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The original Allied plan to govern occupied Germany was developed at Yalta and ratified at Potsdam Gemany would be administered as a single unit by an Allied Control Council (ACA). The zones were governed by the Allied Control Council (ACC), The Acc consisted of the four military supreme commanders of the Allied Forces. The ACC's decisions had to be unanimous. When agreement could not be reached, the commanders would forego unified actions, and each would enforce their oversigght in their own zone, where they had supreme authority. The ACC had no executive authority. It had to rely on the each military governor to implement ACA decisions in his individual occupation zone. President Roosevelt appears to have believed it could work and that he could bring Stalin along. It is unclear if Churchill though it was reasonable, but by the time of Yalta, he was not prepared to dispute it with Roosevelt. It is unclear how mich thouht he had given to the idea. From the befinning there were enormous problems in setting up a provisional administration. Unanimity ptoved difficult to obtain. As a result occupation policies began to vary in the four zones.
The individual Allies had not yet agreed on the future of Germany, let alone reach any joint agreement. They did agree that they would divide Germany into sections as part of the occupation, with each of the Allied powers assuming responsibility for one zone. Despite the dour zones, they plnned to oversee Germany as a single economic unit in preparation for eventual reunification.
Four power occupation was of course an unworkable concept.
The Allies and Soviets managed to agree on occupation zones. The Americans withrew from eastern Germany and Soviets Allowed the Western Allies into Berlin. It did not take long for the effort to break down (1946�47). There were at first tensions between the Western Allies. Britain and America cooperated closely and merged their occupation zones (1946). France was less willing and at first insisted on disrupting collaboration, attempting to partition Germany into a number of small states. It was the Soviets who began taking unilateral actions. The Soviets began appling the socialist economic program (expropriating land and buinesses). NKVD and Red Army units began shipping factories that survived the nombing east as a form of reparations. The Soviets also imposed restrictions on the press and other civil liberties that the Western Allies
did not with the exception of the Denazification effort. And the Western Allies did not carry out summary and unpublicized executions. A major dispute with France was the post-War German refugees from the east. At Potsdam, Britin, the Soviet Union, and the United States agreed to accept some 6 million German refugees expelled from Polnd, Germany, and other countries. Eventually some 12 million Germans arrived. France was not represented at Potsdam and refused to accept the rfugees. lthough they eventually accpted Jews and poliltical disenters deported by the NAZIs (basiclly concentration camp inmates). Finally France began to cooperate more with America and Britain and the major differences were between the Western Allies and the Soviets. American military authorities grew increasingly concerned about the economic costs of a Germany completely dependent on the United States. The United States began investing in German industries. The United States began a massive aid program which became known as the Marshall Plan, pumping dollars and goods into Europe to aid in recovery. The Soviet Union prevented the puppet Governments it imposed in the East, including East Germany from taking part in effort. Instead,the Soviets offered its own postwar economic aid program. All decesions of the Allied Control Commission had to be unanimous. Thus the Soviets could veto any proposal. Soviet vetoes became more common as the occupation continued. This reached a crisis when the Wstern Allies set out to address the economic problems and the failure of the German economy to recover. The breaking point came over the issue of currency reform. The Americans first suggested a currency reform (1946). The Soviets at first considered it, but than adamently refused it. A final break with the Soviets came after 2 years of fritless debate. Finally the wesern allies administered the currency reform in their zones (1948). This led
to a break with the Soviets and the separation of Soviet occupied eastern Germany and a Soviet blockade of West Berlin.
Allied preparations for the occupation of Germany began before D-Day with the establishmnt of the European Advisory Commission (EAC) (January 1944). The Working Security Committee in the EAC dediced that a initual military government would be needed. It is recognized that, in view of the chaotic conditions to be anticipated in Germany, whether a capitulation occurs before invasion or after invasion and consequent establishment of military government, an initial period of military government in Germany is inevitable and should be provided for." [EAC] The EAC once constituted recommended the creation of a tripartite (American, British, and Soviet) agency to govern Germany after the anticipated NAZI surrender. There was no thouught yet of France becuse it was not yet liberated. The primary issue adressed by the EAC was whether thwre was to be a World war I type partial occupation or a full occupation. A partial ocupation was still a possibility becuse the Germans still had strong military forces and the ability to resist. And the cross-Channel invasion had not yet secured an Allied foothold in NAZI occupied Europe. President Roosevelt had enunciated unconditional urrender, but it was not yet clear that this was an achieavle goal. The British representative at the EAC, was Sir William Strang who was still considering the options. Strang proposed alternatives that seem to favor the total occupation of Germany at the first EAC meeting (January 14, 1944). He seemed to be thining along the lines of the World War I occupation of the Rhineland. Strang leaned to the idea that a full Rhineland-type eductiom occupation was desirble. A major advantage was the Allies would not have to turn to the NAZI officials or the Wehrmacht to maintain order. It would would also, unlike World War I, bring the reality of defeat home to the German people. This was firmly felt by President Roosevelt and annoubced at Casablanca. (Churchill was less enthusiastic.) But it was already happening as the strategic bombing campaign intensified. Full control would also make it easier to carry out whatever punitive poicies were decided on such as transferring territories to Poland and the Soviet Union. As the Allies assssed the alternatives, there was some concern that a full ocupation a burden on Allied economies. The British were especially concerned about this because of the huge cost of the ar. .
