The end of GDR. Proclamation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the formation of the GDR

Residents of the former GDR: the USSR abandoned us, and the West Germans robbed us and turned us into a colony

KP special correspondent Daria Aslamova visited Germany and was surprised to discover that 27 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the country remains divided...

– You can tell us later what life is like there in East Germany...

I'm sitting in a Berlin beer hall with my German colleagues, Peter and Kat, and I can't believe my ears:

- Are you joking?! Dresden is two hours away by car. Have you really never been to the former GDR?

My friends look at each other in confusion:

- Never. You know, for some reason I don’t want to. We are typical “Wessi” (West Germans), and between “ Vassey" And " Ossie"(East Germans) there is always an invisible line. We're just different.

– But the Berlin Wall was destroyed more than a quarter of a century ago! – I exclaim in confusion.

“She hasn’t gone anywhere.” It stands as it stood. People just have bad eyesight.

This is how the ancestors of the Germans looked menacing (sculpture in Dresden)

Rising from the Ashes

All my life I have avoided meeting with Dresden. Well, I didn't want to. “There in the ground there are tons of human bones crushed into dust” (Kurt Vonnegut "Slaughterhouse-Five"). My half-German mother-in-law was nine years old in 1945 and survived the night of February 13-14 when the full might of British and American air power fell on Dresden. She survived only because her grandmother managed to drag her out into the corn fields.

She lay with the other children, who were frozen in the grass like rabbits, and looked at the bombs falling on the city: “They seemed terribly beautiful to us and looked like Christmas trees. That's what we called them. And then the whole city burst into flames. And all my life I was forbidden to talk about what I saw. Just forget."

The city was hit overnight 650 tons incendiary bombs and 1500 tons high explosive The result of such a massive bombing was a fire tornado that covered an area four times larger than the destruction of Nagasaki. The temperature in Dresden reached 1500 degrees.

People flared up like living torches and melted along with the asphalt. It is absolutely impossible to calculate the number of deaths. The USSR insisted on 135 thousands of people, the British held on to the figure in 30 thousand. Only corpses pulled out from under destroyed buildings and basements were counted. But who can weigh human ashes?

One of the most luxurious and ancient cities in Europe, "Florence on the Elbe", was almost completely wiped off the face of the earth. The goal of the British (namely, they insisted on destroying the historical center of Dresden) was not only the moral destruction of the Germans, but also the desire to show the Russians what the aviation of the so-called “allies” was capable of, who were already preparing an attack on the war-weary USSR (Operation “Unthinkable” ").

Afterwards, I heard many times how stubborn, die-hard Germans stubbornly collected ancient, charred stones, how they carried out unprecedented construction work for more than forty years and restored Dresden, but I just shrugged my shoulders. I don't need props. I don’t like, for example, the toy center of the restored Warsaw, which looks like a Lego construction.

But Dresden shamed my unbelief. These German pedants achieved the impossible. Dresden has once again become the most beautiful of European cities. Two contradictory feelings possess me: admiration for the Saxon industriousness, their passionate love for their land and... fury at the thought of our stupid Russian generosity.

GDR: a country that has disappeared from the map

We know well what happened BEFORE the fall of the Berlin Wall, but it is almost unknown what happened AFTER. We know nothing about the tragedy experienced by the “socialist” Germans, who so enthusiastically broke down the wall and opened their arms to their “capitalist brothers.” They could not even imagine that their country would disappear within a year, that there would be no equal unification agreement, that they would lose most of their civil rights. An ordinary Anschluss will occur: capture West Germany and East Germany and the complete absorption of the latter.

“The events of 1989 were very reminiscent of the Ukrainian Maidan,” recalls historian Brigitte Quek. – The world media broadcast live how thousands of young Germans broke the wall and applauded them. But no one asked, what does a country of 18 million people want? Residents of the GDR dreamed of freedom of movement and "better socialism". They had a hard time imagining what capitalism looked like.

But there was no referendum, as for example, here in Crimea, which means that the “Anschluss” was absolutely not legitimate!

Merkel in Nazi uniform

“After the start of perestroika and Gorbachev’s rise to power, it became clear what kind of end awaited the GDR without the support of the Soviet Union, but the funeral could be worthy,” says Dr. Wolfgang Schelike, Chairman of the German-Russian Institute of Culture. – United Germany was born as a result of a hasty and unsuccessful birth. Helmut Kohl, Federal Chancellor of Germany, did not want to delay, fearing that Gorbachev would be removed. His slogans were: no experiments, Germany is stronger and has proven with its history that it better GDR. Although the intelligentsia understood that if all West German laws were poured into another country overnight, it would cause a long-term conflict.

On October 3, 1990, the GDR ceased to exist. The Federal Republic of Germany created a special humiliating Office for the care of the former GDR, as if the East Germans were backward and unreasonable children. In essence, East Germany simply capitulated. In just a year, almost two and a half million people lost their jobs, out of a total workforce of 8.3 million.

