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The end of the war and the four occupying powers
On 8 May 1945 the German Wehrmacht surrendered unconditionally. This ended the Second World War in Europe. The four Allies took over governmental authority in Germany: the USA, the Soviet Union, Britain and France.
The Allies decided at the Yalta Conference in February 1945 that France would also receive a zone. On questions concerning Germany as a whole, the four powers were to decide jointly in the Allied Control Council (Alliierter Kontrollrat) in Berlin.
Four zones: who was in charge where
Germany was divided into four occupation zones. Mapped onto today's federal states (Bundesländer), it looked like this:
- British zone in the north-west: today's Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) and North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen).
- Soviet zone in the east: today's Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern), Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt), Saxony (Sachsen) and Thuringia (Thüringen).
- American zone in the south: today's Bavaria (Bayern), Hesse (Hessen) and the north of today's Baden-Württemberg, plus Bremen with Bremerhaven as a port for the US Army.
- French zone in the south-west: today's Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), the south of today's Baden-Württemberg and Saarland, which had a special status until 1957.
The German territories east of the Oder and Neisse came under Polish and Soviet administration respectively.
Berlin: one city, four sectors
Berlin lay in the middle of the Soviet zone. As the former capital, however, the city was treated separately: it too was divided into four sectors. The sectors under American, British and French administration later formed West Berlin, the Soviet sector East Berlin.
The Berlin Blockade and the airlift
The Western powers and the Soviet Union soon pursued very different aims. In June 1948 the Deutsche Mark was introduced in the western zones. In response, from 24 June 1948 the Soviet Union blocked all land and water routes to West Berlin.
The Western powers then supplied the roughly two million people in the western sectors for almost a year via the airlift. The aircraft brought food, coal and other goods. Berliners called them “raisin bombers” (Rosinenbomber). In May 1949 the Soviet Union lifted the blockade.
1949: two German states
In the three western zones, the Parliamentary Council (Parlamentarischer Rat) drew up the constitution. The Basic Law (Grundgesetz) was promulgated on 23 May 1949, which founded the Federal Republic of Germany. In the Soviet occupation zone, the German Democratic Republic (GDR; in German: DDR) came into being on 7 October 1949.
The division of Germany lasted 41 years, until reunification on 3 October 1990.
These 9 questions are in the test
- 175Wie viele Besatzungszonen gab es in Deutschland nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg?
- 167Welche Länder wurden nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in Deutschland als „Alliierte Besatzungsmächte“ bezeichnet?
- 168Welches Land war keine „Alliierte Besatzungsmacht“ in Deutschland?
- 176Wie waren die Besatzungszonen Deutschlands nach 1945 verteilt?
- 177Welche deutsche Stadt wurde nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg in vier Sektoren aufgeteilt?
- 178Vom Juni 1948 bis zum Mai 1949 wurden die Bürger und Bürgerinnen von West-Berlin durch eine Luftbrücke versorgt. Welcher Umstand war dafür verantwortlich?
- 172In welcher Besatzungszone wurde die DDR gegründet? In der …
- 169Wann wurde die Bundesrepublik Deutschland gegründet?
- 174Wann wurde die DDR gegründet?
Each question with its explanation is on the question pages. You can practise with answers in the app.
SourcesBundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Die Sowjetische BesatzungszoneBundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Berlin auf dem Weg zur geteilten StadtBundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Berliner Blockade und LuftbrückeBundeszentrale für politische Bildung: Die doppelte StaatsgründungBundesregierung: Geburtsstunde der Bundesrepublik
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