Allied Occupation Zones in Germany

The Allied powers who defeated Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during the period 1945-1949. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe the American forces had actually pushed beyond the previously agreed upon occupation zone bounderies, sometimes by as much as 200 miles. The line of contact between Soviet and American forces at the end of hostilities was temporary. After about two months of holding certain areas meant to be in the Soviet zone, the American forces withdrew in July 1945. Some have speculated that this was a crucial move that helped induce the Soviets in allowing American and British forces into their predesignated areas in Berlin, which was done at roughly the same time (July 1945).

1 The zones
2 The Military Governors and Commissioners
3 References

[edit] The zones

The United States zone consisted of Bavaria, Hesse and the northern portions of the present state of Baden-Württemberg. Also, the port of Bremen with Bremerhaven was under the control of the United States. The headquarters of the American military government was the former IG Farben Building in Frankfurt.
The British zone consisted of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and the present state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The headquarters of the British military government was in Bad Oeynhausen.
Originally, the French, though Allies, were not going to be granted an occupation zone, due to the concerns of great historical hostility between France and Germany, as well as the general ineffectiveness of the French as a member of the alliance during the war. Eventually, however, both the British and the Americans agreed to yield a small portion of their respective zones to the French. For this reason, the French zone, unlike those of the other three powers, consisted of two non-contiguous areas. The French zone consisted of the present state of Rheinland-Pfalz and the southern areas of Baden-Württemberg. The headquarters of the French military government was in Baden-Baden.
The western zones were later combined into the Trizone.
The Soviet occupation zone incorporated Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The headquarters of the Soviet military government was in Berlin-Karlshorst.
The city of Berlin was jointly occupied by the Allied Powers and itself subdivided into four sectors.

Each power wielded government authority in its own zone and carried out different policies toward the population, local and state governments there.

Image:Austria 1945-55.png

The original Allied plan to govern Germany as a single unit through the Allied Control Council broke down in 1946-1947 due to growing Cold War tensions between the West and the Soviet Union, and was never fully implemented. The complete breakdown of east-west allied cooperation and joint administration in Germany became no more apparent than during the Berlin Blockade.

The three western zones merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany when that state was declared in May 1949, and the Soviet zone emerged as the German Democratic Republic in October 1949.

In the west, the occupation officially continued until 1955, but after the creation of the Federal Republic the military governors were replaced by civilian high commissioners, whose position was somewhere between that of a governor and of an ambassador. When the Federal Republic was recognized as a fully sovereign state in 1955, the occupation officially ended, the western occupation zones ceased to exist, and the high commissioners were replaced by normal ambassadors.

The city of Berlin however was not part of either state and continued to be under Allied occupation until 1990. For administrative purposes the three western sectors of Berlin were merged into the entity of West Berlin, while the Soviet sector functioned as East Berlin.

All German territory east of the Oder and Neisse (Pomerania, Neumark, Silesia and East Prussia) was annexed by Poland and the Soviet Union. Klaipeda (German: Memel) and its region were reassigned to the Lithuanian SSR. The territory annexed by Germany during the war from France, Belgium, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Lithuania was returned to those countries (or annexed by the Soviet Union).

[edit] The Military Governors and Commissioners

[edit] American Zone

[edit] Military governors

May 8, 1945 - November 10, 1945: Dwight David Eisenhower
November 11, 1945 - November 25, 1945 George S. Patton, Jr. (acting)
November 26, 1945 - January 5, 1947 Joseph T. McNarney
January 6, 1947 - May 14, 1949 Lucius DuBignon Clay
May 15, 1949 - September 1, 1949 Clarence R. Huebner (acting)

[edit] High commissioners

September 2, 1949 - August 1, 1952 John J. McCloy
August 1, 1952 - December 11, 1952 Walter J. Donnelly
December 11, 1952 - February 10, 1953 Samuel Reber (acting)
February 10, 1953 - May 5, 1955 James B. Conant

[edit] British Zone

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