Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW – GERMANY AFTER WORLD WAR 2 1

Literature Review – Germany After World War 2

Murari, Yannis

University of Texas at El Paso

LITERATURE REVIEW – GERMANY AFTER WORLD WAR 2 2

Abstract

The following literature review research report bases on a sequence of research

questions. These being: What lead to the separation of Germany and how was it

governed? What effects did it have economically and culturally? What did the

separation lead to? When researching this topic using these research questions, it was

found that the separation, although it wasn’t handled ideally by all parties, lead to

economic improvements in Germany and many other western European countries.

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Introduction

World War 2 was a tragic time for many of the countries involved. While many

different reasons lead to its existence, Germany was the main player in declaring it.

Under the leadership of Dictator Adolf Hitler, Nazi-Germany reigned over the majority of

Europe for more than half a decade, destroying countries and leading to the death of

many soldiers and innocent people.

By the mid-40s, the opposing countries, mainly the United States of America, the

United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union, were able to end the War and destroy

the dictatorship within the Germany country lines.

The following period of history, would follow to be quite difficult for Germany and

other countries among Europe who had been hit. This therefore lead the four war

winning countries, the USA, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union, to agree on

supporting and ruling over the country, to secure its economical state using many

different techniques to fore fill this task.

Separation of Germany

The second World War had a tragic ending for most of the countries involved,

especially Germany. After officially loosing the War on September 2nd of 1945, Germany

and the state of the country was at its low. While the United State of America, the Soviet

Union, Great Britain and France all lead part to the fall of Nazi Germany, it was up to

them to retrieve the fallen country and rebuild it. Their initial decision was based on the

act of dividing the country into 4 sectors, each governed by a military force of their

nation (Schumann, page 192). France yet demanded its own sector, which caused
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negations. Its sector would finally consist of certain part which had originally belonged to

the United States and Great Britain.

The separation of the capitol city of Berlin was done by the same system. Each

leading power obtained a certain part of the city, which was then protected and

governed by their military forces (Schumann, page 192; Dobbins, page 33-34).

Fig. 1: Map of both Germany and Berlin after Separation

This system was efficiently active until the year 1949. At this point, the three

western sectors of Great Britain, France and the unites States of America formed the

“Bundesrepublik Deutschland” (BRD, eng. Federal Republic of Germany). Each sector

would still stand yet would be governed as one sole republic. In addition, around three

years later, the Soviet Union and Great Britain agreed on closing in the borders of the

German country line by around 20-25%. This caused millions of expelled German

‘citizens’ to relocate. The Soviet, the British and the American sectors received a great
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increase in population. France on the other hand, who wasn’t part of the Potsdam

Conference that lead to the agreement, didn’t s such an influx.

After this, the sector period of Germany was completed. Germany would

continue to be segregated, yet only into to sides, the west (“Bundesrepublik

Deutschland”) and the east (“Deutsche Demokratische Republik”).

Cultural and Economic Effect

When comparing both sides of Germany after the second World War, one can

see that many cultural end economical differences were established. After the war,

Germany was hit with a quick and important economical reorientation. German

economics was no longer singled out, yet connected with on an international base

(Hesse, page 87).

The “Bundesrepublik Deutschland” mainly focused in establishing a system that

brought forward the importance of the middle class with the addition of high male

importance. This lead to the decrease in women in the workplace, as men were favored

and payed more to do the same jobs. Additionally, one’s family tree played a large part

in the work industry. A male was more likely to continue in his fathers’ footsteps due to

their prior knowledge in the certain field (Peichl, page 1).

When looking at the “Deutsche Demokratische Republik”, on can see the impact

of the communist form of government. Each gender would have equal opportunist to

work in full time jobs and women would do so at a higher rate than West Germany. In

addition to this, women would have better opportunities for child care systems such as

kindergartens and schools, in order to give them the opportunity to work more hours.
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(Peichl, page 1). Unlike in the BRD, family background would not impact a childs carer

in any sort of way in the eastern part of Germany. Each person would have equal

opportunity to achieve and obtain certain skills and jobs.

Fig. 2: Logo of the ‘Marshall Plan’; which lead to improvements in Germany

The Marshal Plan (European Recovery Program, ERP), implemented by Georg

C. Marshall was another major involvement of the United States to try to improve the

state of Germany. The plans main idea was to provide Germany with the necessary

resource such as money, in order to effectively rebuild and structure the country to the

point of which it can run itself economically (Chandra, page 1307-1309). In order to for

fill this, the United states provided nearly 13 billion dollars. The plan would focus on

improving world trade, adjusting economic growth so that it is equal across the globe

and to improve Europes success in general. Another main goal of the Marshal Plan was

to prevent the further creation of communist states such as the Soviet Union, and to
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stop their spread of communism within the Eastern German sector (Chandra, page

1307-1309).

Reunification of Germany

The separation of Germany was originally implemented to improve its economic

and cultural state after the War, so that a self-driving country can be resurrected after

the chaos. When looking at the time between the mid-forties until the end of the

eighties, one can simply say that Germany did improve to a certain extent. The Soviet

Union although wasn’t to keen on reunifying the two sides, although it was quite clear

that this would have to be done. Demonstrations, such as the “Montagsdmonstrations”

within Berlin would erupt within many parts of the “Deutsche Demokratische Republik”

(Curry, page 23-24).

Fig. 3: Fall of Berlin Wall; Unity across Germany

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The West German Sector also tried to aid the DDR into the reunification, with

Regan, the former US president during this time, holding a speech near the Berlin Wall,

demanding the Soviets to tear done the Wall of Berlin and to unify the country (Regan

Speech). These acts would finally bring Germany to a state of unity in the year 1989,

when the fall of the Berlin wall brought East and West together.
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Conclusion

The time after the second World War was a quite difficult and harsh period for the

state of Germany. Yet with acts of countries such as the United States of America, the

Soviet Union, Great Britain and France, the country was rebuilt and structured to where

it could run again by the late 80s. Although not everything can be seen with a positive

mindset, such as the harsh working environment in the eastern sectors of Germany and

the creation of the Cold War between the Unites States and the Soviet Union, all of this

lead to the improvement of Germany.

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References

Curry, Andrew. (2009). Before the Fall. The Wilson Quartelry, Pages 16-25.

Hesse, J. (2012). The ‘Americanisation’ of west german economics after the second
world war: Success, failure, or something completely different? European Journal
of the History of Economic Thought, 19(1), 67-98.

Nirmal, K. C. (1996). Marshall plan, german unification and economics of

transition. Economic and Political Weekly, 31(22), 1307-1310.

Peichl, A., & Ungerer, M. (2017). Equality of opportunity: East vs. west germany

Dobbins, James. (2008) Nation-Building from FDR to George W. Bush. After the War,
11-35.

Regan, Ronald. Tear down this Wall. Speech presented near Berlin Wall, Berlin.

Schumann, A. (2014). Persistence of population shocks: Evidence from the occupation

of west germany after world war II. American Economic Journal: Applied
Economics, (3), 189.