“All government officials were kicked out first,” says Peter Steglich, former GDR ambassador to Sweden. – We, at the Foreign Ministry, received a letter: you are free, the GDR no longer exists. I, unemployed, was saved by my Spanish wife, who was left to work as a translator. I had a few years left before retirement, but for young diplomats who had received an excellent education, this was a tragedy. They wrote applications to the German Foreign Ministry, but not a single one of them was hired. Then they destroyed the fleet and army, the second most powerful in the Warsaw Pact countries. All the officers were fired, many with pitiful pensions, or even no pensions at all. Only technical specialists who knew how to handle Soviet weapons were left.

Important people arrived from the West gentlemen administrators, the purpose of which was to dismantle the old system, introduce a new one, compile “black” lists of unwanted and suspicious people, and carry out thorough purges. Special "qualification commissions" to identify all “ideologically” unstable workers. “Democratic” Germany decided to brutally deal with the “totalitarian GDR”. In politics Only the vanquished are wrong.

Daria and a German are holding a flag, half German, half Russian

On January 1, 1991, all employees of the Berlin legal services were dismissed as unfit to ensure democratic order. On the same day at the University. Humboldt (the main university of the GDR) liquidated the history, law, philosophy and pedagogical faculties and expelled all professors and teachers without retaining their seniority.

In addition, all teachers, professors, scientific, technical and administrative staff in educational institutions of the former GDR were ordered to fill out questionnaires and provide details of their political views and party affiliation. In case of refusal or concealment of information, they were subject to immediate dismissal.

“Purges” have begun in schools. Old textbooks, considered “ideologically harmful,” were thrown into a landfill. But the Gedar education system was considered one of the best in the world. Finland, for example, borrowed its experience.

“First of all, they fired the directors, members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany that ruled in the GDR,” recalls Dr. Wolfgang Schelicke. – Many humanities teachers lost their jobs. The rest had to survive, and fear came to them. The teachers did not go underground, but they stopped discussing and expressing their point of view. But this affects the upbringing of children! Russian language teachers were also fired. English became a compulsory foreign language.

Russian, like Czech or Polish, can now be learned at will, as a third language. As a result, East Germans forgot Russian and did not learn English. The atmosphere everywhere has completely changed. I had to work with my elbows. The concepts of solidarity and mutual assistance have disappeared. At work you are more not a colleague, but a competitor. Those who have a job work their butts off. They have no time to go to the cinema or the theater, as was the case in the GDR. And the unemployed fell into degradation.

Many people lost their homes. And for what an ugly reason. Many East Germans lived in private houses that were badly damaged during the war (West Germany suffered much less damage than East Germany). Construction materials were in great short supply. Over the course of forty years, the owners of the houses restored them, collected them literally stone by stone and could now be proud of their beautiful villas.

But after the wall fell, beloved relatives who used to send Christmas cards came from the West and claimed a share in the houses. Come on, pay it off! Where did the former GDR member get his savings? He received a good salary, had social guarantees, but he was not a capitalist. Oh, no money? We don't care. Sell ​​your house and pay our share. These were real tragedies.

But the most important thing is there was a complete change of elites. The Germans, who were not very successful there, poured in from the West and immediately seized all the high-paying positions in the former GDR. They were considered trustworthy. Still in Leipzig 70% administrations are "vessi". Yes, there is no mercy for the powerless. Virtually all control over the former republic fell into the hands of the new colonial administration.

Russian flag and poster “Friendship with Russia” at a rally in Dresden

– The USSR abandoned the GDR just like that, without even leaving any agreement between the owners of Germany and the GDR,” says former diplomat Peter Steglich bitterly. – Smart, statesmanlike people foresaw conflicts over property and the Anschluss of the GDR instead of the unification of the two Germanys on equal rights. But there is a statement from Gorbachev: let the Germans figure it out themselves. This meant: the strong take what they want. And the West Germans were strong. The real one has begun colonization of the GDR. Having removed local patriots from power, denigrated and humiliated them, the Western colonialists proceeded to the most “delicious” part of the program: full privatization state assets of the GDR. One system intended to completely devour the other.

The ability to “clean” other people’s pockets

At the state level, one must rob skillfully, gracefully, with white gloves and very quickly, before the victim comes to his senses. The GDR was the most successful country of the Warsaw Pact. Such a fatty piece had to be swallowed immediately, without hesitation.

First, it was necessary to show future victims a gesture of generosity by establishing a one-to-one exchange rate between East and West marks for GDR citizens. All West German newspapers shouted loudly about this! In fact, it turned out that you can only exchange 4000 marks. Above this, the exchange rate was two eastern marks for one western. All state-owned enterprises of the GDR and small businesses could exchange their accounts only on the basis of two to one.

Poster “We want a free Germany: without the euro, without the EU, without NATO and with real democracy”

Therefore, they are at once lost half of their capital! At the same time, their debts were recalculated at the exchange rate 1:1 . You don’t have to be a businessman to understand that such measures led to the complete ruin of the industry of the GDR! In the fall of 1990, production volume in the GDR dropped by more than half!

Now Western "brothers" could talk condescendingly about the unviability of socialist industry and its immediate privatization “on fair and open terms.”

But what the hell are fair conditions if the citizens of the GDR had no capital?! Oh, no money? It's a pity. And 85% of the country’s entire industry fell into the hands of the West Germans, who actively led it to bankruptcy. Why give a chance to competitors? 10% went to foreigners. But only 5% were able to buy the true owners of the land, the East Germans.

