Comparison of Germany and GDR table. Why Germany was divided into the FRG and the GDR

1) Economic development of Germany

The main political task of the FRG was to determine the status and strategy for the economic recovery and development of the country. In Germany, they began to build a "social market economy."

Principles of social market economy:

The state does not regulate economic processes, but establishes the rules by which private economic entities operate (“the state is like a referee on a football field who does not play football, but monitors compliance with the established rules”)

The state supports competition, but does not overstep the boundaries of business freedom

The state creates scope for private initiative and entrepreneurship.

At the same time, Germany had a strong social policy capable of mitigating social contrasts between the rich and the poor. As a result, the growth rate of industrial production in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s amounted to 8.5% per year. Germany has taken 2nd place in the world in terms of living standards. Since 1975, Germany entered a period of economic crisis, which affected the entire capitalist world.

2) Economic development of the GDR

After the formation of the GDR, the country's leadership set a course for building a socialist society. Industrialization was carried out with a predominance of heavy industry. In agriculture, collective farms and state farms have been established, and the principle of equal wages has been introduced. Until 1958, ration cards were kept in the GDR. In 1953, mass protests against totalitarian socialism took place in the GDR, which were suppressed by the Soviet government, the standard of living of East Germans was 15 times lower than that of Western countries. Enterprises were poorly equipped technically, there was low labor productivity and low wages. East Germans begin to flee to the FRG, where the standard of living was much higher than in the GDR. Therefore, in 1961, the Berlin Wall was built, which finally divided one country into two states. In the early 60s, in the GDR, it was decided to abandon state subsidies to the economy of industrial enterprises, transfer them to self-support (enterprises were allowed to sell their products, make a profit and put it into circulation). Enterprises have improved their technical equipment, increased product quality and labor productivity. The financial situation of the Germans improved. In 1981, the ardent communist Eric Honecker came to power, who curtailed all democratic reforms and returned the country to a totalitarian regime. In October 1889, the economic crisis in the GDR reached its peak and the “velvet revolution” took place in the country. On October 18, 1989 Honecker resigned, on November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, on October 3, 1990 a historic event took place - both parts of Germany united into one state. The USSR, USA and Germany signed an agreement on international partnership and cooperation.

The Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic that arose in the post-war period on German soil for forty years, as it were, personified two socio-economic and political systems, two ways of life - capitalist (FRG) and socialist (GDR). Each of them, in its own way, "worked" for the authority of the corresponding system.

However, this economic competition ended up not in favor of the socialist model. So, in the late 1980s, labor productivity in the GDR was much lower than in West Germany and a significant part of the enterprises in the country were unprofitable, but it must be borne in mind that this was based not only on institutional reasons, but also on the political pressure of the West.

The starting conditions after the war were similar, the political split of Germany led to the economic disintegration of countries, to the split of a single economy. But the main disproportions arose between the relatively developed manufacturing industry on the territory of the GDR and the extremely insufficient coal-metallurgical raw materials and energy base, which remained in the West. The war did more damage to the eastern part of Germany, where the main fighting took place. Here, 45% of industrial funds were destroyed, including 30% of the capacities of energy facilities, transport was completely disorganized, industrial development was not provided with coal, oil, iron ore, and non-ferrous metals. There was no basis for heavy industry, historically established in West Germany.

Given the almost complete absence of foreign currency loans (the USSR provided them, but not in such volumes as the United States under the "Marshall Plan" for the FRG), the burden of reparations (the FRG paid to a lesser extent) and the costs of maintaining Soviet troops (they were limited to 5% annual budget of the GDR only after 1953), the economic achievements of the GDR in the 1950s can be called phenomenal. If the FRG (and its growth rates were many times higher than those of Great Britain and France) increased from 1950 to 1958. industrial output by 210%, then the GDR - by 241%. The average annual increase in industrial production in the GDR in 1950-58. was 10%, and in Germany - 8.5%. In 1957, the GDR surpassed the FRG in terms of industrial growth in comparison with 1936. If we take the level of this year as 100%, then in 1957 the industrial potential of the GDR increased 2.4 times, and the FRG - 2.26 times. Moreover, the starting positions of both countries in 1950 were approximately the same: the GDR - 110.6% of the 1936 level, the FRG - 110.9%. However, these impressive figures masked serious structural problems in the GDR economy.

Developing heavy industry and contriving to avoid inflation and a state budget deficit, the government of the GDR had to seriously limit the growth in the production of consumer goods. The unrest of the population in June 1953 was largely due not only to an increase in the already high production rates, but also to interruptions in the supply of certain products, as well as high prices in state trade for meat, butter, fabrics, clothing, leather shoes and utensils. As a result, the government of the GDR made a massive redistribution of investments from heavy industry in favor of industries that directly satisfied the needs of the population. However, the new direction of the state's investment policy made it impossible to radically re-equip the fixed assets of the fairly outdated industry of East Germany. Most of its enterprises remained at the technological level of 1939, while in the FRG the equipment in the industry (and so much less affected by the war than the industry of the GDR) was upgraded twice after 1945.

