3 - potsdam & the establishment of the soviet zone Flashcards
The Impact of War & Defeat on Germany, 1939-49
1
Q
When did Hitler commit suicide?
A
April 1945
2
Q
When did Germany sign an unconditional surrender?
A
8th May 1945
3
Q
What was decided at the Yalta Conference?
A
Allies agreed to divide Germany into four zones
4
Q
When was the Yalta Conference?
A
February 1945
5
Q
When was the Potsdam Conference?
A
July 1945
6
Q
Who met at the Potsdam Conference?
A
- Stalin (Soviet leader)
- Truman (US President)
- Churchill & Attlee (British Prime Ministers)
7
Q
What was agreed at the Potsdam Conference?
A
- Germany administered under joint Allied control & divided into 4 zones of occupation
- Berlin also divided into 4 zones
- Germany would be demilitarised, de-Nazified & democratised
- elections held, starting at a local govt level (to give Germany the ‘chance to rebuild its life on a democratic & peaceful basis’)
- Poland would gain much former German land
- Germans in Poland, Hungary & Czechoslovakia were repatriated to Germany
- economy would be run as one unit, & each force would take reparations from their zone of occupation
- Soviet zone allowed an extra 25% of reparations from the British & American zones (had fewer resources)
8
Q
Which line would form the border between Poland and the Soviet zone of Germany?
A
Oder-Neisse line
9
Q
demilitarisation in the Soviet zone
A
- German forces disbanded after their surrender
- no German govt so therefore no independent German military force
- remained the case until 1955
10
Q
de-Nazification in the Soviet zone
A
- Nazi Party disbanded
- major war criminals tried at Nuremberg
- Soviet zone interned large numbers of former Nazis (many died in former concentration camps)
- ‘normal’ Nazis who committed themselves to communism returned to political life
- capitalism was destroyed (argued that Nazism resulted from capitalism)
11
Q
democratisation in the Soviet zone
A
- German communists arrived in Berlin (end of April 1945) & planned to gain control of Berlin but give the appearance of democracy
- SMAD issued Order Number 2 (10th June 1945) = licensed formation of political parties
- all parties brought together in anti-fascist bloc (National Front) agst Nazism (July 1945)
- KPD & SPD established -> merged to form SED (1946)
- liberal parties formed LDPD
- Catholic Centre Party & Protestant parties formed CDU
- by 1948, KPD formally abandoned democracy
12
Q
How was capitalism destroyed in the Soviet zone?
A
- large land estates confiscated & redistributed among landless agricultural labourers
- former Nazis’ property was taken (some kept by state)
- similar process later adopted for banks & factories
- some equipment dismantled & taken back to Russia as reparations (also removed experts to reconstruct technical equipment in Russia)
13
Q
Who led the German communists?
A
Walter Ulbricht
14
Q
SMAD
A
Soviet Military Administration
15
Q
Order Number 2
A
- issued by SMAD (10th June 1945)
- licensed the formation of political parties