- Were you robbed? - I ask the former general director of the metallurgical plant in the city of Eisenhüttenstadt, Professor Karl Döring.

- Certainly. The residents of the GDR had no money, and all property fell into Western hands. And we don't forget who sold us. Gorbachev. Yes, there were demonstrations for freedom of movement and nothing more, but no one demanded that the GDR disappear from the world map. I emphasize this. For this, a corresponding position was needed from Gorbachev, a man who failed the test of history. No one can take this “glory” away from him. What is the result? East Germans are much poorer than West Germans. Many studies show that we are “second class” Germans.

What was important to Western industrialists? A new market is nearby where you can dump your goods. This was the fundamental idea. They got so carried away destroying our industry that they finally discovered that the unemployed could not buy their goods! If you do not preserve at least the remnants of industry in the East, people will simply flee to the West in search of work, and the lands will become empty.

That’s when I managed to save at least part of our plant, thanks to the Russians. We increased our exports to Russia, selling 300-350 thousand tons of cold-rolled steel sheets in 1992-93 for your automotive industry, for agricultural machinery. Then the Cherepovets Metallurgical Plant, one of the largest in Russia, wanted to buy our shares, but Western politicians did not like this idea. And she was rejected.

“Yes, this looks like “fair privatization,” I note with irony.

Poster "Merkel must go"

– Now the remains of the plant have gone to the Indian billionaire monopolist. I'm glad that the plant at least didn't die.

Professor Karl Dering is very proud of his small steelworking town of Eisenhüttenstadt (formerly Stalinstadt), which is only 60 years old. The first socialist city on ancient German soil, built from scratch with the help of Soviet specialists. The dream of justice and equal rights for all. An exemplary showcase of socialism. The creation of a new man: a worker with the face of an intellectual who reads Karl Marx, Lenin and Tolstoy after his work shift.

“It was a new organization of public life,” the professor tells me with slight excitement as I walk along the completely deserted streets of the city. – After the factory, the theater was the first to be built! Can you imagine? After all, what was the main thing? Kindergartens, cultural centers, sculptures and fountains, cinemas, good clinics. The main thing was the man.

We walk along a wide avenue with restored houses of Stalinist architecture. The neatly trimmed lawns are wonderfully green. But in the spacious courtyards where the flowers are fragrant, you can’t hear children’s laughter. It’s so quiet that we can hear the sounds of our own steps. The emptiness has a depressing effect on me. It was as if all the inhabitants were suddenly blown away by the wind of the past. Suddenly a married couple with a dog comes out of the entrance and in surprise I shout: “Look! People, people!

“Yes, there are not enough people here,” says Professor Dering dryly. – Previously, 53 thousand people lived here. Almost half left. There are no children here. Girls are more determined than guys. As soon as they grow up, they immediately pack their things and head west. Unemployment. The birth rate is low. Four schools and three kindergartens were closed because there were no children. And without children this city has no future.

Sculpture of mother and child in Eisenhüttenstadt (formerly Stalinstadt), in a city where there are no more children

Women had the hardest time

Marianne, a waitress from a cafe in Dresden, and I first had a fight and then became friends. A tired woman of about fifty threw a plate of wonderful pork knee onto my table with such force that the fat splashed onto the tablecloth. I was indignant first in English, and then in Russian. Her face suddenly brightened.

- You are Russian?! Sorry,” she said in heavily accented Russian. – I used to teach Russian at school, but now you can see for yourself what I’m doing.

I invited her for an evening cup of coffee. She came in an elegant dress, with lipstick on her lips, suddenly looking younger.

“It’s terribly nice to speak Russian after so many years,” Marianna told me. She smoked cigarette after cigarette, telling her story, the same as that of thousands of women from the former GDR.

– When the “Wessies” arrived, I was immediately thrown out of work as a party member and a Russian teacher. We were all suspected of having connections with the Stasi. And about the Stasi, the Wessies have now created a whole legend - they say that animals worked there. As if the CIA were better! If we had good intelligence, the GDR would still exist.

My husband was also laid off - he was then working at a mine in the town of Hoyerswerda (we lived there before). He couldn't stand it. I drank myself, like many others. For Germans, work is everything. Prestige, status, self-esteem. We divorced and he moved west. I was left alone with my little daughter. I didn’t yet know that this was just the beginning of all the troubles.

In the West, women hardly worked at that time. Not because of laziness. They did not have a system of kindergartens and nurseries. To get a job, I had to pay an expensive nanny, which practically ate up all my earnings. But if you sit at home with a child for five or six years, you lose your qualifications. Who needs you after this?

Everything was fine in the GDR: it was possible to go back to work six months after pregnancy. And we liked it. We're not homebodies. The children were looked after reliably and responsibly, and their early education was provided.

The "Wessies" came and canceled the entire system, closed most of the kindergartens, and in the remaining ones they introduced such a fee that most could not afford it. I was saved by my parents, who were forced into retirement. They could sit with my daughter, and I rushed around looking for work. But I was labeled as an “unreliable communist.” With my university education, I even worked as a cleaner.

Empty Stalinist courtyards in the former Stalinstadt

– But weren’t you paid unemployment benefits?