And if initially the redistribution of funds in favor of the light and food industries was justified, then in the specific conditions of the industrially developed GDR it dragged on too long. The country still objectively could not feed and clothe itself at the expense of internal resources. Consequently, it was necessary to increase exports, and the main export commodities of East Germany have always been industrial equipment and products of the chemical industry. But since these industries did not receive sufficient funds, their products became morally obsolete and every day became less and less competitive in the West. Accordingly, foreign exchange earnings were reduced, which could be used to purchase food and high-quality consumer goods, many of which (for example, coffee and chocolate traditional for consumption in Germany) could not be supplied from the countries of the socialist camp. It turned out that the West Germans by the mid-50s were already getting a taste of the so-called. southern fruits (i.e. bananas, pineapples, etc.), while there was still not enough good coffee for the inhabitants of the GDR. Moreover, it is very interesting that these problems were well understood in the USSR, although for many it seemed insignificant. But if the Soviet workers and peasants in the 1950s were unpretentious in the choice of consumer goods, and the absence of certain things was not perceived by them as hardships and hardships, then the Germans traditionally had a higher culture of consumption. The lack of coffee was very sensitive for them. In addition, the GDR had before it the example of the FRG, and the survival of the German workers' and peasants' state really depended on whether it could provide its citizens with at least a standard of living comparable to that of the FRG. From year to year, the GDR was forced to import (mainly from the USSR) a significant part of the food consumed in the country. 25% of grain, 11% of meat, 7% of butter and 8% of eggs were bought abroad.

It is clear that in the GDR they formed the same economic structure as it was in the USSR, which entailed the processes of nationalization and stateization. In 1952, production cooperatives began to be created in the villages, with the use of both economic and administrative pressure. The peak of forced collectivization in the GDR came in 1960. During this year, as much agricultural land was collectivized as in all the previous eight years. By the end of 1960, more than 80% of the agricultural land in the GDR had been nationalized. Similarly, the policy was built in the industrial sector, and if in the early 1960s the socialist industrial sector produced 85% of the total social product, then by the beginning of the 70s the share of people's (state) enterprises in industrial production was already 94.9%.

In Germany, by the mid-1950s, after a slight slowdown in economic growth, a new upsurge began, caused by an influx of capital, a significant renewal of technical production, and government measures to revive heavy industry. In 1953-56, the annual increase in industrial output was 10-15%. In terms of industrial production, Germany ranked third in the world after the United States and Great Britain, and surpassed Great Britain in some types of production. At the same time, small and medium-sized businesses formed the basis of the rapidly growing economy: in 1953, enterprises with less than 500 employees provided more than half of all jobs in the economy, unemployment had a steady downward trend (from 10.3% in 1950 to 1.2% in 1960).

By the beginning of the 1960s. In terms of industrial production and exports, Germany was second only to the United States. It accounted for more than 60.5% of coal production, about half of steel production, about 40% of exports and 35% of imports of the EEC ("Common Market"). Agriculture also flourished. For example, in 1934–1938, the average annual wheat yield in the country was 22.3 centners per hectare, while in 1967 and 1968 it was 41.2 and 42.3 centners per hectare, respectively. A special mention deserves the agrarian reform, which betrayed the bulk of the land to small and medium-sized owners.

Among the factors that contributed to such a successful development of the German economy, the following should be mentioned:

• the western part of Germany has historically been formed as the industrial center of the country, where the most qualified labor force is concentrated;
• significant initial assistance in the initial period of the restoration of the national economy under the Marshall Plan (3.9 billion dollars), especially the supply of industrial equipment, which contributed to the inclusion of the FRG in the scientific and technological revolution;
• state support for entrepreneurial activity, stake on the creation of medium-sized enterprises. Already in 1953, more than half of all employees worked at enterprises with up to 500 people;
• rooting in all branches of the national economy of the latest achievements of scientific and technological revolution;
• minimum military spending: until 1955-1957 they were limited only to financing the occupying forces, which cost the country 2–2.5 times cheaper than maintaining its own army;
• a multimillion-dollar influx of refugees from the Soviet occupation zone, which became an additional source of labor. For the economy of the FRG, refugees from the GDR gave a lot, so the cost of human capital transferred from the GDR was 2.6 billion marks annually in the FRG in the 50s (savings in education and training of personnel). In 1960, the share of refugees and migrants (not only from the GDR, but also from other countries of Eastern Europe) amounted to 30.7% of all wage laborers in the FRG;
• maintaining "class" peace in the country thanks to a reasonable social policy of the state.

