1. THE PARTITION OF GERMANY 1946-47: In the Western zones, democracy revives at the municipal, then at the state level; but in the Soviet Zone, civil liberties are suppressed, and the parties, infiltrated. January 1947: Creation of “Bizonia” (British + U.S. sectors) with an “Economic Council” elected by state parliaments June 1948: Currency reform in Bizonia and the lifting of price controls by Ludwig Erhard June 1948—May 1949: Soviets blockade West Berlin, prompting the Berlin Airlift September 1948: Parliamentary Council begins to draft the “Basic Law” for West Germany 1949: Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and German Democratic Republic (GDR)

2. U.S. and Soviet troops meet on the Elbe at Torgau, April 25, 1945 Stalin as TIME’s “Man of the Year,” January 1943

3. Occupation zones for Germany, Austria, & Berlin

4. The U.S., British, & French occupations collected 6.7 million of these questionnaires. 3.66 million Germans had denazification hearings: 25,000 were classed as “major offenders” 150,000 were “minor offenders” 1 million were “fellow travelers” The Allies banned the first two groups from any government job.

5. German Denazification Committee, Berlin, 1946

6. The Auschwitz commandant, Rudolf Höss, being turned over to the Polish authorities in 1945. Western military tribunals in Germany convicted 5,000 war criminals and executed 486 The Soviets convicted tens of thousands West German tribunals imprisoned 6,100 Over 50,000 Germans stood trial in occupied countries; in Poland alone, 631 were hanged

7. Karl Jaspers (1883-1969), The Question of German Guilt (Fordham University Press, 2009), based on lectures at the University of Heidelberg in 1945/46 “There can be no doubt that we Germans, that each German is in some manner guilty.” Jaspers distinguished: 1. “Criminal guilt” for actions “in clear violation of the law.” 2. “Political guilt” for actions that strengthened the regime. 3. “Moral guilt” for actions in private life that worsened the suffering of the victims of persecution. 4. “Metaphysical guilt” for the failure to act against evil. “There exists a solidarity among men as men which renders each individual accountable for all the wrongs and injustice in the world, particularly for crimes that occur in his presence or with his knowledge. When I do not do what I can to prevent them, then I share responsibility for them.”

8. “Black Becomes White: Or ‘Mechanical Denazification’” (Simplizissimus, Munich, 1946)

9. But most Germans were utterly absorbed by the struggle for survival (Aachen in December 1944) “Through the streets, beggar-like, We go thanks to the Nazi Reich” (placard by Oskar Pfeiffer, Cologne, 1945)

10. The Trummerfrauen clear rubble from the streets of Dresden and Berlin after the war

11. The standard daily ration for the average adult, autumn 1945: In the American zone, rations amounted to about 1,000 calories

12. The black market in Hamburg, 1945/46

13. Plowing Berlin’s Tiergarten to plant potatoes (1946/47)

14. A G.I. distributes candy to German children in 1945

15. German girls dating American GI’s in the Volkspark Treptow, Berlin, 1947

16. The first U.S. CARE package is delivered to a German family in Bremen, November 1947

17. In the Western zones, free elections were held in cities in 1946 and states in 1947. THE NEW STATES: Schleswig-Holstein Hamburg Bremen Lower Saxony North Rhine-Westphalia Rhineland-Palatinate Hesse Baden-Württemberg Bavaria

18. SPD chair Kurt Schumacher (1895-1952): Lost an arm in the Great War; SPD youth organizer; elected to Reichstag in 1930; imprisoned 1933-45.

19. SCHUMACHER’S PROGRAM FOR A POST-MARXIST SPD The SPD must transform itself from a “class party” for blue-collar workers into a “people’s party” with appeal for intellectuals, white-collar workers, small business, and idealistic Christians. Large-scale industry must be nationalized. Businessmen accepted democracy in the USA, Schumacher granted, but in Germany “democracy will be socialist or there will be none at all,” because German capitalists “always feel compelled to convert their money into political power and use it against democracy and peace.” The SPD should stand up for the rights of the German nation. Its worst mistake in the Weimar Republic had been to allow the Right to monopolize nationalism.

