History of Germany

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History of Germany

• Lecture Adenauer Germany

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Schedule

1. The establishment of the Federal Republic of
   Germany
2. West integration and German unity
3. The Economic Miracle
4. The burden of the past
5. The culture of the 1950s
6. The end of an era
7. Conclusion

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Basics

• Basic Law
• Human rights are part of constitution and bind
  both executive and legislative
• Federal Constitutional Court checks laws and
  actions of government if they are compatible with
  constitution
• Federal Structure Bundesrat (federal council)
  part of legislative
• Parliament (Bundestag) 50 of deputies elected
  in constituencies, 50 on party lists in lands,
  decisive for number of deputies is more or less
  relative share of national votes, a party has to
  have at least 5 of the votes or 1 (later 3)
  elected deputy(ies) in constituency
• Weak Federal President, strong Federal Chancellor
• Chancellor elected by parliament, can only be
  removed when parliament elects in the same
  procedure new chancellor

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Election Campaign 1949

• CDU
• Social market economy
• Close cooperation with Occupation powers
• German unity (but priority given to Western
  integration)
• Anti-communism
• Konrad Adenauer

• SPD
• Plan economy
• A more independent policy
• German unity (free and democratic, but neutral
  Germany acceptable)
• Anti-communism
• Kurt Schumacher

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Kurt Schumacher (1895-1952), the leader of the
Social Democratic Party (SPD)
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967), the leader of the
Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
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Elections August 14, 1949
Party deputies
     
CDU/CSU 31,0 139
SPD 29,2 131
FDP 11,9 52
KPD/DKP 5,7 15
DRP 1,8 5
DP 4,0 17
BP 4,2 17
Zentrum 3,1 10
Sonstige 9,1 16
1949
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Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, Minister of Economics
Ludwig Erhard, President Theodor Heuss
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Why were extremist parties not successfull

• Allied control parties needed concession of High
  Commissioner
• SRP forbidden 1951 by Federal Constitutional
  Court
• KPD forbidden 1956 by Federal Constitutional
  Court
• Right wing parties as Bund der Heimatvertriebenen
  und Entrechteteten (BHE) absorbed by CDU/CSU
• Nationalist takeover of Liberal party (FDP)
  prevented by Allies (arrest of leaders)
• Economic success story

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1957
1953
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Schedule

1. The establishment of the Federal Republic of
   Germany
2. West integration and German unity
3. The Economic Miracle
4. The burden of the past
5. The culture of the 1950s
6. The end of an era
7. Conclusion

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Adenauers Strategy for West Germany

• International recognition by integration,
  Democratisation by Westernisation, reconciliation
  with France, close relationship with United
  States essential for security in bipolar
  international system (Soviet Threat)
• Western allies and Western European countries
• Defeat German militarism and idea of revenge by
  integration
• What helped?
• Perceived Soviet Threat especially after 1949
  (Soviet Atomic Bomb) German participation
  needed, good bargaining position for Adenauer
  concessions
• Korean War 1950 - 1953

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Economic, political and military integration

• 1951 Signing (in Paris) of the European Coal and
  Steel Community (ECSC)
• 1952 Signing (in Paris) of the European Defense
  Community (EDC)
• 1954 Signing of the Paris Agreements. FRG/BRD is
  invited to join NATO permitting West German
  rearmament and Italy and the FRG/BRD accede to
  the Western European Union (WEU)
• 1957 The Treaty of Rome is signed establishing
  the European Economic Community
• 1963 French-German Friendship Treaty is signed in
  Paris

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The fight for the rearmament of Germany
1956
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Konrad Adenauer and Charles de Gaulle, 1962 Reims
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Germany

• 1952 Stalin note offer of neutral, unified
  Germany
• 1952 Signing (in Bonn) of FRG's "Germany Treaty"
  (which includes reunification as a political
  goal)
• 1953 (June 17) Riots in East Berlin
• 1955 Paris Treaty in force (establishing
  sovereignity for West Germany FRG/BRD)
• 1955 Chancellor Adenauer visits Moscow
• 1957 The Saar returns to Germany as a Land (to be
  followed in 3 years by economic reintegration)
• 1958 Chrushchevs Berlin ultimatum
• 1961 Berlin Wall cementing partition

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• Stalinnote of March 10, 1952 and April 9, 1952
• Offer Unification of Germany
• Price Neutralisation of Germany
• Aim To prevent integration of West Germany in
  Western military alliance system
• Historiography
• Serious offer of Soviet Union
• Move in propaganda war

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Schedule

1. The establishment of the Federal Republic of
   Germany
2. West integration and German unity
3. The Economic Miracle
4. The burden of the past
5. The culture of the 1950s
6. The end of an era
7. Conclusion

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Cologne 1945
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Problems

• Limited souvereignity
• Total government expenditures in 1950 11.6
  billion DM, 4.2 billion DM for occupation costs
  (36 of budget)
• High unemployment (1950 10)
• Almost 8 million displaced persons had to be
  integrated
• Housing shortage
• War destructions, war invalids
• Reparation payments and demontage (until 1949
  more than 3,4 billion (in prices of 1938)

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Pluses

• Level of destruction not as high as expected
• American aid (Marshal plan)
• Interest of Western European countries and the
  United States in a prosperous German economy as
  precondition for the reconstruction of European
  economy
• Skilled workforce available
• Successful currency reform in 1948
• Conflict between Western Allies and Soviet Union
• Korean War
• Long period of economic growth in most important
  capitalist countries
• Ludwig Erhard and his Soziale Marktwirtschaft
  (social market economy)
• Trade unions united under social democratic
  leadership, cooperative
• Work as an compensation for refusal to confront
  with the German war crimes ?

