Difference between revisions of "West Germany" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
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Following the initial opening of sections of the [[Berlin Wall]] on November 9, 1989, new elections were held on March 18, 1990, in East Germany, and the governing party, the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]], lost its majority in the the East German parliament. On August 23, the Volkskammer decided that the territory of the Republic would accede to the [[Ambit claim|ambit]] of the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany]] on October 3, 1990, and the German Democratic Republic officially ceased to exist.
 
Following the initial opening of sections of the [[Berlin Wall]] on November 9, 1989, new elections were held on March 18, 1990, in East Germany, and the governing party, the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]], lost its majority in the the East German parliament. On August 23, the Volkskammer decided that the territory of the Republic would accede to the [[Ambit claim|ambit]] of the [[Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany]] on October 3, 1990, and the German Democratic Republic officially ceased to exist.
 
[[Image:NATO vs Warsaw in Europe.png‎|thumb|left|This image shows the [[Cold War]] alliances of Europe, with [[NATO]] in blue and the [[Warsaw Pact]] in red.]]
 
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
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The Soviets had not agreed to the [[currency]] reform. In March 1948 they withdrew from the four-power governing bodies, and in June 1948 they initiated the [[Berlin blockade]], blocking all ground transport routes between Western Germany and [[West Berlin]]. The Western Allies replied with a continuous [[Berlin Airlift|airlift]] of supplies to the western half of the city. The Soviets ended the blockade after 11 months.  
 
The Soviets had not agreed to the [[currency]] reform. In March 1948 they withdrew from the four-power governing bodies, and in June 1948 they initiated the [[Berlin blockade]], blocking all ground transport routes between Western Germany and [[West Berlin]]. The Western Allies replied with a continuous [[Berlin Airlift|airlift]] of supplies to the western half of the city. The Soviets ended the blockade after 11 months.  
  
xxxxx
+
===The Adenauer years===
In 1946, the first three zones were combined. First the British and American zones were combined into the quasi-state of [[Bizone|Bizonia]], then only months afterward the French zone was included into [[Bizone|Trizonia]]. In 1949, with the beginning of the Cold War, the two German states that were founded in the two zones (Trizonia and the Soviet zone) became known as West Germany and East Germany.
+
The Western Allies turned over increasing authority to German officials and moved to establish a nucleus for a future German government by creating a central Economic Council for their zones. The program later provided for a West German [[Constituent Assembly|constituent assembly]], an occupation statute governing relations between the Allies and the German authorities, and the political and economic merger of the French with the British and American zones. On May 23, 1949, the [[Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany|''Grundgesetz'']] (Basic Law), the [[constitution]] of the Federal Republic of Germany, was promulgated. Following elections in August, the first federal government was formed on September 20, 1949, by [[Konrad Adenauer]] ([[Christian-Democratic Union of Germany|CDU]]). The next day, the [[occupation statute]] came into force, granting powers of self-government with certain exceptions.  
 
 
  
During the period from 1949-1990 there existed another German state, largely to the east of the FRG, called the ''[[German Democratic Republic]]'' or ''GDR'', commonly known in English as [[East Germany]]. This division resulted from the [[Allied Occupation Zones in Germany|ending of World War II]] and the prosecution of the [[Cold War]]. From October 3, 1990, after the reformation of the GDR's ''Länder'', the East German states [[German reunification|acceded to the Federal Republic]]. Since the German reunification in 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany (still the country's legal and official name) is also called simply [[Germany]].
+
From 1949 to 1963, chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) and the Christian Democratic Union dominated the government of West Germany. Adenauer aimed to transform the country from a post-war occupied zone to an independent nation, a goal that became more attainable when the United States, the United Kingdom, and France recognized that Western Europe could not withstand Soviet pressure without the aid of a strong West Germany. Accordingly, military occupation of West Germany was ended with the Bonn Convention of 1952.
  
===NATO membership===
+
===NATO membership and the Cold War===
The [[Federal Republic of Germany]], founded on 24 May 1949, was declared "fully sovereign" on [[5 May]] [[1955]]. The former occupying Western troops remained on the ground, now as part of the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organisation]] (NATO) which West Germany joined on [[9 May]] [[1955]], promising to re-arm itself soon.
+
[[Image:NATO vs Warsaw in Europe.png‎|thumb|left|300px|This image shows the [[Cold War]] alliances of Europe, with [[NATO]] in blue and the [[Warsaw Pact]] in red.]]
 +
The [[Federal Republic of Germany]] was declared "fully sovereign" on May 5, 1955. The former occupying Western troops remained on the ground, from then as part of the [[NATO|North Atlantic Treaty Organisation]] (NATO), established in 1949 for the defence of Europe. West Germany joined NATO on May 9, 1955, promising to re-arm itself.
  
