HI136 The History of
Germany
Week 15
Reconstruction:
West Germany
The Basic Law
• Based on 4 key principles:
– The rule of law
– Democratic participation for all
– Federalism
– Social welfare
• Established the Federal Republic of Germany as
a federal parliamentary democracy with
separation of powers between the Executive,
Legislative and Judicial branches of
government.
Government Structure under
the Basic Law
• Bi-cameral parliament:
– Bundestag – Elected every 4 years through universal suffrage.
50% of members directly elected, 50% elected through party
lists. Parties need to win over 5% of the vote to gain additional
proportional representatives.
– Bundesrat – Made up of representatives of the Länder, has the
power to approve or veto legislation.
• President of the Republic – a largely ceremonial head of state
elected by Bundestag members & representatives of the federal
Länder.
• Chancellor – head of government & elected by the Bundestag. Can
only be removed from office through a constructive vote of no
confidence.
• Länder have extensive powers over administration, education, law &
order.
• Federal Constitutional Court – based on the US Supreme Court,
designed to protect the constitution and had powers to settle
disputes between the federal government and the Länder.
Party Politics
SPD – (Social Democratic Party) Continuity from 1875.
– Espoused a programme calling for public ownership & a planned economy.
– Committed to reunification and opposed European integration in the 1950s. In
1959 at Bad Godesberg
– Officially renounced its Marxist roots.
Christlich Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic Union, CDU) –
Formed in June 1945.
– Represented a break from the pre-1933 parties and amalgamated the
constituency of the old Centre Party with a number of centre-right groups
– Based on the principles of Christian Socialism
– Stood for free market economics
– Opposed social democracy.
Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party, FDP) - Founded
in Dec. 1948
– Stood for individualism and liberalism
– Appealed to those who were alienated by the socialism of the SPD & the
Clericalism of the CDU
– Despite its small size & limited electoral strength it wielded considerable power &
influence, often acting as ‘kingmaker’
– Members of the FDP served in nearly every federal coalition between 1949 &
1990, and it provided 2 of West Germany’s 5 Presidents.
The 1949 Bundestag
Elections
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
Centre
3,1%
10
Others
9,1%
16
Chancellor Konrad Adenauer,
Economics Minister Ludwig Erhard and
President TheodorHeuss, 1949
Election Results, 1949-89
Source: T. Kirk, Cassell’s Dictionary of Modern German History (2002)
Why were extremist parties not
successful?
• Allied control: parties needed concession of High
Commissioner.
• SRP banned in 1952 by Federal Constitutional
Court.
• KPD banned in 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.
Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967)
•
•
•
•
•
Born in Cologne
Devout Catholic and passionate
Rhinelander
Pragmatic & authoritarian he has
been compared to Bismarck and
Stresemann.
Determined to integrate Germany
into Western Europe
Did little to address the problems
of the recent past
1917-33: Served as mayor of
Cologne.
1921-33: Chairman of the Prussian
Council of State.
1934: Imprisoned by the Nazis.
1948-49: Chairman of the
Parliamentary Council.
1949-63: Chancellor of the FRG
Chancellor
Democracy
Ludwig Erhard (1897-1977)
Economics Minister (1949-63)
Chancellor (1963-66)
The Wirtschaftswunder
(‘economic miracle’)
•
•
Dramatic economic growth after 1949
Reasons for ‘economic miracle’:
–
–
–
–
Introduction of the Deutschmark halted inflation.
US investment through the Marshal Plan ($4.4 million).
Large, adaptable workforce (partly made up of refugees from Eastern Europe).
German determination to pull together for the national good – few disputes
between labour and capital.
– Germany had fewer burdens on her exchequer than other powers – no overseas
commitments, colonial wars etc.
– The Korean War (1950-53) increased demand for industrial goods and removed
reluctance to buy German goods – exports boomed.
•
•
•
Unemployment fell from 1.9 million in 1950 to 200,000 in 1961.
GNP trebled during the 1950s, annual growth averaged just under 8%
Gap between rich and poor widened, but standards of living rose across the
board – average income for industrial workers rose by 250% between 1950
and 1962.
The Social Market Economy
• Advocacy of the free market wedded with a corporate framework
• The role of the state to pick up the slack left by the market and
introduce welfare measures to cancel out the inequalities caused by
capitalism.
• General agreement that the state should provide a safety net to
make sure that citizens did not fall below a certain standard of living.
• Equalization of Burdens Law (1950): transferred wealth from the well
off to provide for those who had lost everything during the war.
• 1957: Pensions increased & index-linked so they would keep pace
with cost of living.