The fact that as early as 15 years after the Second World War, Germany came out on top in Europe in terms of economic development, having outstripped its winners in economic terms, speaks of the high efficiency of the reforms at the turn of the 1940s-1950s, which became a reliable launching pad for the development of the West German economy. For the socio-economic model of the GDR, all the shortcomings characteristic of the command-administrative system of state socialism were inherent. Thus, the planned economy largely deprived the citizens of the GDR of personal initiative and independence, the middle stratum of society was completely eliminated as the basis for economic development, entrepreneurship and labor activity were paralyzed. As a result, the productivity of the economy was relatively low compared to Western countries. In 1979 it was 46% of the Western level and by 1989 it had fallen to 30-40%.

Today, many Germans fundamentally do not want to divide the country into West and East and prefer to forget about the remnants of the past. However, even more than twenty years after the unification, significant economic and institutional differences remain between the two parts of the country, not in favor of the eastern region of Germany.

After the defeat of Germany in World War II and the surrender of the Nazi army, the territory of Germany was occupied by the troops of four allied states: the USSR, the USA, England and France. In accordance with the decision of the Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945), the country was divided into 4 occupation zones. Management was carried out by the Allied Control Council. Krasheninnikova N. A. History of the State and Law of Foreign Countries. Part 2. Textbook for high schools. 2nd edition. - M.: NORMA publishing group - INFA M, 2004. - p. 236. In January 1947, the British and American occupation zones merged into Bisonia.

Later, in July 1948, on the orders of the Western occupying powers, a separatist state was established on their territory. On August 1, 1948, the French occupation zone and the Anglo-American merged into Trizonia, and already on September 1, the Western powers approved the Parliamentary Council. The council consisted of 65 deputies elected by the Landtags and 5 representatives from West Berlin with an advisory vote. In May 1949 they drafted a constitution for West Germany, which included the territories of the three western occupation zones.

On May 8, 1949, the Parliamentary Council, which met in Bonn, adopted the draft Basic Law and submitted it for ratification to the Landtags (representative bodies of the Lands).

Between 18 and 21 May 1949, the parliaments of all states except Bavaria approved the draft Constitution. When adopted, this act was called the Basic Law and was considered as temporary: it was believed that the constitution would be adopted for all of Germany after overcoming its split.

The new Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany came into force on May 23, 1949. This is considered the day of the founding of Germany.

In accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the eastern part of Germany: the lands of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony - Anhalt was occupied by the USSR. To manage the eastern part of Germany, a special body of the Soviet military administration in Germany, SVAG (Soviet Administration of Military Germany), was created.

The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which was formed in April 1946 as a result of the merger of the communist and social democratic party organizations, was involved in government activities. In September-October 1946, elections were held throughout East Germany to local governments and land parliaments - landtags (legislative bodies of the lands). The SED received over 50% of the vote in the general elections and 47% in the Landtag elections.

Also, the eastern part of Germany was subjected to socialist reforms: the property of the monopolies was confiscated, and agrarian reform was carried out. Orientation was taken towards the collectivization of agriculture.

In March 1947, the German People's Congress of East Germany determined the fate of the state. He elected the German People's Council and instructed it to draw up a constitution for the future GDR.

On October 7, 1949, the People's Council announced the enactment of a new constitution and the creation of the German Democratic Republic as an independent state. At the same time, the People's Council reorganized itself as the Provisional People's Chamber of the GDR.

Already the Provisional People's Chamber adopted a law on the formation of a provisional government of the GDR and its formation was entrusted to Otto Grotenwohl, who was nominated for the post of prime minister of the SED faction.

On September 7, 1949, the Bundestag was declared and a coalition government headed by Konrad Adenauer was formed from representatives of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Free Democratic Party and the German Party, which completed the state split.

The SED and the Soviet military administration that collaborated with it were fully convinced that only a complete break with the past based on the domination of capitalism could guarantee for the future that imperialist German aggression would not happen again.

The leadership of the GDR, when creating a separate state, pursued the main goal - preventing a new war in Europe. In the field of internal development, the GDR had to become a socio-political alternative to the imperialist FRG.

State system of Germany

The new constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany came into force on May 23, 1949. This is the fourth Constitution in the history of Germany (three constitutions were adopted in 1849-1919). The Basic Law was developed by a commission of German jurists who acted on the instructions of the prime ministers of the West German lands, elected by the Landtags (legislative, usually unicameral, body of each land), but also subordinate to the governors of the three occupation zones, which were under the control of Great Britain, the USA, France.

The governors were appointed by the victorious powers after the defeat of Hitler's Germany. The German constitution rejected the former fascist order and proceeded from the principles of universal values: democracy, equality in the separation of powers, and justice. All power came from the people, who exercised it through elections and various kinds of voting, as well as through special bodies - legislative, executive and judicial. Baglai M.V. Constitutional law of foreign countries. - M.: "Norma", 2000. - p. 485.

Germany is built on the principles of federalism. It was formed from 10 lands, independent in their budget and independent of each other. Each of the lands had its own Landtag and its own government, which had considerable autonomy.