West Germany became a focus of the [[Cold War]] with its juxtaposition to East Germany, a member of the subsequently founded [[Warsaw Pact]]. The former capital, [[Berlin]], had also been divided into four sectors, the Western Allies joining their sectors to form [[West Berlin]], while the Soviets held [[East Berlin]]. West Berlin was completely surrounded by East German territory and had suffered a Soviet blockade in 1948 which had been overcome by the [[Berlin airlift]].
+
West Germany became a focus of the [[Cold War]] with its juxtaposition to East Germany, a member of the subsequently founded [[Warsaw Pact]]. The former capital, [[Berlin]], had also been divided into four sectors, the Western Allies joining their sectors to form [[West Berlin]], while the Soviets held [[East Berlin]].  
  
 
The outbreak of the [[Korean War]] in June 1950 led to U.S. calls for the rearmament of West Germany in order to help defend [[Western Europe]] from the perceived [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] threat. Germany's partners in the Coal and Steel Community proposed to establish a [[European Defence Community]] (EDC), with an integrated army, navy and air force, composed of the armed forces of its member states. The West German military would be subject to complete EDC control, but the other EDC member states ([[Belgium]], France, [[Italy]], [[Luxembourg]] and [[the Netherlands]]) would cooperate in the EDC while maintaining independent control of their own armed forces.
 
The outbreak of the [[Korean War]] in June 1950 led to U.S. calls for the rearmament of West Germany in order to help defend [[Western Europe]] from the perceived [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] threat. Germany's partners in the Coal and Steel Community proposed to establish a [[European Defence Community]] (EDC), with an integrated army, navy and air force, composed of the armed forces of its member states. The West German military would be subject to complete EDC control, but the other EDC member states ([[Belgium]], France, [[Italy]], [[Luxembourg]] and [[the Netherlands]]) would cooperate in the EDC while maintaining independent control of their own armed forces.
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The nation was divided into 10 states (lander, singular—land), which were Baden-Wurttemberg, Bayern, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, and Schleswig-Holstein.  
 
The nation was divided into 10 states (lander, singular—land), which were Baden-Wurttemberg, Bayern, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, and Schleswig-Holstein.  
  
Political life in West Germany was remarkably stable and orderly. The [[Konrad Adenauer|Adenauer]] era (1949–63) was followed by a brief period under [[Ludwig Erhard]] (1963–66) who, in turn, was replaced by [[Kurt Georg Kiesinger]] (1966–69). All governments between 1949 and 1966 were formed by the united caucus of the [[Christian-Democratic Union]] (CDU) and [[Christian Social Union]] (CSU), either alone or in coalition with the smaller [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP).
+
Political life in West Germany was remarkably stable and orderly.  
 +
 
 +
 
 +
. . . was followed by a brief period under [[Ludwig Erhard]] (1963–66) who, in turn, was replaced by [[Kurt Georg Kiesinger]] (1966–69). All governments between 1949 and 1966 were formed by the united caucus of the [[Christian-Democratic Union]] (CDU) and [[Christian Social Union]] (CSU), either alone or in coalition with the smaller [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] (FDP).
  
 
Kiesinger's 1966–69 "Grand Coalition" was between West Germany's two largest parties, the CDU/CSU and the [[Social Democratic Party]] (SPD). This was important for the introduction of new emergency acts—the Grand Coalition gave the ruling parties the two-thirds majority of votes required to see them in. These controversial acts allowed basic constitutional rights such as freedom of movement to be limited in case of a [[state of emergency]].
 
Kiesinger's 1966–69 "Grand Coalition" was between West Germany's two largest parties, the CDU/CSU and the [[Social Democratic Party]] (SPD). This was important for the introduction of new emergency acts—the Grand Coalition gave the ruling parties the two-thirds majority of votes required to see them in. These controversial acts allowed basic constitutional rights such as freedom of movement to be limited in case of a [[state of emergency]].