- Ha! "Vassie" then introduced a new rule that benefits should be paid only to those women who lost their jobs with children who can prove that they are able to provide day care for the children. And at that time my parents and husband still worked part-time. There was no one to sit with the child. And I never received the benefits. In general, I became a waitress. Sorry for throwing the plate. Life just seems so hopeless sometimes. My daughter grew up and moved to the west, working there as a nurse. I hardly see her. A lonely old age lies ahead. I hate those who broke the Berlin Wall! They were just fools.

Why don't I go west? Don't want. They invited all this terrorist trash to join them. One and a half million idle refugees, when Germany itself is full of unemployed! I'll stay here because we are the real Germany. The people here are patriots. Have you seen? All the houses here have German flags on them. But in the west you won't see them. This, they say, may offend the feelings of foreigners. I go to a rally every Monday "Pegids"– a party that opposes the Islamization of Europe.

Come and you will see real Germans.

“Putin is in my heart!”

Monday. The center of Dresden, surrounded by many police cars. Musicians in folk costumes play folk songs, middle-aged women and men sing along with them, happily stamping their feet. There are also many young men with a defiant expression on their faces. What I see makes me tetanus. Everywhere Russian flags flutter proudly. One flag is simply amazing: half German, half Russian.

The standard bearer tries to explain to me in bad Russian that his flag symbolizes the unity of Russians and Germans. Lots of guys wearing T-shirts with Putin's portrait. Posters with Putin and Merkel next to them with pig ears. Or Merkel in a Nazi uniform with a euro sign resembling a swastika. Posters of Muslim women in burkas with a cross through them. Calls for " friendship with Russia" And " war with NATO" People, where am I? Is this Germany?

Many protesters are carrying stuffed pigs. A good, fat pig is a symbol of a well-fed, Christian Germany. No halal food! " Long live Russia!- they shout around me. Some enthusiastic elderly woman repeats to me: “Putin is in my heart.” My head is spinning.

Protester wearing a Putin T-shirt

A young man named Michael clarifies the situation.

– Why do you believe Putin so much? – I’m surprised.

“He is the only strong leader who fights terrorism. And who to believe? This pro-American puppet Merkel, who opened the borders to strangers? They rape our women, kill our men, eat our bread, hate our religion and want to build a caliphate in Germany.

“But here in East Germany I hardly see any foreigners.”

No women in burkas!

“And we will do everything so that you don’t see them.” We are not racists. But everyone who comes to this country must work and respect its laws.

I tell Michael about what I saw in January in Munich. Young hysterical fools shouting “Munich should be colored!”, “We love you, refugees!” I remember how five thousand liberals were eager to beat up a hundred sane people who came out with the only slogan “No to the Islamization of Germany!” Only the police saved them from the massacre, clearing the way for the “fascists” with their batons.

“So this is “Wessie,” says Michael with indescribable contempt. “They believe everything their stupid newspapers write.” A we were born in the GDR. We are different and we are not easily deceived.

People carry stuffed pigs to a rally as a symbol of protest against halal food.

Immunity to propaganda

This is how we are alike! We both agreed on this expression! Me and an MP from the Alternative for Germany party Jörg Urban:

– Yes, we are distrustful, East Germans and Russians, and we hate everything that even remotely resembles propaganda. And this saves us from illusions. West Germany, as a showcase of ideal capitalism, lived without problems for 50 years. They grew up in the spirit that nothing could happen to them. "Vassies" are not realistic and are unable to look at what is happening rationally.

The State Duma proposes to consider the unification of Germany as annexation of the GDR

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Germany

The German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) is a socialist state founded on October 7, 1949 in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and the eastern (Soviet) sector of Berlin. The republic officially ceased to exist and was united with the Federal Republic of Germany at 00:00 Central European Time on October 3, 1990.

On June 9, 1945, on the territory where Soviet troops were located, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG, ceased to exist in October 1949 after the proclamation of the GDR and the Soviet Control Commission was formed in its place), its first commander-in-chief was G.K. . Zhukov.

The proclamation of the GDR took place five months later in response to the creation of the three western occupation zones of the Federal Republic of Germany; on October 7, 1949, the Constitution of the GDR was proclaimed.

The most important milestones in the history of the GDR:

July 1952 - at the II Conference of the SED, a course was proclaimed to build socialism in the GDR

The conditions for economic recovery in the GDR were noticeably more difficult than in the Federal Republic of Germany: there were more fierce battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, which resulted in enormous destruction, a significant share of mineral deposits and heavy industrial enterprises ended up in Germany, and reparations to the USSR also bore a heavier burden.

At the beginning of 1952, the question of German unification was raised. By decision of the UN, a commission was created to conduct general elections. However, by Stalin’s decision, representatives of the commission were not allowed into the territory of the GDR. Stalin's death the following year did not change the situation.

The events of June 17, 1953 led to the fact that, instead of levying reparations, the USSR began to provide economic assistance to the GDR. In the context of the aggravation of the foreign policy situation around the German question and the mass exodus of qualified personnel from the GDR to West Berlin, on August 13, 1961, the construction of a system of barrier structures between the GDR and West Berlin began - the “Berlin Wall”.