• Increased prosperity due to the economic miracle was slow to filter
through to ordinary Germans. But, by the end of the 1950s the
population was growing, the working week had been reduced to 45
hours, and ownership of consumer goods had increased.
Society
•
Defeat and division wrought profound changes in German society:
– The old Prussian Junker class had lost their economic and political power
– The ‘Ruhr Barons’ who had dominated German industry were in decline.
– Gradual increase in social mobility and a ‘levelling out’ of German society.
•
Women outnumbered men due to war-time losses, and under the
Federal Republic there were changes in gender roles:
–
–
–
–
•
The Basic Law guaranteed equal rights for women
Law of Equality of the Sexes (1957) extended property rights
More employment opportunities with economic growth
But women still earned 40% less than men on average
Nevertheless, West German society in the 1950s and 60s was still
conservative and patriarchal.
–
‘The Natural Order’
Dealing with the Nazi Legacy
•
•
•
•
•
Hans Globke (1898-1973)
Measures to confront the Nazi
past limited in the 1950s.
Moves to compensate victims of
National Socialism, extremist
parties banned by the
Constitutional Court.
Many former Nazis in the civil
service such as Hans Globke,
head of the Chancellors Office
(1953-1963). Globke drafted Nazi
anti-Semitic legislation in the
1930s.
The judiciary reluctant to censure
sadistic Nazi judges.
Damaged Germany’s reputation
abroad & led to a feeling that the
Germans had buried their heads
in the sand rather than confronting
the legacy of National Socialism.
Foreign Policy
Adenauer’s aims:
– International recognition via economic cooperation, cultural
integration, and democratisation
– Reconciliation with France
– Close relationship with United States – essential for security in
bipolar international system (Soviet Threat)
Aims of the Western Powers:
– Defeat German militarism and idea of revenge by integration.
Factors which helped rehabilitation:
– Perceived Soviet Threat: especially after 1949 (Soviet Atomic
Bomb) – German participation needed, good bargaining position
for Adenauer: concessions.
– Korean War (1950-1953).
Foreign Policy
1951: Signing (in Paris) of the European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC).
1952: Signing (in Paris) of the European Defense
Community (EDC). The ‘Stalin note’ offering a united
neutral Germany.
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).
1955: Full sovereignty returned to the Federal Republic.
1957: The Treaty of Rome is signed establishing the
European Economic Community. The Saar returns to
Germany as a Land (to be followed in 3 years by
economic reintegration).
1963: French-German Friendship Treaty is signed in Paris.
The Spiegel Affair (1962)
Copies of Der Spiegel being confiscated from
the magazine’s offices.
• The affair tested limits of
freedom of the press and
showcased the development
of democracy in the Federal
Republic
• News magazine Spiegel had
reported the Bundeswehr’s
limited readiness for conflict
with Russians.
• Spiegel offices were
occupied by police, Augstein
arrested, as well as the
article’s author.
• Popular demonstrations
began to free Augstein;
beginnings of widespread
protest culture?
West Germany after Adenauer
1965-69: Grand Coalition.
1969 election: CDU = 46.1% of vote, SPD = 42.7%, FDP =
5.8% - SPD-FDP Coalition formed under Willy Brandt.
1969-72: Ostpolitik = attempts to normalize relations
between the two German states.
1972: Basic Treaty – German states agree to develop good
relations, settle disputes without force & respect one
another’s independence.
• Wide-ranging reforms: marriage & family law
modernized, welfare reform & educational reform. A
response to growing unrest in the 1960s.
Warsaw Ghetto, Dec 1970
Brandt pays tribute to the
uprising that lasted from
April to May of 1943
West Germany after Adenauer
1974: Brandt forced to resign in spy scandal.
1982: SPD & FDP unable to agree on a budget – vote of
no-confidence brought the CDU’s Helmut Kohl to power.
1983 election: CDU won nearly 50% of the vote, the Green
Party emerges as a national political party with 5.4% of
the vote & 27 deputies in the Bundestag.
A move to the right in the 1980s, accompanied by efforts to
cast off the stigma of Nazism & take pride in being
German.
Conclusion
• The Federal Republic became a stable
parliamentary democracy aided by economic
recovery and the spread of prosperity.
• There was continuity with the past, particularly
under Adenauer.
• West Germany ‘a viable democracy with a
distinctly conservative colouration.’ (Carr)
Konrad Adenauer (CDU)
1949-1963
Ludwig Erhard (CDU)
1963-1966
Helmut Schmidt (SPD)
1974-1982
Helmut Kohl (CDU)
1982-1998
Kurt Georg Kiessinger (CDU)
1966-1969
Gerhard Schröder (SPD)
1998-2005
Willy Brandt (SPD)
1969-1974
Angela Merkel (CDU)
2005-Present