Revision as of 22:24, 30 October 2007

Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Federal Republic of Germany
Flag of Germany (1946-1949).svg
1949 – 1990 Blank.png
Flag Coat of arms
Flag Coat of arms
Motto
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
(German for "Unity and Justice and Freedom")
Anthem
Das Lied der Deutschen
Capital Bonn
Language(s) German
Government
President
 - 1949–1959 Theodor Heuss
 - 1959–1969 Heinrich Lübke
 - 1969–1974 Gustav Heinemann
 - 1974–1979 Walter Scheel
 - 1979–1984 Karl Carstens
 - 1984– Richard von Weizsäcker
Chancellor
 - 1949–1963 Konrad Adenauer
 - 1963–1966 Ludwig Erhard
 - 1966–1969 Kurt Georg Kiesinger
 - 1969–1974 Willy Brandt
 - 1974–1982 Helmut Schmidt
 - 1982– Helmut Kohl
Historical era Cold War
 - Established May 23
 - Reunification October 3
Area
 - 1990 248,717 km² (96,030 sq mi)
Population
 - 1990 est. 63,254,000 
     Density 254.3 /km²  (658.7 /sq mi)
Currency German mark
Internet TLD .de
Calling code +49

West Germany (in German Westdeutschland) was the common English name for the former Federal Republic of Germany, (in German Bundesrepublik Deutschland), from its founding on May 24, 1949, to October 2, 1990.

With an area of 95,976 square miles (248,577 square kilometers), or slightly smaller than Oregon in the United States, West Germany was bordered on the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; on the east by the former East Germany and the Czech Republic; on the south by Austria and Switzerland; and on the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

The Federal Republic of Germany was established in the zones occupied by the United States, United Kingdom, and France (excluding Saarland) on May 24, 1949. Bonn, the home town of the first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, became the capital.

It consisted of 10 states — Baden-Wurttemberg, Bayern, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein, as well as the western part of Berlin.

On May 5, 1955, West Germany was declared "fully sovereign". The British, French and U.S. militaries remained in the country, just as the Soviet Army remained in East Germany. Four days after becoming "fully sovereign" in 1955, West Germany joined NATO. The U.S. retained an especially strong presence in West Germany, acting as a deterrent in case of a Soviet invasion.

The foundation for the influential position held by Germany today was laid during the economic Wirtschaftswunder of the 1950s, when West Germany rose from the massive destruction wrought by World War II to become home to the world's fourth largest economy again.

Following the initial opening of sections of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, new elections were held on March 18, 1990, in East Germany, and the governing party, the SED, lost its majority in the the East German parliament. On August 23, the Volkskammer decided that the territory of the Republic would accede to the ambit of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990, and the German Democratic Republic officially ceased to exist.

History

Four occupation zones

Allied Occupation Zones. Note the special statuses of Saarland (protectorate of France), Berlin, and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen.
Berlin Occupation Zones.

At the Potsdam Conference in August 1945, after Germany's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, the Allies divided Germany into four military occupation zones – French in the southwest, British in the northwest, United States in the south, and Soviet in the east. The former (1919-1937) German provinces east of the Oder-Neisse line (East Prussia, Eastern Pomerania and Silesia) were transferred to Poland, effectively shifting the country westward. Roughly 15 million ethnic Germans suffered terrible hardships in the years 1944 to 1947 during the flight and expulsion from the eastern German territories and the Sudetenland.

The intended governing body of Germany was called the Allied Control Council. The commanders-in-chief exercised supreme authority in their respective zones and acted in concert on questions affecting the whole country. Berlin, which lay in the Soviet (eastern) sector, was also divided into four sectors with the Western sectors later becoming West Berlin and the Soviet sector becoming East Berlin, capital of East Germany.

A key item in the occupiers' agenda was denazification; toward this end, the swastika and other outward symbols of the Nazi regime were banned, and a Provisional Civil Ensign was established as a temporary German flag. A strict non-fraternization policy was adhered to by General Eisenhower and the War department, although this was lifted in stages.

Industrial disarmament

The initial proposal for the post-surrender policy of the Western powers, the so-called Morgenthau Plan proposed by Henry Morgenthau, Jr., was one of "pastoralization" — the demilitarization of Germany. This was to involve abolition of the German armed forces as well as all munitions factories and civilian industries that could support them. The first plan, from March 29, 1946, stated that German heavy industry was to be lowered to 50 percent of its 1938 levels by the destruction of 1500 listed manufacturing plants.

The first plan was subsequently followed by a number of new ones, the last signed in 1949. By 1950, after the virtual completion of the by the then much watered-out plans, equipment had been removed from 706 manufacturing plants in the west and steel production capacity had been reduced by 6,700,000 tons.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union engaged in a massive dismantling campaign in its occupation zone, much more intensive than that effected by the Western powers. It was realized that this alienated the German workers from the communist cause, but it was decided that the desperate economic situation in the Soviet Union took priority to alliance building.This was the beginning of the split of Germany.

Punishment

For several years following the surrender German nutritional levels were very low, resulting in very high mortality rates. Throughout all of 1945 the U.S. forces of occupation ensured that no international aid reached ethnic Germans. [1] It was directed that all relief went to non-German displaced persons, liberated Allied POWs, and concentration camp inmates.