In the early 1970s. a gradual normalization of relations between the two German states began. In June 1973, the Treaty on the Basic Principles of Relations between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany came into force. In September 1973, the GDR became a full member of the UN and other international organizations. On November 8, 1973, the GDR officially recognized the Federal Republic of Germany and established diplomatic relations with it.

In the second half of the 1980s, economic difficulties began to increase in the country; in the fall of 1989, a socio-political crisis arose, as a result of which the SED leadership resigned (October 24 - Erich Honecker, November 7 - Willy Stoff). On November 9, the new Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED decided to allow citizens of the GDR to privately travel abroad without valid reasons, as a result of which the “Berlin Wall” spontaneously fell. After the victory of the CDU in the elections on March 18, 1990, the new government of Lothar de Maizière began intensive negotiations with the German government on issues of German unification. In May and August 1990, two Treaties were signed containing the conditions for the accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany. On September 12, 1990, the Treaty on the Final Settlement regarding Germany was signed in Moscow, which contained decisions on the entire range of issues of German unification. In accordance with the decision of the People's Chamber, the GDR joined the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990.

The capital of Germany, Berlin, arose in the first half of the 13th century. Since 1486, the city has been the capital of Brandenburg (then Prussia), since 1871 - of Germany. From May 1943 to May 1945, Berlin suffered one of the most destructive bombings in world history. At the final stage of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) in Europe, Soviet troops completely captured the city on May 2, 1945. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the territory of Berlin was divided into occupation zones: the eastern one - the USSR and the three western ones - the USA, Great Britain and France. On June 24, 1948, Soviet troops began the blockade of West Berlin.

In 1948, the Western powers authorized the heads of state governments in their zones of occupation to convene a parliamentary council to draft a constitution and prepare for the creation of a West German state. Its first meeting took place in Bonn on September 1, 1948. The constitution was adopted by the council on May 8, 1949, and on May 23 the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was proclaimed. In response, in the eastern part controlled by the USSR, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was proclaimed on October 7, 1949, and Berlin was declared its capital.

East Berlin covered an area of ​​403 square kilometers and was the largest city in East Germany by population.
West Berlin covered an area of ​​480 square kilometers.

At first, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was open. The dividing line was 44.8 kilometers long (the total length of the border between West Berlin and the GDR was 164 kilometers) ran right through the streets and houses, the Spree River, and canals. Officially, there were 81 street checkpoints, 13 crossings in the metro and on the city railway.

In 1957, the West German government led by Konrad Adenauer enacted the Hallstein Doctrine, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR.

In November 1958, the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the Potsdam Agreements of 1945 and announced the abolition of Berlin's international status by the Soviet Union. The Soviet government proposed turning West Berlin into a “demilitarized free city” and demanded that the United States, Great Britain and France negotiate on this topic within six months (“Khrushchev’s Ultimatum”). The Western powers rejected the ultimatum.

In August 1960, the GDR government introduced restrictions on visits by German citizens to East Berlin. In response, West Germany refused a trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an “economic war.”
After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was put into effect on January 1, 1961.

The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The economic policy of the GDR, aimed at “catching up and overtaking the Federal Republic of Germany,” and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization of 1957-1960, and higher wages in West Berlin encouraged thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West.

Between 1949 and 1961, almost 2.7 million people left the GDR and East Berlin. Almost half of the refugee flow consisted of young people under the age of 25. Every day, about half a million people crossed the borders of the Berlin sectors in both directions, who could compare living conditions here and there. In 1960 alone, about 200 thousand people moved to the West.

At a meeting of the general secretaries of the communist parties of the socialist countries on August 5, 1961, the GDR received the necessary consent from the Eastern European countries, and on August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), a decision was made to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. On August 12, a corresponding resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the GDR.

In the early morning of August 13, 1961, temporary barriers were erected on the border with West Berlin, and cobblestones were dug up on the streets connecting East Berlin with West Berlin. The forces of the people's and transport police, as well as combat workers' squads, interrupted all transport links at the borders between the sectors. Under strict guard by East Berlin border guards, East Berlin construction workers began replacing barbed wire border fences with concrete slabs and hollow bricks. The border fortification complex also included residential buildings on Bernauer Strasse, where the sidewalks now belonged to the West Berlin district of Wedding, and the houses on the south side of the street to the East Berlin district of Mitte. Then the GDR government ordered the doors of the houses and the windows of the lower floors to be walled up - residents could only get into their apartments through the entrance from the courtyard, which belonged to East Berlin. A wave of forced evictions of people from apartments began not only on Bernauer Strasse, but also in other border zones.

From 1961 to 1989, the Berlin Wall was rebuilt several times along many sections of the border. At first it was built of stone, and then was replaced by reinforced concrete. In 1975, the last reconstruction of the wall began. The wall was built from 45 thousand concrete blocks measuring 3.6 by 1.5 meters, which were rounded at the top to make it difficult to escape. Outside the city, this front barrier also included metal bars.
By 1989, the total length of the Berlin Wall was 155 kilometers, the intra-city border between East and West Berlin was 43 kilometers, the border between West Berlin and the GDR (outer ring) was 112 kilometers. Closest to West Berlin, the front concrete barrier wall reached a height of 3.6 meters. It encircled the entire western sector of Berlin.