Legislative power belonged to the Bicameral Parliament: the upper house - the Bundesrat (Union Council), the lower - the Bundestag. The Bundesrat, according to its tasks and position, was an independent supreme federal body that managed its own affairs, was not subject to supervision by another body and was not bound by any directives. It elected its chairman for a one-year term. He regulated his work by regulation. Likewise, the Bundesrat conducted its own affairs; had an independent budget within the framework of the federation, its chairman was the head of the service department of officials in the Bundesrat. The Bundesrat did not consist of members elected by the people, but of representatives appointed and recalled by the governments of the states. The Bundesrat expressed the interests of the subjects of the federation. The number of members that each land could send to the Bundesrat was determined by the number of votes in that land. Each land had at least 3 votes; lands with a population of up to 2 million people have 3 votes, from 2 to 6 million - 4 votes, and over 6 million - 5 votes. The Bundesrat consisted of 41 voting members.

The Bundestag was elected by the entire people of Germany and consisted of 496 members. He was also not subject to supervision by another authority and was not bound by any orders. The Bundesrat elected its own chairman, his deputies and secretaries. He himself determined his organization and procedure with the help of regulations - an autonomous charter.

Half of the deputies were elected in the constituencies according to the majoritarian system of relative majority by direct voting. The other half - according to party lists, put up in each land according to the proportional system. Each voter in Germany was given two votes. The first - for the election of a deputy in the constituency, the second - for the elections on the land lists. The party that collected less than 5% of the second votes divided the representation in the parliament.

If the organization of the Bundestag can be attributed to the classical type of a bourgeois parliamentary chamber - it has a chairman, a bureau of the chamber, commissions, its deputies are united in factions, then the Bundesrat has specific features. It is characterized by the principle of coordinated voting, i.e. the votes of the representatives of the states shall be cast as one vote. Its members had an imperative mandate. Land governments told their representatives how they should vote on issues under discussion.

The system of central government bodies was based on the principle of separation of powers.

According to the constitution, the head of the Federal Republic of Germany and the head of the executive branch was the Federal President, who was elected for 5 years - by a specially assembled Federal Assembly - a body that consists of members of the Bundestag and the same number of members elected by the landtags on the basis of proportionality. Every German with active suffrage and over 40 years of age could be elected. The president could participate in government meetings, could in some cases dissolve the Bundestag. However, most presidential acts required the mandatory countersigning of the federal chancellor or the relevant minister.

The real executive power was concentrated in the Government, and especially in the hands of its chairman - the Chancellor. Chancellorship is proposed by the President. He is then elected by a majority vote of the Bundestag. The chancellor appoints and dismisses ministers, determines the domestic and foreign policy of the state. He is the only minister constitutionally responsible to the Bundestag.

The federal government has the right to issue regulations for the implementation of federal laws, as well as issue general administrative regulations. The government is actively involved in the legislative process. It has the right to invite the President of the Republic, with the consent of the Bundesrat, to declare a state of legislative necessity. The Bundestag is thus excluded from passing laws.

The constitution established a complex procedure for issuing no confidence in the government. A chancellor can only be removed by electing a new chancellor.

In the system of central state bodies of Germany, a special place was occupied by the Federal Constitutional Court, consisting of two senates of 8 judges each. Judicial power is concentrated in its competence. The members of the court are elected in equal numbers by the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.

The Constitutional Court has broad competence - interpretation of the Constitution, verification of the conformity of federal law and the law of the Länder with the fundamental law, consideration of constitutional and legal conflicts between the Federation and the Länder or between different Länder in cases of disagreement about the rights and obligations of the Federation and the Länder, resolution of disputes of a public law nature between the Federation and the Länder or within the same Länder, consideration of questions of consistency in the form and content of land law with the Basic Law or other federal law. The Court can also strike down parliamentary laws if they are inconsistent with the Basic Law.

By 1960, the party political system of Germany had developed from three parties. Its peculiarity was that the two main political organizations acted as parties forming the government: the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the bloc of two clerical Christian parties - the Christian Democratic Union (CDU exists in all states of Germany, except Bavaria ) and the Christian Social Union (CSU, operates within the same state of Bavaria). The third bourgeois-liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) entered the government as a "junior partner", a balance of power.

The three-party West German model could only be called conditionally, since the parties were unequal to each other.

State system of the GDR

The People's Chamber was proclaimed the supreme body of power in the Constitution. It consisted of 400 deputies, 100 deputies and 66 representatives of the city of Berlin with an advisory vote. Deputies were elected for 4 years by universal, direct and equal elections by secret ballot. The People's Chamber elected its Presidium, in which each faction was represented, numbering at least 40 deputies. The chamber established the principles of government policy, approved the composition of the government, exercised control over the activities of the government and its recall, managed and controlled all the activities of the state, made decisions on the state budget, national economic plan, etc. The government of the lands was carried out by the Chamber of Lands, which was elected by the landtags of the lands. The Chamber of Lands received limited rights: it could protest within 14 days against the law adopted by the People's Chamber, but the final decision belonged to the latter.