As agreed by the Allies at the Yalta conference Germans were used as forced labor as part of the reparations to be extracted . By 1947 it is estimated that 4,000,000 Germans (both civilians and POWs) were being used as forced labor by the U.S., France, the UK and the Soviet Union. (see also Eisenhower and German POWs) German prisoners were for example forced to clear minefields in France and the low countries. By December 1945 it was estimated by French authorities that 2,000 German prisoners were being killed or injured each month in accidents.

Beginning immediately after the German surrender and continuing for the next two years the U.S. pursued a vigorous program to harvest all technological and scientific know-how as well as all patents in Germany. John Gimbel comes to the conclusion, in his book "Science Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany", that the "intellectual reparations" taken by the U.S. and the UK amounted to close to $10-billion.

France and the Saar region

Under the Monnet Plan, France - intent on ensuring that Germany would never again have the strength to threaten it - had beginning in 1945 attempted to gain economic control of the remaining German industrial areas with large coal and mineral deposits. The Rhineland, the Ruhr area and the Saar area (Germany's second largest center of mining and industry, Upper Silesia, had been handed over by the Allies to Poland for occupation at the Potsdam conference and the German population was being forcibly expelled.

French attempts to gain political control of or permanently internationalize the Ruhr were abandoned in 1951 with the West German agreement to pool its coal and steel resources in return for full political control over the Ruhr. The Saarland came under French administration in 1947 as the Saar protectorate, but did following a referendum return to Germany in January 1957, with economic reintegration with Germany occurring a few years later.

The Marshall Plan

Map of Cold-War era Europe and the Near East showing countries that received Marshall Plan aid. The red columns show the relative amount of total aid per nation.

In September 6, 1946, the United States Secretary of State, James F. Byrnes, in a speech titled the Restatement of Policy on Germany, repudiated the Morgenthau-plan influenced policies. The next improvement came in July 1947, when after lobbying by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Generals Clay and Marshall, the Truman administration finally realized that economic recovery in Europe could not go forward without the reconstruction of the German industrial base.

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program) was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding and creating a stronger foundation for the allied countries of Europe, and repelling communism after World War II. The initiative was named for Secretary of State George Marshall. The reconstruction plan was developed at a meeting of the participating European states on July 12, 1947. The Marshall Plan offered the same aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, if they would make political reforms and accept certain outside controls. However the Soviet Union rejected this proposal with Vyacheslav Molotov describing the plan as dollar imperialism.

The plan was in operation for four years beginning in July 1947. During that period some $13-billion in economic and technical assistance were given to help the recovery of the European countries that had joined in the Organization for European Economic Co-operation. The $13 billion compares to the U.S. gross domestic product of $41 billion in 1949.

By the time the plan had come to completion, the economy of every participant state, with the exception of Germany, had grown well past pre-war levels. Over the next two decades, many regions of Western Europe would enjoy unprecedented growth and prosperity. The Marshall Plan has also long been seen as one of the first elements of European integration, as it erased tariff trade barriers and set up institutions to coordinate the economy on a continental level. An intended consequence was the systematic adoption of American managerial techniques. A currency reform, which had been prohibited under the previous occupation directive JCS 1067, introduced the Deutsche Mark and halted rampant inflation.

The Soviets had not agreed to the currency reform. In March 1948 they withdrew from the four-power governing bodies, and in June 1948 they initiated the Berlin blockade, blocking all ground transport routes between Western Germany and West Berlin. The Western Allies replied with a continuous airlift of supplies to the western half of the city. The Soviets ended the blockade after 11 months.

The Adenauer years

The Western Allies turned over increasing authority to German officials and moved to establish a nucleus for a future German government by creating a central Economic Council for their zones. The program later provided for a West German constituent assembly, an occupation statute governing relations between the Allies and the German authorities, and the political and economic merger of the French with the British and American zones. On May 23, 1949, the Grundgesetz (Basic Law), the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, was promulgated. Following elections in August, the first federal government was formed on September 20, 1949, by Konrad Adenauer (CDU). The next day, the occupation statute came into force, granting powers of self-government with certain exceptions.

From 1949 to 1963, chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) and the Christian Democratic Union dominated the government of West Germany. Adenauer aimed to transform the country from a post-war occupied zone to an independent nation, a goal that became more attainable when the United States, the United Kingdom, and France recognized that Western Europe could not withstand Soviet pressure without the aid of a strong West Germany. Accordingly, military occupation of West Germany was ended with the Bonn Convention of 1952.

NATO membership and the Cold War

This image shows the Cold War alliances of Europe, with NATO in blue and the Warsaw Pact in red.