The concrete fence stretched for 106 kilometers, the metal fence for 66.5 kilometers, the earthen ditches had a length of 105.5 kilometers, and 127.5 kilometers were under tension. A control strip was made near the wall, like on the border.

Despite strict measures against attempts to “illegally cross the border,” people continued to flee “over the wall,” using sewer pipes, technical means, and constructing tunnels. Over the years of the wall's existence, about 100 people died trying to overcome it.

The democratic changes in the life of the GDR and other countries of the socialist community that began in the late 1980s sealed the fate of the wall. On November 9, 1989, the new government of the GDR announced an unimpeded transition from East Berlin to West Berlin and free return back. About 2 million residents of the GDR visited West Berlin during November 10-12. The spontaneous dismantling of the wall immediately began. Official dismantling took place in January 1990, and part of the wall was left as a historical monument.

On October 3, 1990, after the annexation of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany, the status of the federal capital in a united Germany passed from Bonn to Berlin. In 2000, the government moved from Bonn to Berlin.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

The date of formation of Germany (as it is now) is October 3, 1990. Before this, the territory of the country was divided into two states: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Today we will take a closer look at what the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic are, and get acquainted with the history of these states.

a brief description of

On May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was proclaimed. It included sections of Nazi Germany located in the British, American and French zones of occupation. A special article of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany assumed that in the future the rest of the German territories would also be part of the newly formed state.

Due to the occupation of Berlin and the granting of a special status to it, the capital of the country was moved to the provincial town of Bonn. On October 7 of the same year, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was proclaimed in the Soviet occupation zone. Berlin was appointed its capital (in fact, only the eastern part of the city, which was under the control of the GDR). For the next 40-odd years, the two German states existed separately. Until the 1970s, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany categorically did not want to recognize the GDR. Later she began to recognize the “neighbors,” but only partially.

The peaceful revolution in the GDR, which took place in the fall of 1990, led to the fact that on October 3 its territories were integrated into the Federal Republic of Germany. At the same time, the capital of Germany was returned to Berlin.

Now let's get acquainted with these events in more detail.

Division of Germany after surrender

When the Allied forces (America, USSR, Great Britain and France) captured Nazi Germany, its territory was divided between them into four occupation zones. Berlin was also divided, but it received a special status. In 1949, the Western Allies united their territories and named the region Trizonia. The eastern part of the country remained under Soviet occupation.

Education Germany

On May 24, 1949, the Parliamentary Council meeting in Bonn (a city that belonged to the British occupation zone), under the strict control of military governors, proclaimed the Federal Republic of Germany. It included newly created areas at that time belonging to the British, American and French occupation zones.

On the same day, the constitution was adopted. Article 23 of the document declared its extension to Berlin, which formally could only be partly part of the Federal Republic of Germany. The main provisions of this article also provided for the prospect of extending the constitution to other German lands. Thus, the basis was laid for the entry into Germany of all territories of the pre-existing German Empire.

The preamble to the constitution clearly outlined the need to unite the German people on the basis of a recreated state. The document itself was positioned as temporary, so it was officially called not the constitution, but the “Basic Law”.

Since Berlin was endowed with a special political status, it was not possible to maintain the capital of the Federal Republic there. In this regard, it was decided to appoint the provincial city of Bonn, in which the country of Germany was proclaimed, as its temporary capital.

Creation of the GDR

The German lands of the Soviet occupation zone did not intend to recognize the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany adopted on May 23, 1949. On May 30, delegates of the German People's Congress, elected two weeks earlier, adopted the constitution of the GDR, recognized by the 5 states of Soviet occupation. On the basis of the adopted constitution in the republic, which also called itself East Germany, state authorities were created.

On October 19, elections to the Chamber of Lands and the People's Chamber of the first convocation took place. The chairman of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), Wilhelm Pieck, became the president of the GDR.

Political status and prospects for expansion of Germany

From the very beginning, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany has clearly defined what the Federal Republic is. It positioned itself as the sole representative of the interests of the German people, and Germany itself as the only follower of the German Empire. Therefore, it is not surprising that it had claims to all lands belonging to the empire before the expansion of the Third Reich. These lands included, among other things, the territories of the GDR, the Western part of Berlin, as well as the “former eastern regions” that were transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union. In the first years after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, its government tried in every possible way to avoid direct contact with the government of the GDR. The reason is that it could indicate recognition of the GDR as an independent state.

America and Great Britain also remained of the opinion that the legitimate successor of the empire was the Federal Republic of Germany. France believed that the German Empire had disappeared as such back in 1945. Harry Truman, the 33rd President of the United States, refused to sign a peace treaty with Germany because he did not want to recognize the existence of two German states. In 1950, at the New York conference, the foreign ministers of the three countries finally came to a common denominator on the question “what is the Federal Republic of Germany?” The claims of the government of the republic regarding the sole representation of the German people were recognized. However, they refused to recognize the government as the governing body of all Germany.