The competence of both chambers included the election of the President. The scope of powers of the President was rather narrow. He was elected for 4 years, represented the republic in international relations, received diplomatic representatives, exercised the right of pardon together with the People's Chamber, etc. The SED representative Wilhelm Pick was elected as the first president.

The Government was proclaimed the supreme body of executive power. It was formed by a representative of the faction, which was the strongest in the People's Chamber. The People's Chamber approved the composition of the government and its program. The government was responsible to the People's Chamber.

In 1949, the first elections to the People's Chamber of the GDR took place. They were carried out on the basis of a common electoral program with common lists of candidates of the National Front of Democratic Germany.

In 1952, the historical division of the country into lands was abolished and a new administrative-territorial division of the GDR into 14 districts and 217 districts was established. The Chamber of Lands and Landtags were abolished. Local authorities began to be exercised by district and district assemblies, which elected their own councils (executive authorities).

In 1952, at a conference of the SED, it was decided that the German Democratic Republic is a socialist state and will follow the socialist path in the future. Sixteen years later, the new constitution of the GDR in 1968 declared the victory of socialist relations of production.

The new Constitution expanded the scope of constitutional regulation of the socio-political system. It consolidated the principles of organization and functioning of political systems, interaction of parties, public organizations, labor collectives. Marxist-Leninist communist workers' parties were consolidated as the main political institutions, recognized as the only "leading and guiding force" of public and state life. The constitution also recognized a multi-party system, stressed the importance of mass socio-political associations and popular movements.

Public property (state (public) and cooperative) and national economic planning were indicated as the economic basis of socialist society. In the system of public authorities, the President of the GDR was replaced by the State Council, which was headed by the chairman. A wide list of rights and freedoms of citizens and universal suffrage were consolidated. The deprivation of the right to vote by the court was abolished. In the new version of the constitution of 1974, the GDR was proclaimed "an integral part of the socialist community", and allied relations with the USSR were proclaimed "eternal and inviolable."

Formally, in accordance with the Constitution, the GDR was one of the most democratic states in the world. No law could enter into force except for the People's Chamber, the activity of which was regulated by rules that took into account the best traditions of German parliamentarism. A carefully designed electoral system created the preconditions for revealing the will of the majority of the population.

The main political party of the GDR was the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). She represented the working class and defended its interests. Other segments of the population recognized were defending four parties: federal democratic germany constitution

• - Christian Democratic Union (CDU);
• - Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD);
• - Democratic Peasants' Party of Germany (DKPG);
• - National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD).

The multi-party system also predetermined the fact that the unified youth organization of the GDR was not formally tied to the SED, but united young people of different beliefs and religions in its ranks.

The trade unions of the GDR (Associations of Free German Trade Unions, OSNP), which have considerable influence, represented almost all the working people of the republic.

However, the democratic scenery remained only a disguise for the absolute dictatorship of a narrow group of persons representing the "party-state leadership" of the republic, but in fact one person who led the ruling SED and the state it created.

Regardless of the constitutional norms, all party bodies decided, and the rest of the instances only confirmed what had already been decided. But the most important thing that caused general rejection was the presence everywhere of the Ministry of State Security (MGB), whose agents penetrated literally everywhere.

Despite the fact that at the Potsdam Conference the victorious countries agreed to consider Germany as a single power, already in the very joint occupation of the defeated country by the four victors, the prerequisites were laid for the subsequent dismemberment of Germany. The struggle between the two systems, which engulfed the whole world, was most directly reflected in Germany, which was pulled in its own direction by both the West and the USSR.

In the Eastern (Soviet) zone of occupation of Germany, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) became the backbone of the new system. It arose by merging the Communist Party with the Social Democratic Party. In the British and American zones, the influence of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU) increased. The founders of these parties hoped that the revival of Christian principles in the political life of Germany would help her reconcile with the West. In the ranks of these parties were representatives of different segments of the population.

The deterioration of relations between the recent allies at the end of 1947 led to the breakdown of negotiations on the payment of German reparations. Back in December 1946, the American and British occupation zones merged into the so-called Bizonia. In February 1948, a separate London conference of Western powers was held, which spoke in favor of the creation of Trizonia already (which included the lands occupied by France). A course was taken to include West Germany in the Marshall Plan and to prepare for the creation of three zones of occupation of the West German state on the territory.

The question of Berlin was especially acute. The western sectors of Berlin were an enclave within the Soviet occupation zone. The USSR hoped to completely oust the Western powers from Berlin. In the spring of 1948, the Soviet side limited communications, transport links and trade between the eastern and western zones, and on June 24 completely blocked West Berlin, making it extremely difficult to supply its inhabitants with food and basic necessities.

The official reason for the blockade was an attempt to extend to West Berlin the monetary reform carried out in the western occupation zones. This action was caused by the fact that the USSR and Western countries could not agree on the creation of a single all-German bank under the Allied Control Council and on granting it the right to issue money. Meanwhile, hard currency was needed to secure the Marshall Plan. New stamps appeared in Trizonia. At the same time, state control over prices was abolished, which was also required by the said plan.