The Federal Republic of Germany was declared "fully sovereign" on May 5, 1955. The former occupying Western troops remained on the ground, from then as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), established in 1949 for the defence of Europe. West Germany joined NATO on May 9, 1955, promising to re-arm itself.

West Germany became a focus of the Cold War with its juxtaposition to East Germany, a member of the subsequently founded Warsaw Pact. The former capital, Berlin, had also been divided into four sectors, the Western Allies joining their sectors to form West Berlin, while the Soviets held East Berlin.

The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 led to U.S. calls for the rearmament of West Germany in order to help defend Western Europe from the perceived Soviet threat. Germany's partners in the Coal and Steel Community proposed to establish a European Defence Community (EDC), with an integrated army, navy and air force, composed of the armed forces of its member states. The West German military would be subject to complete EDC control, but the other EDC member states (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands) would cooperate in the EDC while maintaining independent control of their own armed forces.

Though the EDC treaty was signed (May 1952), it never entered into force. France's Gaullists rejected it on the grounds that it threatened national sovereignty, and when the French National Assembly refused to ratify it (August 1954), the treaty died. The French had killed their own proposal. Other means then had to be found to allow West German rearmament. In response, the Brussels Treaty was modified to include West Germany, and to form the Western European Union (WEU). West Germany was to be permitted to rearm, an idea which was rejected by many Germans, and have full sovereign control of its military called Bundeswehr; the WEU would however regulate the size of the armed forces permitted to each of its member states. Also, the German constitution prohibited any military action except in case of an external attack against Germany or its allies (Bündnisfall). Also, Germans could reject military service on grounds of conscience, and serve for civil purposes instead.

West Germany and West Berlin (green), after access of the Saarland in 1957, before access of the 5 former GDR states and East Berlin in 1990

The three Western Allies retained occupation powers in Berlin and certain responsibilities for Germany as a whole. Under the new arrangements, the Allies stationed troops within West Germany for NATO defense, pursuant to stationing and status-of-forces agreements. With the exception of 45,000 French troops, Allied forces were under NATO's joint defense command. (France withdrew from the collective military command structure of NATO in 1966.)

Reunification

The official German reunification ceremony on October 3, 1990, was held at the Reichstag building, including Chancellor Helmut Kohl, President Richard von Weizsäcker, former Chancellor Willy Brandt and many others. One day later, the parliament of the united Germany would assemble in an act of symbolism in the Reichstag building.

However, at that time, the role of Berlin had not yet been decided upon. Only after a fierce debate, considered by many as one of the most memorable sessions of parliament, the Bundestag concluded on June 20, 1991, with a quite slim majority that both government and parliament should return to Berlin from Bonn.

Position towards East Germany

During the Cold War period, after two separate German states (plus the special regions of Saarland and Berlin) had been established in the Allied Occupation zones, at prevailing opinion in jurisprudence and international law, the Federal Republic is not a new West German state but a re-organized German Reich [2] (e.g. continued validity of the Reichskonkordat between the Holy See and the Federal Republic of Germany [3]) West Germany viewed itself as the only democratic German state and thus claimed exclusive mandate for Germany as a whole. However, this view was contested by East Germany as well as critics in the west.

Before the 1970s, the official position of West Germany concerning East Germany was that, according to the Hallstein Doctrine, the West German government was the only democratically elected and therefore legitimate representative of the German people, and any country (with the exception of the USSR) that recognized the authorities of the German Democratic Republic would not have diplomatic relations with West Germany. In the early 1970s, Willy Brandt's policy of Ostpolitik led to a form of mutual recognition between East and West Germany. The Treaty of Moscow (August 1970), the Treaty of Warsaw (December 1970), the Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971), the Transit Agreement (May 1972), and the Basic Treaty (December 1972) helped to normalise relations between East and West Germany and led to both German states joining the United Nations.

The West German Constitution (Grundgesetz / Basic Law) provided two articles for the unification with other parts of Germany:

  • Article 23 provided the possibility for other parts of Germany to join the Federal Republic (under the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany).
  • Article 146 provided the possibility for unification of all parts of Germany under a new constitution.

After the democratic revolution of 1989 in Eastern Germany, the first freely elected East German parliament decided in June 1990 to join the Federal Republic under Article 23 of the (West-)German Basic Law (Grundgesetz). This made a quick unification possible. In July/August 1990 the East German parliament enacted a law for the establishment of federal states on the territory of the German Democratic Republic. This East German constitutional law converted the former centralized socialist structure of East Germany into a federal structure equal to that of Western Germany.

