HCHS Germany: A LEVEL UNIT 3 - West Germany Flashcards

1
Q

In which year was the West German constitution created?

A

1948

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2
Q

In which year was the Federal Republic of Germany officially created?

A

1949

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3
Q

Who was the first chancellor of the FRG and in which year did he win the election?

A

Konrad Adenauer and August 1949

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4
Q

When were Germans in the US zone of West Germany first allowed to vote?

A

1946

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5
Q

When did Länder elections first take place in the British and French zones?

A

May-47

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6
Q

Which parties made up the new CDU (Christian Democratic Union)?

A

Centre (Z) Party, German Nationalists and the Populists

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7
Q

How did the CDU differ from the old Z party?

A

United Protestants, Catholics, north and south Germany

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8
Q

How many members of the Länder parliaments met to create the new West German constitution and at which meeting?

A

65 at the Parliamentary Council (in Bonn)

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9
Q

Who was nominated as Presdient of the Parliamentary Council?

A

Konrad Adenauer

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10
Q

What name was given to the new German constitution?

A

Fundamental or Basic Law

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11
Q

In West German elections, why did Germans vote twice?

A

One for a local representative and one for a party (for the Bundestag)

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12
Q

How did the new constitution ensure there was never a power vacuum?

A

A chancellor could only be removed if another had been elected by the Bundestag (constructive vote of no confidence)

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13
Q

How did the FRG avoid too many small and extremist parties

A

Parties had to gain 5% of the vote to gain seats in the Bundestag

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14
Q

How was the Bundesrat formed?

A

Not directly elected but formed of deputies from each state proportional to their population

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15
Q

How did the new constitution try to unite the states?

A

Revenue from taxes was split equally between the federal government and the Länder

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16
Q

How was Berlin represented in the Bundestag?

A

22 members of the Berlin assembly could sit in the Bundestag but not vote

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17
Q

How were Berliners looked after (given it was split and occupied?)

A

They had a mayor who became increasingly powerful over time

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18
Q

When was the Fundamental Law passed?

A

8th May, 1949

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19
Q

When was Bonn made capital of the FRG?

A

23rd may, 1949

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20
Q

Which problems faced the FRG in the 1940s (similar to Weimar)?

A

military occupation, economic difficulties and social upheaval following war

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21
Q

How long did the FRG’s constitution last?

A

Until reunification in 1990

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22
Q

What role had Adenauer had before becoming chancellor of Germany?

A

Mayor of Cologne from 1918 and involved in the 1944 bomb plot against Hitler

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23
Q

How did Adenauer become politically important in the FRG?

A

He was sacked as mayor of Cologne in 1945 by the British and so he focused on national politics

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24
Q

Who was Adenauer’s economic advisor?

A

Ludwig Erhard

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25
Q

What % of the FRG was Catholic?

A

45%

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26
Q

What was the election result for the CDU and the SPD in August 1949?

A

CDU: 31%, SPD: 29.2%

27
Q

What was the main reason for the CDU’s election victory in 1949?

A

Social market economy (as opposed to the SPD’s centrally controlled economy)

28
Q

What did the CDU do in the Reichstag following the 1949 election?

A

Formed a coalition with the Free Democratic Party and the German Party to take 208 of the 402 seats in the Bundestag

29
Q

How did Adenauer forge closer ties with European countries?

A

Joined the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 and the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957

30
Q

Why was Adenauer allowed and army in 1950 and how big was it?

A

Korean War and 150,000

31
Q

What percentage of the vote did the CDU win in the 1953 election?

A

45.20%

32
Q

What was significant about the General Treaty in 1955?

A

It gave the FRG control of its foreign policy and they joined NATO

33
Q

What was the Hallstein Doctrine of 1955?

A

Diplomatic recognition of the GDR by any nation other than the USSR was an attack on the FRG

34
Q

What percentage of the vote did the CDU win in the 1957 election?

A

50.20%

35
Q

When did Adenauer retire from politics?

A

1963

36
Q

Why did Schumacher think he was the right leader for post-war Germany?

A

Only politician to stay in Germany under the Nazis and not collaborate

37
Q

Give two reasons why Schumacher failed in the 1949 election?

A

Economic policies too similar to East Germany and fear of communism

38
Q

When did Schmacher die and who replaced him as leader of the SPD?

A

1952 and Erich Ollenhauer

39
Q

Who replaced Ollenhauer as leader of the SPD and in which year?

A

Willy Brandt and 1953

40
Q

What was the Bad Godesberg Programme of 1959?

A

The SPD’s move away from Marxism and towards capitalism. It made the SPD ‘the party of the whole people’

41
Q

Which US president backed Willy Brandt and the SPD?

A

President Kennedy

42
Q

When did the SPD gain power in the FRG for the first time?

A

Formed a coalition with the CDU in 1966 and in 1969, Willy Brandt became chancellor

43
Q

What had been decided about the Nazis at the Potsdam Conference in 1945?

A

Nazi party banned, Nuremberg trials, important Nazis removed from positions of power in Germany

44
Q

How did the USA decide whether people were Nazi sympathisers?

A

They used the Gragebogen (questionnaire) which had 133 questions

45
Q

Why was the USA’s Fregabogen so divisive?

A

Every German in the US zone had to answer it, even if they had been persecuted by the Nazis

46
Q

Why did the Fragebogen cause problems for Germans in the US zone?

A

Germans had to pass the Fragebogen to gain employment, rations and state relief

47
Q

Why would many Germans fail the Fragebogen?

A

Because organisations like the DAF and Hitler Youth had been compulsory

48
Q

Why was the admin behind the Fragebogen such a problem?

A

In one Länder, 2.5 million Germans were investigated

49
Q

How was denazification improved from 1946?

A

5 categories were created with ‘lesser’ Nazis being put on probation for 2-3 years

50
Q

How many Nazis were still in prison camps by 1947?

A

90,000

51
Q

How was thedenazification process subject to coruption?

A

Certificates of denazification were available on the black market

52
Q

When did denazification officially end in the US zone?

A

1951

53
Q

How did Adenauer move on from denazification in 1951?

A

The ‘politics for the past’ annulled many of the Allied punishments against Germans

54
Q

How many Germans were affected by the ‘politics for the past’?

A

800,000 Germans (who had been classed as Nazi war criminals)

55
Q

What was the First Amnesty Law and when was this?

A

This allowed 150,000 Germans previously removed from jobs to return in May 1951

56
Q

What was the Second Amnesty Law and when was this?

A

This annulled 400,000 Germans in the British zone in 1954

57
Q

Name a former Nazi Party member in Adenauer’s government

A

Hans Globke (involved in Enabling Act and Nuremburg Laws)

58
Q

How did Adenauer deal with neo-Nazis?

A

In August 1952, the Socialist Reich Party was banned

59
Q

How did Adenauer appease Israel?

A

On 10th September, 1952, Germany paid DM3 billion to Israel due to the Holocaust

60
Q

Why did Adenauer allow former Nazis in his government?

A

They wanted to make up for their past and they were anti-Communist!

61
Q

What percentage of foreign office diplomats were former-Nazis?

A

66%

62
Q

What protest was there against Adenauer’s denazification process?

A

Leonard Schulter was barred from becoming Minister for Education because he was a Nazi

63
Q

What did the SPD think about Adenauer’s denazification process?

A

Walter Manzel spoke out against the amnesties for so many former-Nazis

64
Q

Why did Adenuaer get away with such a lenient denazification process

A

Economic growth in the 1950s and a desire for Germans to move on from the past