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Growth Rate Gross National Product

• 1951 10.9
• 1952 9.0
• 1953 7.9
• 1954 7.2
• 1955 12.0
• 1956 7.0
• 1957 5.8
• 1958 3.3
• 1959 6.9
• 1960 8.8
• 1961 4.3
• 1962 4.7
• 1963 2.8

• 1950 983.7 Billion DM
• 1963 2003.0 Billion DM
• Per capita
• 1950 2,100 DM
• 1963 6,700 DM

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Successes

• Unemployment 1950 2 Million 1960 a few ten
  thousand
• Export surplus
• Improved living standard (Fresswelle)
• Real wages 1965 twice as high as 1950
• Mobility (social and other)
• Social policy Equalization of burden
  (Lastenausgleich) 1952, Progressive growth of
  pensions 1957

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The German actor Gert Fröbe in Berliner Ballad
(1948)
Gert Fröbe in the 1960s
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Schedule

1. The establishment of the Federal Republic of
   Germany
2. West integration and German unity
3. The Economic Miracle
4. The burden of the past
5. The culture of the 1950s
6. The end of an era
7. Conclusion

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Nazi past

• Conscious effort to break with Nazi past,
  inventing a liberal, democratic, western
  Germany
• Amnesty laws 1949 and 1950 people with minor
  crimes, sentences amnestied
• Rehabilitation of the Wehrmacht
• Integration of old elites including leading
  members of Nazi party and organisations
• Stabilizing effect no strong nationalist
  (national socialist) opposition potential
  absorbed by CDU and CSU
• Costs Ethical, have not to confront Nazi past
  and many thousands not punished for crimes

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Nazi Past
Theodor Oberländer (1905-1998) Advising officer
of the Wehrmacht on minority questions (Eastern
Front) Minister for Displaced Persons and
Refugees (1953-1960)
Hans Globke (1898-1973) Wrote in 1935 a
commentary to the Nuremberg laws Director of the
Federal Chancellery, 1953-1963
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But

• 1952 Signing of the Reconciliation Treaty between
  Israel and West Germany
• Financial compensation for Jewish property
• Since end of 1950s Trials against War Criminals
  and guards of Concentration Camps
• Zentralstelle der Landesjustizverwaltung zur
  Aufklärung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen
  1958 (Ludwigsburger Zentralstelle)
• Historians publish books on Holocaust
• Critical novels, poems, theatre productions,
  films on Nazi past

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Schedule

1. The establishment of the Federal Republic of
   Germany
2. West integration and German unity
3. The Economic Miracle
4. The burden of the past
5. The culture of the 1950s
6. The end of an era
7. Conclusion

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The Fifties

• Escapist Optimism Dominance of Hollywood
• Heimatfilms, Romances and Sissi (Austrian
  Empress Elisabeth) Films These films stressed a
  timeless world of unchanged social order and were
  kitschy
• Later, in the early 1960s some Westerns (Karl
  May Westerns), and Thrillers (Edgar Wallace, with
  Klaus Kinski).
• The Fifties were very successful at the Box
  office.
• But also some films which did not fit in this
  picture Die Suenderin (the sinner) with
  Hildegard Knef 1950, Der Untertan by Wolfgang
  Staudte 1951, Die Halbstarken (1957) with Horst
  Buchholz

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1956 1958 96 youth riots in major German
cities
1956
1951
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German schlager music

• 80 of all sold copies recordings of German
  schlager

Freddy Quinn
Conny Froboess
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Americanisation
Peter Kraus
1956
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Schedule

1. The establishment of the Federal Republic of
   Germany
2. West integration and German unity
3. The Economic Miracle
4. The burden of the past
5. The culture of the 1950s
6. The end of an era
7. Conclusion

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Willy Brandt (1913-1992) Mayor of Berlin,
1957-1966 Bundeskanzler, 1966-1972
Ludwig Erhard (1897-1977) Minister of Economy,
1949-1963 Bundeskanzler, 1963-1966
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Unsere Besten, ZDF Ranking 2003
1. Konrad Adenauer, Politiker (1876-1967) 2.
Martin Luther, Kirchenreformator (1483-1546) 3.
Karl Marx, Philosoph und Nationalökonom
(1818-1883) 4. Sophie und Hans Scholl,
Widerstandskämpfer ("Weiße Rose")
(1921/1918-1943) 5. Willy Brandt, Politiker
(1913-1992) 6. Johann Sebastian Bach, Komponist
(1685-1750) 7. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
Schriftsteller (1749-1832) 8. Johannes
Gutenberg, Erfinder des Buchdrucks (1400-1468)
9. Otto von Bismarck, Politiker (1815-1898) 10.
Albert Einstein, Naturwissenschaftler (1879-1955)
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Conclusion

• Stabilisation
• Diversification (Pluralisierung)
• Internationalisation
• Tradition AND Mondernity