The two German states entered into a currency and customs union in July 1990, and on 3 October 1990, the German Democratic Republic dissolved and the reestablished 5 East German states (as well East and West Berlin became unified) joined the Federal Republic of Germany bringing an end to the East-West divide. From a West German point of view Berlin already was a member state of the Federal Republic, therefore it was regarded as an old state.

Richard von Weizsäcker served two five-year-terms as president, from 1984 to 1994.

Government and politics

The 1949, provisional constitution, known as Basic Law, established a federal republic. The bicameral parliament consisted of the Bundesrat (federal founcil, or upper house), and Bundestag (National Assembly, or lower house). The president was the titular head of state, while the chancellor was the executive head of government. Suffrage was universal to those aged 18 and over. National elections were generally held every four years.

Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Helmut Kohl; Christian Social Union (CSU), Theo Waigel; Free Democratic Party (FDP), Otto Lambsdorff; Social Democratic Party (SPD), Hans-Jochen Vogel; National Democratic Party (NPD), Martin Mussgnug; Communist Party (DKP), Herbert Mies; Green Party (Greens)—Realos faction, Otto Schily; Fundis faction, Jutta Ditfurth In the 1987 election, the last held in West Germany before unification, the Christian Democratic Union-Christian Social Union took 44.3 percent of the vote, the Social Democratic Party took 37 percent, Free Democratic Party 9.1 percent, the Greens 8.3 percent, while others took the remaining 1.3 percent. There were about 40,000 communist members and supporters.

The judiciary was independent. Legal system was based on civil law system with indigenous concepts. A Supreme Federal Constitutional Court reviewed legislative acts. West Germany had not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction.

The nation was divided into 10 states (lander, singular—land), which were Baden-Wurttemberg, Bayern, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, and Schleswig-Holstein.

Political life in West Germany was remarkably stable and orderly.


. . . was followed by a brief period under Ludwig Erhard (1963–66) who, in turn, was replaced by Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1966–69). All governments between 1949 and 1966 were formed by the united caucus of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), either alone or in coalition with the smaller Free Democratic Party (FDP).

Kiesinger's 1966–69 "Grand Coalition" was between West Germany's two largest parties, the CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). This was important for the introduction of new emergency acts—the Grand Coalition gave the ruling parties the two-thirds majority of votes required to see them in. These controversial acts allowed basic constitutional rights such as freedom of movement to be limited in case of a state of emergency.

File:SPDi.jpg
Social Democratic Party Poster

During the time leading up to the passing of the laws, there was fierce opposition to them, above all by the FDP, the rising German student movement, a group calling itself Notstand der Demokratie ("Democracy in a State of Emergency") and the labour unions. Demonstrations and protests grew in number, and in 1967 the student Benno Ohnesorg was shot in the head and killed by the police. The press, especially the tabloid Bild-Zeitung newspaper, launched a massive campaign against the protesters and in 1968, apparently as a result, there was an attempted assassination of one of the top members of the German socialist students' union, Rudi Dutschke.

In the 1960s a desire to confront the Nazi past came into being. Successfully, mass protests clamored for a new Germany. Environmentalism and anti-nationalism became fundamental values of West Germany. Rudi Dutschke recovered sufficiently to help establish the Green Party of Germany by convincing former student protesters to join the Green movement. As a result in 1979 the Greens were able to reach the 5% limit required to obtain parliamentary seats in the Bremen provincial election. Dutschke died in 1979 due to the epilepsy he had from the attack.

Another result of the unrest in the 1960s was the founding of the Red Army Faction (RAF) which was active from 1968, carrying out a succession of terrorist attacks in West Germany during the 1970s. Even in the 1990s attacks were still being committed under the name "RAF". The last action took place in 1993 and the group announced it was giving up its activities in 1998.

In the 1969 election, the SPD—headed by Willy Brandt—gained enough votes to form a coalition government with the FDP. Chancellor Brandt remained head of government until May 1974, when he resigned after a senior member of his staff was uncovered as a spy for the East German intelligence service, the Stasi.

Finance Minister Helmut Schmidt (SPD) then formed a government and received the unanimous support of coalition members. He served as Chancellor from 1974 to 1982. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a leading FDP official, became Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Schmidt, a strong supporter of the European Community (EC) and the Atlantic alliance, emphasized his commitment to "the political unification of Europe in partnership with the USA".

In October 1982, the SPD-FDP coalition fell apart when the FDP joined forces with the CDU/CSU to elect CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl as Chancellor in a Constructive Vote of No Confidence. Following national elections in March 1983, Kohl emerged in firm control of both the government and the CDU. The CDU/CSU fell just short of an absolute majority, due to the entry into the Bundestag of the Greens, who received 5.6% of the vote.

