Germany 1949 until 1953
When the Western German state, the Federal Republic of Germany, was founded in 1949, its government was eager to obtain more sovereignty and autonomy. The occupational forces still controlled many important areas of the state. The new chancellor of western Germany, Konrad Adenauer, slowly tried gaining more indepency step by step.
This was especially important on an international and diplomatic stage. After the war Germany was a pariah, an outcast, in the eyes of other countries. It just lead a genocidal war against its neighbors, how was there ever going to be a discourse or even a partnership with them?
Nobody wanted to have diplomatic relations with Western Germany. This changed only very, very slowly. Establishing relationships with your neighboring states was important but how was it supposed to be done? One way to achieve it was over creating economic partnerships first. One of those projects was the "Montanunion", a partnership to coordinate Western German economic efforts with those of their neighbors. This organisation build the basis for what was later going to be the European Union.
Besides economic partnerships there were other projects. One problem was how to remove this old and extreme animosity between nations. Germany and France had been at war for many decades, they called each other arch enemies or hereditary enemies. Germany just murdered thousands of french civilians and occupied the country under a cruel reign. Now France was at the top again and could theoretically make them pay. But how could anyone stop this vicious cycle and escalation of violence?
One idea was to have both societies grow closer together. There were student exchange projects where young people visited the other country. It's more difficult becoming enemies when you actually know each other. Schools were teaching language courses of the other nations language. Very slowly there was a change of thinking in both societies. This was a huge step, it's difficult to describe how deep and widespread the hatred among those nations was in the past.
The Adenauer administration had to deal with many other difficult problems. One of them were German prisoners of war who were still incarcerated in other countries. Most of them were in the Soviet Union or in Russia specifically. Getting them home was a very pressing topic for the German public. The Western German government worked hard to get more and more of them back until at 1955 the last of them returned from the Soviet Union.
Another problem was that there were still many Nazis in the government. Adenauer said about this topic "you don't throw away dirty wash water until you have some clean one". It was a practical solution, not an ideological one. On the one hand it became clear that the same people who cooperated with a murderous regime could just as well work under a democratic government now. A significant percentage of Nazis weren't burning fanatics. They were opportunists who saw a chance to get more power and wealth. If democratic rules were being established they could live in a state like that just as well.
On the other hand some (admistrative) organisations were heavily ridden with Nazis and their influence and way of thinking didn't entirely stop. This would become a larger problem in the years to come. The third German chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger was heavility criticized because of his active Nazi past. In contrast to this Adenauer never had been a Nazi, he was persecuted under the Nazis himself.
It wasn't just politics where old Nazis were a problem. The universities were loaded with them and it did influence the way of thinking at those places. This would become a major problem years later. The western German society was full of difficult problems that most people didn't want to adress. It was like touching an open wound.
Adenauer was an anticommunist and he wanted to have Western Germany look westward. Good relationships with Western Europe were more important than with the Eastern Bloc. One big point in this matter was the foundation of a new German army. Having an army was very important for the Western German state because it meant both being able to defend itself against the Eastern Bloc and being "equal" with other western european nations. But this was a highly controversial topic. Only a few years after a genocidal war the Germans would have soldiers and tanks again? Many foreign nations were skeptical. Even the Western German society was heavily opposed to this project. "If you have an army you are going to lead wars" was one common thought. The Korean War was active during this time and many Germans feared that German soldiers would be fighting in Europe or somewhere else again. Nevertheless the Bundeswehr was created.
The German military was having a disreputable past. Under the Weimar Republic it often was against the state and opposed democratic forces. Later it blindly followed the Nazis and committed war crimes. This was never supposed to happen again. The military wasn't supposed to be some foreign body within the German state. It should stand by its ideals. One way to achieve this was to implement a conscription. Common people should be inside the Bundeswehr, they should see it from the inside and represent a democratic state. The new concept was "Bürger in Uniform", 'citizen in uniform'. Indepency and critical thinking became more important. German soldiers shouldn't blindly follow commands, they had a right to question orders in some circumstances.
At this time the German society felt relatively depressed. There were all kinds of difficult topics to deal with, daily life was hard and nobody knew how the future was going to be. And they still were outcasts within Europe. One event to partially change this was the "Wunder von Bern", the 'miracle of Bern' at the soccer world championship. In 1954 Western Germany managed to defeat the heavily favoured hungarian team and win the soccer world championship. This lead to a strong boost in self-respect and in establishing relationships with other nations again. Other countries saw that Germans weren't just the murderous people from WWII but possibly might be able to change. Soccer and sport in general were one way to establish relations between nations again. The miracle of Bern was one of the most important events in the history of Western Germany.
Life became better. The Wirtschaftswunder started. Because of the support of other countries and their own work people became wealthy again. People became more optimistic.
In the meantime the conditions in Eastern Germany weren't that good. The government conducted some radical changes that were supposed to quickly raise a socialist state. For many workers there was going to be more work for simultaneously less wage. People who had some property were bullied by the state. They were accused of being responsible for economic problems. There was a number of economic mistakes done by the Eastern German state who was almost in complete control of the economy.
The GDR wasn't able to get money from the Marshall Plan. They also had to pay higher reperations to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was severely hit by the war and rebuilding itself. In contrast to this US territory was almost completely untouched by the war and their economy was in a very good place. The US could "afford" to be more lenient.
The GDR was struggling heavily during this time. Food became sparse because of the changes regarding farmers. The Soviet Union tried to stabilize the GDR but it wasn't enough. People were discontented and demanded changes. In summer 1953 there was an uprising against the eastern German government. Worker strikes turned into protests. People were occupying government structures and liberating (political) prisoners.
The Soviets took command and sent armed forces. The protests were struck down with force. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds were being arrested. The GDR and the Soviet Union blamed spies and western agitators for the protests.
The Western Bloc condemned this reaction by the Eastern German government and the Soviet Union but they weren't able to do anything about it. The "17. Juni" became an important date in Western Germany that still remembered the Germans that lived on the eastern side and who were being oppressed.
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