Due to the refusal to identify the GDR, German legislation recognized the existence of a single German citizenship, therefore it called its citizens simply Germans, and did not consider the territories of the GDR as foreign countries. That is why the country had a citizenship law adopted back in 1913. The same law was also in force in the GDR until 1967, which was also a supporter of unified citizenship. In practice, the current situation meant that any German living in the GDR could come to Germany and get a passport there. To prevent this, the leaders of the Democratic Republic prohibited its residents from obtaining passports in the Republic of Germany. In 1967, they introduced GDR citizenship, which received official recognition in Germany only 20 years later.

The reluctance to recognize the borders of the Democratic Republic was reflected in maps and atlases. So, in 1951, maps were published in Germany in which Germany had the same borders as in 1937. At the same time, the division of the republic, as well as the division of lands with Poland and the Soviet Union, was indicated by a barely noticeable dotted line. On these maps, the toponyms that had fallen to the enemy remained under their old names, and any signs of the GDR were simply absent. It is noteworthy that even in the maps of 1971, when the whole world clearly understood what the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR were, the situation did not change much. The hatched lines became more visible, but still differed from those that would mark the boundaries between states.

Development of Germany

The first Chancellor of the Federal Republic was Konrad Adenauer, an experienced lawyer, administrator and activist of the Center Party. His concept of leadership was based on a social market economy. He remained as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany for 14 years (1949-1963). In 1946, Adenauer founded a party called the Christian Democratic Union, and in 1950 he headed it. The head of the opposition Social Democratic Party was Kurt Schumacher, a former Reichsbanner fighter who was imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps.

Thanks to the assistance of the United States in the implementation of the Marshall Plan and Ludwig Erhard's plans for the economic development of the country in the 1960s, the German economy rushed upward. In history, this process was called the “German Economic Miracle.” To meet the need for inexpensive labor, the Federal Republic supported an influx of guest workers, mainly from Turkey.

In 1952, the states of Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern were united into the single state of Baden-Württemberg. The Federal Republic of Germany became a federation consisting of nine states (member states). In 1956, after a referendum and the signing of the Luxembourg Treaty with France, the Saar region, which was previously under the protectorate of France, became part of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its official annexation into the Republic of Germany (FRG) occurred on January 1, 1957.

On May 5, 1955, with the abolition of the occupation regime, the Federal Republic of Germany was officially recognized as a sovereign state. Sovereignty extended only to the area of ​​validity of the temporary constitution, that is, it did not cover Berlin and the former territories of the empire, which at that time belonged to the GDR.

In the 1960s, a series of emergency laws were developed and implemented that banned the activities of a number of organizations (including the Communist Party), as well as certain professions. The country waged active denazification, that is, the fight against the consequences of the Nazis being in power, and tried with all its might to ensure the impossibility of a revival of Nazi ideology. In 1955, Germany joined NATO.

Relations with the GDR and foreign policy

The government of the Republic of Germany did not recognize the GDR and, until 1969, refused to enter into diplomatic relations with states whose positions on this issue differed. The only exception was the Soviet Union, which recognized the GDR, but was part of four occupying powers. In practice, this reason only led to the severance of diplomatic relations twice: with Yugoslavia in 1967 and with Cuba in 1963.

Back in 1952, Stalin spoke about the unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR. On March 10 of the same year, the USSR invited all occupying powers to develop a peace treaty with Germany as quickly as possible, in cooperation with all-German governments, and even drafted this document. The Soviet Union agreed with the unification of Germany and, provided that it did not participate in military blocs, even allowed the existence of an army and military industry in it. The Western powers effectively rejected the Soviet proposal, insisting that the newly unified country should have the right to join NATO.

Berlin Wall

On August 11, 1961, the People's Chamber of the GDR decided to build the Berlin Wall, a 155 km long engineering and defensive structure strengthening the border between the two German republics. As a result, construction began on the night of August 13. By 1 a.m., the border between West and East Berlin was completely blocked by GDR troops. On the morning of August 13, people who were usually heading to the western part of the city to work encountered resistance from law enforcement agencies and paramilitary patrols. By August 15, the approach to the border was completely blocked by barbed wire, and construction of the fence began. On the same day, the metro lines that connected the two parts of the city were closed. Potsdamer Platz, which was located in the border zone, was also closed. Many buildings and residential buildings adjacent to the dividing line between East and West Berlin were evicted. The windows that faced the German territory were blocked with bricks. Later, during the reconstruction of the barrier, the buildings adjacent to it were completely demolished.

Construction and refurbishment of the structure continued until 1975. Initially, it was a fence made of concrete slabs or brickwork, equipped with barbed wire. In some sections, these were simple Bruno spirals that could be overcome with a deft jump. At first, this was used by defectors who managed to bypass police posts.

By 1975, the wall was already an impregnable and rather complex structure. It consisted of concrete blocks 3.6 meters high, on top of which cylindrical barriers were installed. A restricted area with a large number of obstacles, guard posts and a lighting device was equipped along the wall. The exclusion zone consisted of a simple wall, several strips of anti-tank hedgehogs or metal spikes, a metal mesh fence with barbed wire and a flare system, a road for patrols, a wide strip of regularly leveled sand, and finally the impenetrable wall described above.

