Germany

a. Peace and reconstruction

In many respects, May 1945 was Stunde Null for Germany. The whole country was occupied and was politically, economically and morally in ruins. The occupying powers divided Germany into four zones (Soviet Union, Great Britain, United States and France). Agreements relating to the occupation had already been made before the end of the war, and were elaborated during the conferences at Yalta and Potsdam in February and July-August 1945. Each zone was governed by a commander-in-chief who held absolute and independent authority. Despite the partition into zones, the express objective was that Germany would one day be governed as a single country again.

In practice, the principle of joint government was not achieved. Each zone had its own approach to economic reconstruction and political structure. Under military governor Clay, economic revival in the American zone began as early as the winter of 1945-1946. Clay appointed Germans to all levels of the administration. During this period, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union deteriorated very rapidly.

The Americans were working towards the full economic recovery of Germany. Real recovery would not be possible unless the economic frontiers between the zones were removed. The Americans repeatedly proposed the integration of zones to the other Allies. Only the British agreed to the proposal. On 1 January 1947, the American and British zones were merged into a single economic entity: Bizonia. In addition to the unfavourable economic circumstances, Soviet activity in Eastern Europe and the fear of communism (Truman Doctrine) were further reasons for America's foreign policy towards Germany. The German economy had to be rapidly reconstructed so that Germany could play its part in defending the West. The Americans incorporated German economic reconstruction in their large-scale recovery programme for Europe: the Marshall Plan. The East European countries were also asked to participate in the plan, but the Soviet Union rejected this form of aid and the Soviet zone was consequently excluded from the programme. This heralded the beginning of an economic – and later political – division in Europe that was to last for decades.