There was lso the concern that a full occupation might prolong the suffering of the German population, possibly generating revanchist sentiment. (This was a real possibility, but Stalin solved this problems. The horrors of Soviet occpation soon convincd the Germans that the allies were as much protectors as occupiers.) The EAC finally concluded after D-Day that the preferavle policy was full occpation. Wyj the destruction of German military power in the east and West it was clear tht there would be no negotiatd peace. The U.S. Government created the United States Group to the Control Council for Germany (August 1944). It served as a liaison group within the EAC for planning the occupation of Germany. Brig. Gen. Cornelius Wendell Wickersham was chosen as chairman. The Western Allies entered the Reich (September 1944). The failure of Mrket Garden (October 1944) meant that the War would last into 1945.
The original Allied plan to govern occupied Germany was developed at Yalta and ratified at Potsdam Gemany would be administered as a single unit by an Allied Control Council (ACA). Of course this meant that there had to be cooperation among the four powers. President Roosevelt appears to have believed it could work and that he could bring Stalin along. It is unclear if Churchill though it was reasonable, but by the time of Yalta, he was not prepared to dispute it with Roosevelt. It is unclear how mich thouht he had given to the idea. The individual Allies had not yet agreed on the future of Germany, let alone reach any joint agreement. They did agree that they would divide Germany into sections as part of the occupation, with each of the Allied powers assuming responsibility for one zone. Despite the dour zones, they plnned to oversee Germany as a single economic unit in preparation for eventual reunification.
At the time of VE Day, note of the Western powers had a well defined vision for the future of Germany. There was debate within the United States and Britain about Germany's future. Secretary Morgenthau compiled the Morgebthau Plan which advocated the division abd deinndustrialization of Germany. Morgenthuu had aersinal relationship with Roosevelteven before he was elected govenor of New York. He wanted to be secretary of agriculture, but because he was Jewish was blocked by farm interests. Rooevely chose him for sectretary of the treasury. One Jewish observer observer critical of Roosevlt's choice said that the President critical of the appointment quipped that the President managed to find the only Jew in America with no knowledge of finance. He was the only person in the cabinet with that relationship. He was an assimilated Jew which attemoted to avoid Jewish issues. Only the horrors of the Holocaust caused him to press the issue with the President, resulting in the creation of the War Refuge Board (1944). The Morgenthu Pln had its citics and at the time of VE Day, the United States had no agreed plan. The British tended to bevmore pragmatic, thinking about the need to block Soviet penetration into Western Europe. The French had the mot agressively anti-German vision, hoping basically to create a situation close to the the Morgenthau Plan. The Soviets wanted reprations and the permanent end of German power. It is unclear how Stalin thought the Four Power idea would work out. We do not know that he was convinced that Communism would prove its superiority over caitalism. It is very likely that he assuned that America like world War I would withdraw from Europe and into isolationism and the might of the Red army as in Eastern Europe woild prevail in Western Europe..
Four power occupation was of course an unworkable concept. The zones were governed by the Allied Control Council (ACC). The ACC consisted of the four military supreme commanders for the Allied Forces. The ACC's decisions had to be unanimous. When agreement could not be reached, the commanders would forego unified actions, and each would enforce their oversigght in their own zone, where they had supreme authority. The ACC had no executive authority. It had to rely on the each military governor to implement ACA decisions in his individual occupation zone. From the befinning there were enormous problems in setting up a provisional administration. Unanimity proved difficult to obtain. As a result, occupation policies almost immeiately began to vary in the four zones. >br>
The Allies and Soviets managed to agree on occupation zones. That was done as part of the Yalta talks. Thus after VE Day, military forces had to be moved to conform to the established occupation zones. The Americans withdrew from Czechoslovakia and eastern Germany. The Soviets allowed the Western allies into Berlin. This proved to be a rare instance of agreement betwen the esternallies and the Soviets.