In January 1987, the Kohl-Genscher government was returned to office, but the FDP and the Greens gained at the expense of the larger parties.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, the reunification was quickly arranged. Formally, the Federal Republic of Germany grew by joining of the 5 East German states (which had been reestablished only a few month before). As well both parts of Berlin had been reunited. This took place on 3 October 1990.

The four occupying powers officially withdrew from Germany on March 15, 1991.

In 1952 West Germany became part of the European Coal and Steel Community, which would later evolve into the European Union. On 5 May 1955 West Germany was declared "fully sovereign". The British, French and U.S. militaries remained in the country, just as the Soviet Army remained in East Germany. Four days after becoming "fully sovereign" in 1955, West Germany joined NATO. The U.S. retained an especially strong presence in West Germany, acting as a deterrent in case of a Soviet invasion. In 1976 West Germany became one of the founding nations of the Group of Six (G6). In 1973, West Germany which was home to roughly 1.26% of the world's population featured the world's fourth largest GDP of 944 billion (5.9% of the world total). In 1987 the FRG held a 7.4% share of total world production.

Military

West Germany's budget for its army, navy, and air force was $35.5-billion in 1988, or 22 percent of central government budget.

Economy

File:VWgermany.jpg
In the postwar years, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of West German economic recovery.

By 1989, the Federal Republic of Germany was a major economic power and one of the world's leading exporters. The country had a modern industrial economy, with a highly urbanized and skilled population that enjoyed a per capita GNP of more than $18,000 in 1988. The republic was poor in natural resources, coal being the most important mineral found in the country. Having a highly skilled labor force but lacking a resource base, the republic's competative advantage lay in the technologically advanced production stages. Thus manufacturing and services dominated economic activity, and raw materials and semimanufactures constituted a large proportion of imports. In 1987 manufacturing accounted for 35 percent of GNP, with other sectors contributing lesser amounts.

Per capita GNP was $18,370, the unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in 1987, and the inflation rate (consumer prices) was 1.2 percent in 1988.

Economic miracle

The West German Wirtschaftswunder (English: "economic miracle") coined by The Times of London in 1950), was partly due to the economic aid provided by the United States and the Marshall Plan, but mainly due to the currency reform of 1948 which replaced the Reichsmark with the Deutsche Mark as legal tender, halting rampant inflation. This act to strengthen the German economy had been explicitly forbidden during the two years that the occupation directive JCS 1067 was in effect. The Allied dismantling of the West German coal and steel industry finally ended in 1950.

In addition to the physical obstacles that had to be overcome for the German economic recovery, there were also intellectual challenges. The Allies confiscated intellectual privileges of huge value, such as all German patents, both in Germany and abroad, and used them to strengthen their own industrial competitiveness by licensing them to Allied companies. Meanwhile some of the best German researchers were being put to work in the Soviet Union and in the U.S.

File:West germany res 2972.jpg
West German industry map, 1972

Contrary to popular belief, the Marshall Plan, which was extended to also include the newly formed West Germany in 1949, was not the main force behind the Wirtschaftswunder. Had that been the case, other countries such as Great Britain and France (which both received higher economic assistance from the plan than Germany) should have experienced the same phenomenon. In fact, the amount of monetary aid (which was in the form of loans) received by Germany through the Marshall Plan was far overshadowed by the amount the Germans had to pay back as war reparations and by the charges the Allies made on the Germans for the ongoing cost of occupation (about $2.4-billion per year). In 1953 it was decided that Germany was to repay $1.1-billion of the aid it had received. The last repayment was made in June 1971.

The Korean war (1950–53) led to a worldwide increased demand for goods, and the resulting shortage helped overcome lingering resistance to the purchase of German products. At the time Germany had a large pool of skilled and cheap labour, partly as a result of the deportations and migrations which affected up to 16.5 million Germans. This helped Germany to more than double the value of its exports during the war. Apart from these factors, hard work and long hours at full capacity among the population and in the late 1950s and 1960s extra labour supplied by thousands of Gastarbeiter ("guest workers") provided a vital base for the economic upturn.

From the late 1950s onwards, West Germany had one of the strongest economies in the world, almost as strong as before the Second World War. The East German economy showed strong growth, but not as much as in West Germany, due in part to continued reparations to the USSR in terms of resources. Ludwig Erhard, who served as the Minister of the Economy in Adenauer's cabinet from 1949 until 1963 and later became Chancellor, is often associated with the German Wirtschaftswunder.