Change of Chancellor

When Willy Brandt assumed the post of Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1969, a new round began in relations between Germany and the GDR. The Social Democrats who came to power weakened legislation and recognized the inviolability of post-war state borders. Willy Brandt and his follower Helmut Schmidt improved relations with the Soviet Union.

In 1970, the Moscow Treaty was signed, in which Germany renounced its claims to the eastern regions of the former German Empire, which were transferred to the USSR and Poland after the war. The document also declared the possibility of uniting the republics. This decision marked the beginning of the “new Eastern policy”. In 1971, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic signed a Fundamental Treaty regulating their relationship.

In 1973, both republics joined the UN, despite the fact that Germany still did not want to recognize the international legal independence of the GDR. Nevertheless, the status quo of the Democratic Republic, enshrined in the Founding Treaty, contributed to a warming in relations between the “neighbors.”

"Peaceful Revolution"

In September 1989, the opposition movement “New Forum” arose in the GDR, partly consisting of members of political parties. The following month, a wave of protests swept across the republic, whose participants demanded the democratization of politics. As a result, the leadership of the SED resigned, and its place was taken by representatives of the disgruntled population. On November 4, a massive rally coordinated with the authorities took place in Berlin, the participants of which demanded respect for freedom of speech.

On November 9, citizens of the GDR received the right to freely (without good reason) travel abroad, which led to the spontaneous fall of the Berlin Wall. After the elections held in March 1990, the new government of the GDR began active negotiations with representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany about the prospect of unification.

German reunification

In August 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic signed an agreement on the unification of the country. It provided for the liquidation of the Democratic Republic and its entry into the Republic of Germany in the form of five new states. In parallel, the two parts of Berlin were reunited, and it again received the status of capital.

On September 12, 1990, representatives of the GDR, West Germany, USA, USSR, Great Britain and France signed an agreement that finally resolved the German issue. According to this document, an amendment was to be included in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany stating that after the re-establishment of the state, it would renounce claims to the remaining territories that once belonged to the German Empire.

In fact, in the process of unification (the Germans prefer to say “reunification” or “restoration of unity”), no new state was created. The lands of the former territory of the GDR were simply accepted into the Federal Republic of Germany. At the same moment, they began to obey the “temporary” constitution of the Republic of Germany, adopted back in 1949. The recreated state has since become known simply as Germany, but from a legal point of view it is not a new country, but an expanded Federal Republic.

Germany in 1945

At the last stage of the Second World War, the territory of Nazi Germany was liberated by all progressive forces. A special role belonged to the Soviet Union, the USA, Great Britain and France. After signing the surrender in May 1945, the Nazi government was dismissed. Governance of the country was transferred to the Inter-Allied Control Council.

For joint control over Germany, the allied countries divided its territory into four occupation zones to transfer it to peaceful life. The division looked like this:

1. The Soviet zone included Thuringia, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg;
2. The American zone consisted of Bavaria, Bremen, Hesse and Württemberg-Hohenzollern;
3. The British zone covered Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia;
4. The French zone was formed from Baden, Württemberg-Baden and Rhineland-Palatinate.

Note 1

The capital of Germany, the city of Berlin, was allocated to a special zone. Although it was located on lands transferred to the Soviet occupation zone, its management was transferred to the Inter-Allied Commandant's Office. It also housed the main governing body of the country - the Allied Control Council.

The occupation zones were administered by zonal military administrations. They exercised powers until the election of a provisional government and the holding of all-German parliamentary elections.

Education Germany

Over the next three years, the western zones of occupation (American, British and French) converge. The military administration is gradually restoring representative bodies (Landtags), carrying out reforms and restoring the historical territorial division of the German lands. In December 1946, the British and American zones merged to form Bisonia. Unified governing bodies and a united body of supreme power were created. Its functions began to be performed by the Economic Council, elected by the Landtags in May 1947. he was empowered to make financial and economic decisions common to all the lands of Bisonia.

In the territories that came under the control of the Western powers, the “Marshall Plan” began to be implemented.

Definition 1

The Marshall Plan is a program of US assistance to European countries for post-war economic recovery. It was named after its initiator, US Secretary of State George Marshall.

He served as a unifying factor. New authorities were created in Bisonia: the Supreme Court and the Council of Lands (government chamber). Central power was transferred to the Administrative Council, which reported on its actions to the Economic Council. In 1948, the French occupation zone joined Bisonia to form Trizonia.

The London meeting of the six victorious countries (USA, UK, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium and France) in the summer of 1948 ended with the decision to create a separate West German state. In June of the same year, monetary reform was carried out in Trizonia and the development of a constitution began. In May 1949, the West German constitution was approved, establishing the federal structure of the state. At the next session of the victorious states in June 1949, the split in Germany was officially recognized. The new state was named the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The Federal Republic of Germany included three quarters of all German territories.

Education of the GDR

At the same time, the formation of a state took place in the Soviet occupation zone. The Soviet Military Administration (SVAG) announced the liquidation of the Prussian state and restored the Landtags. Gradually, all power was transferred to the German People's Congress. The SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) initiated the adoption of a Soviet-style constitution in May 1949. The inter-party National Front of Democratic Germany was formed. This served as the basis for the proclamation of the East German state of the GDR (German Democratic Republic) on October 7, 1949.