In response, the Eastern Mark was put into circulation in the Soviet zone, which the USSR sought to extend to the whole of Berlin, thus including West Berlin in the economic system of East Germany. The head of the Soviet military administration in Germany (SVAG), Marshal Sokolovsky, said that the blockade would continue until the West abandoned plans to create a West German government.

The commander of the American forces in Germany, General L. Clay, proposed to deblock West Berlin by ground forces, but President Truman considered that this was too risky. Then an air bridge was organized: American heavy transport aircraft smoothly delivered goods to West Berlin that were previously transported by trains. The Americans transferred 60 heavy bombers capable of carrying atomic weapons to England and put strategic aviation on alert. On May 12, 1949, the blockade of Berlin was lifted. The USSR could not get the former allies to abandon the course towards the creation of a new West German state, towards the inclusion of West Berlin in its sphere of influence (even purely financial). On May 23, representatives of the states (Parliamentary Council) of West Germany voted to approve the new constitution.

The Berlin crisis became, in fact, the starting point on the way to the final split of Germany into two states. On September 20, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was proclaimed, which included three western occupation zones. On October 5, the German People's Council, created with the help of the USSR in East Germany, announced its transformation into a parliament. On October 7, 1949, he proclaimed the creation of the German Democratic Republic and the enactment of its constitution. East Berlin became the capital of the GDR.

Germany was a federation of individual states with their own governments. The main body of power was a bicameral parliament. The lower house is the elected Bundestag, the upper house, the Bundesrat, is formed from representatives appointed by the governments of the lands. The head of state is the president and the head of government, the chancellor, who has great powers. In the first elections to the Bundestag, held in 1949, the bloc of CDU-CSU parties headed by K. Adenauer won. Up to a certain point, the powers that occupied West Germany reserved the right to control its disarmament, the level of industrial production, the development of the Ruhr region, foreign relations and trade, and other issues.

On October 11, 1949, the Provisional Parliament elected Wilhelm Pieck, a prominent figure in the German labor movement, as President of the GDR. On October 12, the Provisional Government of the GDR headed by O. Grotewohl was formed. The Soviet government transferred to the GDR the control functions that belonged to the Soviet military administration.

Relations between the republics remained hostile for a long time. The FRG until 1970 refused to recognize the GDR, and the German question remained one of the main sources of international tension.

Germany quickly overtook its eastern neighbor in terms of development. It was here that the main stocks of raw materials and skilled labor resources were concentrated. West Germany, under the Marshall Plan, received significant assistance from the West; an effective model of a market economy was created here. By the end of the 1950s, Germany had taken second place in the Western world in terms of industrial production, only in the late 1960s was it overtaken by Japan.

One of the consequences of the Berlin crisis was the creation in April 1949 of the North Atlantic bloc - NATO. NATO included the USA, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. In 1952, Greece and Turkey joined NATO.

In early 1949, the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe, in opposition to the Marshall plan, created the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), and then began preparations for the creation of common military structures, which ended in 1955 with the formation of the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD). Europe was divided into warring military and economic blocs.

The date of formation of Germany (in the form in which it is now) is October 3, 1990. Prior to this, the country's territory was divided into two states: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Today we will take a closer look at what the FRG and the GDR are, and get acquainted with the history of these states.

a brief description of

On May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was proclaimed. It included sections of Nazi Germany located in the British, American and French zones of occupation. A special article of the constitution of the FRG assumed that in the future the rest of the German territories would also be part of the newly formed state.

Due to the occupation of Berlin and giving it a special status, the country's capital was moved to the provincial town of Bonn. On October 7 of the same year, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was proclaimed in the Soviet zone of occupation. Berlin was appointed its capital (in fact, only the eastern part of the city, which was under the control of the GDR). For the next 40+ years, the two German states existed separately. Until the 1970s, the authorities of the country of Germany categorically did not want to recognize the GDR. Later, she began to recognize "neighbours", but only partially.

The peaceful revolution in the GDR, which took place in the autumn of 1990, led to the fact that on October 3 its territories were integrated into the FRG. Then the capital of Germany was returned to Berlin.

Now let's get acquainted with these events in more detail.

The division of Germany after the surrender

When the Allied troops (America, the USSR, Great Britain and France) captured Nazi Germany, its territory was divided between them into four zones of occupation. Berlin was also divided, but it received a special status. In 1949, the Western Allies united the territories subject to them and called this region Trizonia. The eastern part of the country still remained under the occupation of the Soviet Union.

Education Germany

On May 24, 1949, the Parliamentary Council, which met in Bonn (a city that belonged to the British occupation zone), proclaimed the Federal Republic of Germany under the strict control of the military governors. It included areas newly created by that time, belonging to the British, American and French occupation zones.