Trade

Exports totalled $294-billion in 1987. Export commodities included manufactures 86.6 percent (including machines and machine tools, chemicals, motor vehicles, iron and steel products), agricultural products 4.9 percent, raw materials 2.3 percent, and fuels 1.3 percent. Export partners included the European Community 52.7 percent (France 12 percent, Netherlands 9 percent, Italy 9 percent, UK 9 percent, Belgium-Luxembourg 7 percent), other West Europe 18 percent, U.S. 10 percent, Eastern Europe 4 percent, and OPEC 3 percent.

Imports totalled $228-billion in 1987. Import commodities included manufactures 68.5 percent, agricultural products 12.0 percent, fuels 9.7 percent, and raw materials 7.1 percent. Import partners included the European Community 52.7 percent (France 12 percent, Netherlands 11 percent, Italy 10 percent, U.K. 7 percent, Belgium-Luxembourg 7 percent), other West Europe 15 percent, U.S. 6 percent, Japan 6 percent, Eastern Europe 5 percent, and OPEC 3 percent.

Demographics

West Germany's population was 60,977,195 in 1989, with a life expectancy at birth of 72 years for males, and 79 years females. The majority were of German ethnicity, with a small Danish minority. Regarding religion, 45 percent were Roman Catholic, 44 percent Protestant, and 11 percent other The language spoken was German, and 99 percent of the population aged 15 and over could read and write.

Culture

Sports

In the 20th century Association Football became the largest sport in Germany. The Germany national football team, established in 1908, continued its tradition based in the Federal Republic of Germany, winning the 1954 FIFA World Cup in a stunning upset dubbed the miracle of Bern. The 1974 FIFA World Cup was held in West German cities and West Berlin. After having been beaten by their East German counterparts in the first round, the team of the DFB won the cup again, defeating the Netherlands 2–1 in the Final. With the process of unification in full swing in the summer of 1990, the Germans clinched a third World Cup, with players that had been capped for East Germany not yet permitted to contribute. European championships have been clinched too, in 1972, 1980 and 1996.

After both Olympic games of 1936 had been held in Germany, Munich was selected to host the 1972 Summer Olympics. These were also the first summer games were East Germans showed up for the first time with the separate flag and anthem of the GDR. Since the 1950s, Germany at the Olympics had been represented by a united team led by the pre-war German NOC officials as the IOC had denied East German demands for a separate team.

As in 1957, when the Saarland acceded, East German sport organizations ceased to exist in late 1990 as their subdivisions and their members joined their Western counterparts. Thus, the present German organisations and teams in football, Olympics and elsewhere are identical to those which informally had been called "West German" before 1991, with the only differences being enlarged membership, and a different name used by some foreigners. These organizations and teams in turn had mostly continued the traditions of those representing Germany before WW2 and even WW1, thus having a century old continuity despite political changes. On the other hand, the separate East Germans teams and organisations had been founded in the 1950s, they were an episode lasting less than four decades, yet quite successful in that time.

Life in general

One part of the Berlin Wall area. The large cleared part was known as the 'kill zone'

During the 40 years of separation it was inevitable that some divergence would occur in the cultural life of the two parts of the severed nation. Both West Germany and East Germany followed along traditional paths of the common German culture, but West Germany, being obviously more susceptible to influences from western Europe and North America, became more cosmopolitan. Conversely, East Germany, while remaining surprisingly conservative in its adherence to some aspects of the received tradition, was powerfully molded by the dictates of a socialist ideology of predominantly Soviet inspiration. Guidance in the required direction was provided by exhortation through a range of associations and by some degree of censorship; the state, as virtually the sole market for artistic products, inevitably had the last word in East Germany.

Geographical distribution of government

West Germany was known to be much more governmentally decentralized than its communist counterpart East Germany, in which all government agencies were located in East Berlin.

However, in West Germany most of the political agencies and buildings were located in Bonn, the German Stock Market was located in Frankfurt am Main, which became the economic center. And the Judicial Branch of both the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) and the highest Court of Appeals, located in Karlsruhe.

Present geographical and political terminology

Today, Rhineland and Westphalia are often considered to be western Germany in geographical terms. When distinguishing between former West Germany and former East Germany as parts of present-day unified Germany, it has become most common to refer to the Alte Bundesländer (old states) and the Neue Bundesländer (new states), although Westdeutschland and Ostdeutschland are still heard as well.


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  1. Steven Bela Vardy and T. Hunt Tooley, eds. Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe ISBN 0-88033-995-0. subsection by Richard Dominic Wiggers, “The United States and the Refusal to Feed German Civilians after World War II” pg. 281
  2. Federal Constitutional Court of Germany (2 BvF 1/73), 31. Juli 1973
  3. BVerfGE 6, 309 ff.