FRG Political And government Change

Question 1

When did Germany sign its surrender for the Second World War?

Answer 1

7 May 1945, Germany signed its final surrender and allied armed forces took control of the Germany government. (USA,

Question 2

What was decided for Germany after the war?

Answer 2

Allies said that democracy should be restored, however there wasn’t actually agreement as to what democracy was and how it should be put in place. 17 July 1945 - 2nd august 1945, allies held a conference at Potsdam to plan German reconstruction.

Germany was agreed to be split into 4 zones, each one run by USSR, FRANCE, BRITAIN and USA. Berlin was also divided into 4 zones.

Question 3

What was the problem with the zonal method?

Answer 3

The differences between the allies, especially communisms and western powers, grew. East and west became suspicious of each other’s motives and actions, which in turn affected Germanys development.

However due to existing transport and coms systems, Germany was to be treated as a single economic unit and the allies would work to the same system in their zones to get the country ready for a new government.

Question 4

From when we’re political parties set up in June?

Answer 4

Early June 1945

Question 5

When did the first political party announce itself?

Answer 5

11 June the first political party to announce itself was the KPD. This still ran outside of Germany under nazi control.

Question 6

How did the KPD and political parties differ from before?

Answer 6

The parties aims were not the establishment of a communist system and a communist revolution. They instead wanted ‘German socialism’ not capitalism, with land reform, a new education system and a democratic government. It also accepted allied reconstruction. And for all other political parties during the 50s and 60s, messages were moderate, of controlling extremism

Question 7

When did the SPD reform? With which members?

Answer 7

15 June it re-formed with the leader being kurt Schumacher. SPD had a moral advantage and used it to urge the allies to allow Germans a greater say in the establishment of their government.

Question 8

Was the SPD more radical than the KPD?

Answer 8

Yes - wanted nationalisation of banks, land and key industries and they wanted significant social welfare systems to be provided according to their proposals

Question 9

What two significant church groups were set up

Answer 9

In 1945 - The Christian democratic union
- Christian social union of Bavaria

They all wanted social support for the poorest yutes

Question 10

What was the biggest liberal group set up?

Answer 10

Liberal Democratic Party

Question 11

What did all political groups learn from Weimar?

Answer 11

Many parties with similar aims caused votes to be spread out and no majority gets picked. So the faith based parties and the liberal parties all negotiated and joined to create single parties.

In 1947 liberal groups formed the Free Democratic party and in 1949, most faith groups, excluding the Christian social union of Bavaria, joined the CDU. By this time, they were campaigning for new elections in a new Germany, the FRG. (The western half)

Question 12

What did divisions of the east and west rapidly divide into?

Answer 12

The Cold War.

Question 13

Why did relations between east and west deteriorate?

Answer 13

As Countries occupied by the USSR became communist.

Between 1945 and 1947: Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland all became communist states

Question 14

What did the west do to stop the spread of communism?

Answer 14

The West (USA) set up the Marshall plan to provide economic aid to European countries That may otherwise accept aid from the USSR and become communist (turkey and Greece)

Question 15

How did the political parties differ in each zone?

Answer 15

April 1946 - the KPD and SPD joined to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The biggest party in the soviet zone. This indicated a firm split between the two zones

Question 16

Would Germany always have been divided?

Answer 16

Due to political differences the allies could never have agreed on 1 political system for the whole of Germany. They saw it as a country to be dismantled and made politically powerless to act as a buffer zone between the east and west.

The elections of October 1946, where the communists won in the soviet zone, already signified the split and from then, relations kept declining

Question 17

When was the constitution for the FRG set up?

Answer 17

A parliamentary council was set up on the first of September 1948 to draw up the first temporary constitution for the FRG. It was then announced as, the basic law, on the 23rd of May 1949.

It was ratified during the week of the 16th of May to the 22nd of May 1949 by the parliaments of more than 2/3 of the länder.

Question 18

What did the constitution seem to outline?

Answer 18

A very free and liberal democracy that allowed for the fact that the constitution could be rewritten when Germany finally reunited.

Question 19

What did the basic law promise?

Answer 19

Equal rights to all German citizens - regardless of race, sex, gender, political views or religion

Freedom of speech, freedom to form unions, free assembly, no censorship

A state education for all, however private schooling was still allowed

However it also had clauses that allowed the constitution to be more aggressive and repressive. E.g. it was possible to ban political parties if they seemed to undermine the FRG or its democratic principles. There was still never about extreme political groups