On the same day, the constitution was adopted. The 23rd article of the document declared its extension to Berlin, which formally could only partially enter the FRG. The main provisions of this article also provided for the prospect of extending the constitution to other German lands. Thus, the foundation was laid for the entry into the Federal Republic of Germany of all the territories of the previously existing German Empire.

The preamble to the constitution explicitly stated the need to unite the German people on the basis of a reconstituted state. The document itself was positioned as temporary, so officially it was even called not the constitution, but the "Basic Law".

Since Berlin was endowed with a special political status, it was not possible to keep the capital of the Federal Republic in it. In this regard, it was decided to appoint the provincial city of Bonn, in which the proclamation of the country of the Federal Republic of Germany took place, its temporary capital.

Creation of the GDR

The German lands of the Soviet occupation zone did not intend to recognize the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany adopted on May 23, 1949. On May 30, the delegates of the German People's Congress, elected two weeks earlier, adopted the constitution of the GDR, recognized by the 5 states of Soviet occupation. On the basis of the adopted constitution in the republic, which also called itself East Germany, state authorities were created.

On October 19, elections were held for the Chamber of Lands and the People's Chamber of the first convocation. Wilhelm Pick, chairman of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), became president of the GDR.

Political status and prospects for the expansion of Germany

From the very beginning, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany clearly defined what the FRG is. It positioned itself as the only representative of the interests of the German people, and the FRG itself as the only follower of the German Empire. Therefore, it is not surprising that it had claims to all the lands belonging to the empire before the start of the expansion of the Third Reich. These lands included, among other things, the territories of the GDR, the Western part of Berlin, as well as the "former eastern regions" that went to Poland and the Soviet Union. In the first years after the founding of the FRG, its government tried in every way to avoid direct contact with the government of the GDR. The reason is that he could testify to the recognition of the GDR as an independent state.

America and Great Britain also remained of the opinion that the FRG was the legitimate successor of the empire. France, on the other hand, believed that the German Empire had disappeared as such back in 1945. Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, refused to sign a peace treaty with Germany because he did not want to recognize the existence of two German states. In 1950, at the New York conference, the foreign ministers of the three countries nevertheless came to a common denominator on the question "what is the FRG?" The claims of the Government of the Republic concerning the sole representation of the German people were recognized. However, they refused to recognize the government as the governing body of all Germany.

Due to the refusal to identify the GDR, the German legislation recognized the existence of a single German citizenship, therefore it called its citizens simply Germans, and did not consider the territory of the GDR as a foreign country. That is why the country had a law on citizenship, adopted back in 1913. The same law was valid until 1967 in the GDR, which was also a supporter of single citizenship. In practice, the current situation meant that any German living in the GDR could come to the FRG and get a passport there. To prevent this, the leaders of the Democratic Republic banned its inhabitants from obtaining passports in the Republic of Germany. In 1967, they introduced the citizenship of the GDR, which received official recognition in the FRG only 20 years later.

The reluctance to recognize the borders of the Democratic Republic was displayed in maps and atlases. So, in 1951, maps were published in Germany, in which Germany had the same borders as in 1937. At the same time, the division of the republic, as well as the division of lands with Poland and the Soviet Union, were marked with a barely noticeable dotted line. On these maps, the toponyms that had gone to the enemy remained under the old names, and there were simply no signs of the GDR. It is noteworthy that even in the maps of 1971, when the whole world clearly understood what the FRG and the GDR were, the situation did not change much. The dashed lines became more visible, but still differed from those that would mark borders between states.

Development of Germany

The first chancellor of the Federal Republic was Konrad Adenauer, an experienced lawyer, administrator and activist of the Center Party. His concept of leadership was based on the social market economy. He remained in the position of Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany for 14 years (1949-1963). In 1946, Adenauer founded a party called the Christian Democratic Union, and in 1950 he headed it. The head of the opposition Social Democratic Party was Kurt Schumacher, a former Reichsbanner fighter who had been imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.

Thanks to the assistance of the United States in the implementation of the Marshall Plan and Ludwig Erhard's economic development plans for the country in the 1960s, the German economy rushed upwards. In history, this process was called the "German economic miracle." To meet the demand for low-cost labor, the Federal Republic supported the influx of guest workers, mainly from Turkey.

In 1952, the states of Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern were merged into a single state of Baden-Württemberg. Germany became a federation consisting of nine states (member states). In 1956, after a referendum and the signing of the Luxembourg Treaty with France, the Saar region, which was previously under the protectorate of France, became part of the FRG. Its official accession to the Republic of Germany (FRG) took place on January 1, 1957.

On May 5, 1955, with the abolition of the occupation regime, the FRG was officially recognized as a sovereign state. Sovereignty extended only to the area of ​​the provisional constitution, that is, it did not cover Berlin and the former territories of the empire, which at that time belonged to the GDR.

In the 1960s, a number of emergency laws were developed and implemented, which imposed a ban on the activities of a number of organizations (including the Communist Party), as well as on certain professions. The country led an active denazification, that is, the fight against the consequences of being in power by the Nazis, and tried with all its might to ensure the impossibility of the revival of the Nazi ideology. In 1955 Germany joined NATO.