20. “Forward, SPD, for a free Germany” (1949) Only “Socialism & Democracy” can hold the occupation zones together (1947)

21. “The Union: The Gathering of all Christians on the Political Level” (CDU poster, North Rhine- Westphalia, 1946)

22. CHAMPIONS OF “CHRISTIAN SOCIALISM” (trade unionists on the left wing of the CDU) Karl Arnold (1901-1958), PM of North Rhine- Westphalia (1947-1956) Jakob Kaiser (1888-1961); chair of Berlin CDU, 1946/47; cabinet minister, 1949-57 In 1945 they co- founded the German Labor Federation (DGB), Germany’s first unified trade unions for workers of all political outlooks, as well as the CDU

23. Jakob Kaiser was a hero of the Resistance and close associate of Carl Goerdeler: His Gestapo mug shots, October 1938 Ever since April 1933, he had sought with Social Democratic friends to merge the socialist, Christian, and liberal trade unions to promote labor unity.

24. In 1946 the old socialist, Christian, and liberal trade unions all merged in a single “German Labor Federation” or DGB. DGB May Day Parade, Bremen, 1947: “We all demand a unified Germany, a just peace, reconciliation between the peoples.” (About 60% of union members voted SPD, and 30% CDU.)

25. Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), Mayor of Cologne (1917-1933), German Chancellor (1949-1963) CDU CHAMPIONS OF THE “SOCIAL MARKET ECONOMY” Ludwig Erhard (1897-1977), Minister of Economics (1949- 63), Chancellor (1963-66) They sought economic & political integration with the West and to abolish all “concentrations of power.”

26. The CDU’s diverging demands in 1946: Stuttgart: “Free Trade with the countries of the world” Berlin: “Christianity, Democracy, Socialism”

27. KPD leader Wilhelm Pieck and SPD leader Otto Grotewohl found the Socialist Unity Party of the Soviet Zone, April 1946.

28. Secretary of State George C. Marshall appeals for a “European Recovery Program” at Harvard, June 5, 1947 In December 1947 the Soviets deposed Jakob Kaiser as the elected chair of the Berlin CDU when he refused to denounce the Marshall Plan

29. In the Western zones every citizen received 40 new Deutsche Marks on June 21, 1948, and Economics Director Ludwig Erhard deregulated prices. The stores proclaimed: “New currency… New Prices!”

30. The Soviets blockaded West Berlin when the new currency was introduced there (a U.S. “raisin bomber” arrives in October 1948)

31. Prime Minister Karl Arnold (Northrhine-Westphalia, CDU) welcomes the Parliamentary Council to Bonn, September 1, 1948

32. KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE “BASIC LAW” OF 1949 AND THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION The President is elected indirectly and reduced to ceremonial functions. A chancellor can only be replaced through a “constructive” vote of No Confidence in the Bundestag. Proportional representation is retained, but no party gains seats unless it wins at least 5% of the vote. No popular referendum is allowed. A strengthened federal upper house of parliament safeguards the autonomy of the states. A powerful Supreme Court can strike down laws and ban any political party that is anti-democratic either in program or internal structure.

33. THE TONE OF THE FIRST FRG ELECTION CAMPAIGN WAS QUITE BITTER “Broken Glass Brings Good Luck!” (cartoon, 1949): Schumacher alleged that Adenauer was the candidate of the Allies and the Pope. Adenauer alleged that the Social Democrats were the dupes of Stalin.

34. OUTCOME OF THE FIRST WEST GERMAN ELECTION, August 14, 1949 (voter turnout=78.5%) PARTYSHARE CDU/CSU (including Bavarian Christian Social Union) 31.0% SPD (Social Democratic)29.2% FDP (Free Democratic)11.9% KPD (Communist)5.7% Bavarian Party (particularist)4.2% German Party (Hanoverian nationalist)4.0% Center Party (Catholic confessional)3.1% German Conservative Party1.8% The CDU formed a government coalition with the FDP and German Party.

35. Konrad Adenauer sworn in as the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, September 1949

36. The East German “People’s Congress” proclaims the foundation of the German Democratic Republic in October 1949, while Young Pioneers sing praises of Stalin

37. POSSIBLE REASONS WHY DEMOCRACY FLOURISHED AFTER 1945 1. Allied occupation policy 2. Healthy growth in the world economy, 1945-70 3. Adoption of a superior written constitution by the “Federal Republic of Germany” in 1949 4. The elimination of the East Elbian landowning nobility as a social class 5. A learning process among German politicians & voters 6. A learning process among German business and labor leaders 7. New support for liberal democracy among artists and intellectuals 8. Women finally achieved genuine emancipation