West Germany

Formation of West Germany

Amidst the concerns of the Soviet occupation in the east of Germany, British and American officials met in London in 1947. They were already drawing up plans to create a Western-backed territory to retain their presence in central Europe.

After the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime (see Hitler and the Nazi Party), the Allies, who also included the formerly Nazi-occupied nations of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, believed that the German people had no right to have a say so soon after the war's end. They created a list of new laws to govern the country.

The Frankfurt Documents were a proto-constitution which went through the Bundestag (parliament) and were polished, leading to the creation of a new state under chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1949.

German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (right) and US President John F. Kennedy in the White House in 1962, Wikimedia Commons.

In opposition to the Federal Republic of Germany (west Germany), five states formed the German Democratic Republic in the east. Monitored and engineered into a one-party state by the Soviet Union, it was a repressive dictatorship marred by food shortages and hunger. Without the industrial heartland of the Ruhr and the economic leg up from the United States, the GDR struggled, and the execution of Soviet-influenced collectivism by early leader Walter Ulbricht just made matters worse. In 1953 there were huge protests, where hundreds of thousands clamoured for reform, but this was crushed after Soviet military intervention.

Map of East and West Germany

West Germany bordered the eastern states of Mecklenburg, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen. In Berlin, the border between the FRG-controlled West Berlin and the GDR-controlled East Berlin was marked by Checkpoint Charlie, which was the crossing point between the states.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) map of East and West Germany (1990), Wikimedia Commons

From 1961, however, the Berlin Wall cast a clear divide across the city.

Berlin Wall (1988) with an abandoned building on the eastern side, Wikimedia Commons

Former Capital of West Germany

The capital of the Federal Republic of Germany during its years as West Germany (1949 - 1990) was Bonn. This was due to the complicated political nature of Berlin with its east and west divisions. Bonn was chosen as a temporary solution, instead of a bigger city such as Frankfurt, in the hope that the country would be reunited one day. It was a city of modest size with a traditional university and had cultural significance as the birthplace of composer Ludwig van Beethoven, but even today, it only has a population of 300,000.

West Germany Cold War

The history of the FRG can be viewed as one of prosperity under the economic aid of the United States, certainly in comparison with its neighbour, the GDR, which fell into a Soviet-style dictatorship.

Let's have a look at some important events that shaped the fate of West Germany before reunification.

West Germany Timeline

That East Germany continued to exist for so long is largely down to their infamous secret police organisation.

The Stasi's delusional belief that the population would remain loyal to communism without the support of Gorbachev led to their downfall with the revolution.

Reunification

Despite the reconciliation and cooling of tensions between East and West Germany which culminated in the visit of Erich Honecker to Bonn in 1987, there was still fear of a revolution. As the wheels of communism began to come off in Central and Eastern European states, East Germans escaped through the border of other revolutionised countries in 1989.

Demonstrations began around the country and finally, in November 1989, the Berlin Wall was pulled down, with the authorities powerless to stop the sheer number of protestors. People from East and West Berlin gathered together in celebration. After this, a single German currency was established and the five eastern states became part of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990.

West German Flag

Whereas the East German flag had a socialist hammer looming large over it, the West German flag had its origins in the nineteenth century. It took inspiration from the ensign of the Frankfurt Parliament (1848 - 1852) which was the first attempt to unify and liberalise the conservative German states.

West Germany flag. Wikimedia Commons.

These three colours appeared again during the interwar Weimar Republic years representing a departure from the tyranny of the Kaiserreich, which replaced gold with white on its flag.