Relations with the GDR and foreign policy

The government of the Republic of Germany did not recognize the GDR and until 1969 refused to enter into diplomatic relations with states whose position on this issue differed. The only exception was the Soviet Union, which recognized the GDR, but was part of the four occupying powers. In practice, this reason led to the rupture of diplomatic relations only twice: with Yugoslavia in 1967 and with Cuba in 1963.

Back in 1952, Stalin spoke about the unification of the FRG and the GDR. On March 10 of the same year, the USSR invited all occupying powers to work out a peace treaty with Germany as soon as possible in cooperation with the all-German governments, and even drafted this document. The Soviet Union agreed with the unification of Germany and, on the condition of her non-participation in military blocs, even allowed the existence of an army and a military industry in it. The Western powers effectively rejected the Soviet proposal, insisting that the newly united country should have the right to join NATO.

Berlin Wall

On August 11, 1961, the People's Chamber of the GDR decided to build the Berlin Wall - a 155 km long engineering and defensive structure that strengthens the border between the two German republics. As a result, on the night of August 13, construction began. By one in the morning, the border between West and East Berlin was completely blocked by the troops of the GDR. On the morning of August 13, people who habitually went to the western part of the city to work encountered resistance from law enforcement agencies and paramilitary patrols. By August 15, the approach to the border was completely blocked with barbed wire, and the construction of the barrier began. On the same day, the subway lines that communicated two parts of the city were closed. Potsdamer Platz, which was located in the border zone, was also closed. Many buildings and residential buildings adjacent to the line of division between East and West Berlin were evicted. The windows that overlooked the German territory were bricked up. Later, during the reconstruction of the barrier, the buildings adjacent to it were completely demolished.

Construction and refurbishment of the structure continued until 1975. Initially, it was a fence made of concrete slabs or brickwork, equipped with barbed wire. In some sections, these were simple Bruno spirals that could be overcome with a deft jump. At first, this was used by defectors who managed to bypass police posts.

By 1975, the wall was already an impregnable and rather complex structure. It consisted of concrete blocks 3.6 meters high, on top of which cylindrical barriers were installed. A restricted area with a large number of obstacles, guard posts and a lighting device was equipped along the wall. The exclusion zone consisted of a simple wall, several strips of anti-tank hedgehogs or metal spikes, a metal mesh fence with barbed wire and a flare system, a path for patrols, a wide strip of regularly leveled sand, and finally the impregnable wall described above.

Chancellor change

When Willy Brandt took over as chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1969, a new round began in relations between the FRG and the GDR. The Social Democrats, who came to power, weakened the legislation and recognized the inviolability of the post-war state borders. Willy Brandt and his follower Helmut Schmidt improved relations with the Soviet Union.

In 1970, the Moscow Treaty was signed, in which the FRG renounced its claims to the eastern regions of the former German Empire, which were ceded to the USSR and Poland after the war. The document also declared the possibility of unification of the republics. This decision marked the beginning of the New Ostpolitik. In 1971, the FRG and the GDR signed the Fundamental Treaty governing their relationship.

In 1973, both republics joined the UN, despite the fact that the FRG still did not want to recognize the international legal independence of the GDR. Nevertheless, the status quo of the Democratic Republic, enshrined in the Founding Treaty, contributed to a thaw in relations between the "neighbors".

"Peaceful Revolution"

In September 1989, the New Forum opposition movement emerged in the GDR, partly composed of members of political parties. The following month, a wave of protests swept across the republic, the participants of which demanded the democratization of politics. As a result, the leadership of the SED resigned, and representatives of the discontented population took its place. On November 4, a massive rally agreed with the authorities took place in Berlin, the participants of which demanded respect for freedom of speech.

On November 9, citizens of the GDR received the right to free (without good reason) travel abroad, which led to the spontaneous fall of the Berlin Wall. After the elections held in March 1990, the new government of the GDR began active negotiations with representatives of the FRG on the prospect of unification.

German unification

In August 1990, the FRG and the GDR signed an agreement on the unification of the country. It provided for the liquidation of the Democratic Republic and its entry into the Republic of Germany in the form of five new states. In parallel with this, the two parts of Berlin were reunited, and he again received the status of the capital.

On September 12, 1990, representatives of the GDR, the FRG, the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and France signed an agreement that finally settled the German issue. According to this document, an amendment was to be included in the constitution of the FRG that, after the restoration of the state, it renounces claims to the rest of the territories that once belonged to the German Empire.

In fact, in the process of unification (the Germans prefer to say "reunification" or "restoration of unity") no new state was created. The lands of the former territory of the GDR were simply accepted into the FRG. At the same moment, they began to obey the "provisional" constitution of the Republic of Germany, adopted back in 1949. The reconstituted state has since become known simply as Germany, but from a legal point of view, this is not a new country, but an enlarged FRG.