It did not take long for the effort to break down (1946�47). There were at first tensions between the Western Allies. Britain and America cooperated closely and merged their occupation zones (1946). France was less willing and at first insisted on disrupting collaboration, attempting to partition Germany into a number of small states. It was the Soviets who began taking unilateral actions. The Soviets began appling the socialist economic program (expropriating land and buinesses). NKVD and Red Army units began shipping factories that survived the nombing east as a form of reparations. The Soviets also imposed restrictions on the press and other civil liberties that the Western Allies
did not with the exception of the Denazification effort. And the Western Allies did not carry out summary and unpublicized executions. A major dispute with France was the post-War German refugees from the east. At Potsdam, Britin, the Soviet Union, and the United States agreed to accept some 6 million German refugees expelled from Polnd, Germany, and other countries. Eventually some 12 million Germans arrived. France was not represented at Potsdam and refused to accept the rfugees. Although they eventually accpted Jews and poliltical disenters deported by the NAZIs (basiclly concentration camp inmates). Finally France began to cooperate more with America and Britain and the major differences were between the Western Allies and the Soviets. American military authorities grew increasingly concerned about the economic costs of a Germany completely dependent on the United States. The United States began investing in German industries. The United States began a massive aid program which became known as the Marshall Plan, pumping dollars and goods into Europe to aid in recovery. The Soviet Union prevented the puppet Governments it imposed in the East, including East Germany from taking part in effort. Instead,the Soviets offered its own postwar economic aid program. All decesions of the Allied Control Commission had to be unanimous. Thus the Soviets could veto any proposal. Soviet vetoes became more common as the occupation continued.
Hitler soon after seizing power began to conceive huge plans about the archetecural recreation of Berlin. He spent hours with archetect Albert Speer discussing the future of Berlin. What ensued was the Allied strategic bombing campaign reducing the city to vast heaps of rubble. The city was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army and NAZI power completed obliterated (April 1945). The fight for the city was a hirendous struggle struggle, but the Grmans were massively outnumbered and overpowered by the Red Army. What followed was an orgy of rape only exceeded by the Japanese Rape of Nanking. Only the youngest girls and the oldest idely women escaped. As part of the Yalta arrangements, the Americans withdrew fom Czechoslovakia abd eastern germny and the oviets allowed the western Allies into Berlin. Before the arrival of the western Allies, the Soviets began picking through the debris of Berlin looking for reparations (May-July 1945). The factories still standing were dismanteled as well as trasport and other failities and shipped East. Here the Soviets were especilly diligent in the western part if Berlin to be turned over to the Western allies. The Soviets even removed rilway tracks. After the western Allies arrived, these reparations continued in the Soviet occuption zone pf Berlin and eastern Germany. Belin was divided into four occupation zones and governed by a Four Power Allied Control Council jut like ermny as a whole. The chairman rotated monthly. The Soviets withdrew from the council as Cld war tensions energed. They began governing their sector independently. The Western Allies continued to use the Council with the same rotating leadership policy. The situation was not idea, at least for the western Allies.
Berlin was deep in the soviet Zone and all land connections (road and rail had to pass through soviet controlled territory. Conditions in the Soviet Zone were harsh and from an early point people began to began moving into the Wetern Zones. Food was short and the black market flourished. [Steege] This unique situation made Berlin focal point of the Cold War as the Soviets could easily ramp up pressure in the Western outpost in Berlin.
This reached a crisis when the Wstern Allies set out to address the economic problems and the failure of the German economy to recover. The breaking point came over the issue of currency reform. The Americans first suggested a currency reform (1946). The Soviets at first considered it, but than adamently refused it. A final break with the Soviets came after 2 years of fritless debate. Finally the wesern allies administered the currency reform in their zones (1948). This led
to a break with the Soviets and the separation of Soviet occupied eastern Germany and a Soviet blockade of West Berlin.
European Advisory Commission (EAC). Memorandum of the Working Security Committee (January 3, 1944), Foreign Relations of the United States 1944, vol. I, p. 102.
Steege, Paul. Black Market, Cold War: Everyday Life in Berlin, 1946-1949 (2008)/
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