temporary measure in 1945, was to become a more permanent feature of the post-war settlement
• The creation of two German states was not the result of demands from the German population; in fact, the vast majority of the German population viewed the division of Germany with dismay
• The development of two states was predominantly the result of increasing divisions within the victorious powers relating to the future of Germany
• The relationship between Stalin and Truman had broken down in an atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust
• For Stalin, the imposition of socialism on the Soviet sector of Germany was a necessary development to meet the security needs of the USSR
• To the USA, their zones would act as a barrier to the further spread of communism directed by the USSR, as well as providing a market for American goods
• The only likely alternative was to retain a united, but neutral, Germany, but the growing tensions and suspicion between the superpowers rendered this impossible
• The Berlin Crisis of 1948-49 cemented the process of division between the superpowers and, with it, the division of Germany into two states
• It was in this context that the GDR was established
• Although proposals for German reunification were put on the negotiating table, the continued hostility between the superpowers made progress towards this goal impossible
• GDR (German Democratic Republic)

  German state established in the Soviet zone in October 1949
• Much of the GDR's fundamental economic and social structures had already been shaped with the extensive measures implemented immediately after the Second World War
• The SED (Socialist Unity Party) already had a dominant influence in domestic politics in the Soviet zone