Allied-occupied Germany

The entirety of Germany was militarily occupied by the Allies from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. After Nazi Germany (1933–1945) of the German Reich (1871–1945) surrendered to the Allies and collapsed on 8 May 1945, the four countries representing the Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France) asserted joint authority and sovereignty with the Allied Control Council (ACC) at the 1945 Berlin Declaration. At first, defining Allied-occupied Germany as all territories (1922–1938) of the former German Reich before the Nazi annexing of Austria and later at the 1945 Potsdam Conference of the Allies themselves, the Potsdam Agreement on 1 August decided the new eastern German border by giving Poland and the Soviet Union all regions of Germany east of the Oder–Neisse line (eastern parts of Pomerania, Neumark, Posen-West Prussia, East-Prussia & almost Silesia) and divided the remaining "Germany as a whole" into the four occupation zones for administrative purposes under the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union.[2] Although the three of Allies (United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union) agreed about the occupation, division, and border of Germany in the 1943 Tehran Conference in Iran before, the four occupied zones located in Germany were only agreed by the three Allies at the February 1945 Yalta Conference.

Germany Deutschland (German)
1945–1949
The C-Pennant
Anthem: Trizonesien-Song (unofficial, popular replacement anthem in sporting events)[1]
Germany from 1 August 1945 to 23 May 1949   French occupation zone   British occupation zone[lower-alpha 1]   American occupation zone   Soviet occupation zone[lower-alpha 2]
Status	Military occupation
Capital	Berlin (de jure) Frankfurt (American zone) Bad Oeynhausen (British zone) Baden-Baden (French zone) East Berlin (Soviet zone)
Common languages	German English Russian French
Governors (1945)
• British zone	Bernard Montgomery
• American zone	Dwight D. Eisenhower
• French zone	Jean d.L. de Tassigny
• Soviet zone	Georgy Zhukov
Historical era	Cold War
• Surrender of German armed forces	8 May 1945
• Allied Control Council	5 June 1945
• Saar Protectoratea	16 February 1946
• West Germany	23 May 1949
• East Germanyb	7 October 1949
• Final Settlementc	15 March 1991
Population
• 1945	64,260,000
• 1949	68,080,000
Currency	Reichsmark and Rentenmark (1945–1948) West zones (except Saarland): Deutsche Mark (from 1948)d Soviet zone: Mark (from 1948)e
Preceded by Succeeded by Nazi Germany West Germany East Germany Saar Protectorate
Became a state of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) by joining it on 1 January 1957, not recognized by all four Allied powers. Reunited Germany by joining the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990. German reunification took place on 3 October 1990. The western Allied zones of Germany and the western sectors of Berlin (de facto). The Soviet zone of Germany and sector of Berlin.
The four sectors and exclaves of Berlin

All territories annexed by Germany before the war from Austria and Czechoslovakia were returned to these countries. The Memel Territory, annexed by Germany from Lithuania before the war, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 and transferred to the Lithuanian SSR. All territories annexed by Germany during the war from Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Yugoslavia were returned to their respective countries.

Deviating from the occupation zones planned according to the London Protocol in 1944, at Potsdam, the United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union approved the detachment from Germany of the territories east of the Oder–Neisse line, with the exact line of the boundary to be determined in a final German peace treaty. This treaty was expected to confirm the shifting westward of Poland's borders, as the United Kingdom and United States committed themselves to support the permanent incorporation of eastern Germany into Poland and the Soviet Union. From March 1945 to July 1945, these former eastern territories of Germany had been administered under Soviet military occupation authorities, but following the Potsdam Conference they were handed over to Soviet and Polish civilian administrations and ceased to constitute part of Allied-occupied Germany.

In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, United States forces had pushed beyond the agreed boundaries for the future zones of occupation, in some places by as much as 320 km (200 miles). The so-called line of contact between Soviet and U.S. forces at the end of hostilities, mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border, was temporary. After two months in which they had held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone, U.S. forces withdrew in the first days of July 1945.[3] Some have concluded that this was a crucial move that persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American, British and French forces into their designated sectors in Berlin, which occurred at roughly the same time, although the need for intelligence gathering (Operation Paperclip) may also have been a factor.[4] On 20 March 1948, the Soviets withdrew from the Allied Control Council; later leading to the establishment of the two German states in East and West both in 1949.