Brandt in Berlin, 1946–66

Abstract

The end of the war in May 1945 had left most of the German cities in ruins, without basic services or transportation. It became the priority of the allies occupying the country to get these going again so as to avoid the outbreak of serious disease. An attempt to settle Germany’s political and economic future was made at the Potsdam Conference (July/August 1945) which endorsed earlier war-time decisions, such as those at Yalta (February 1945), to divide the country into four zones of military occupation. A future central German administration (which never materialized owing to disagreements among the allies) was to be controlled by an inter-allied Control Commission. Germany was to be treated as an economic unit; this was to enable all allies to take reparations from the whole country.