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106-491: On July 1, 1948 the representatives of the Western allied occupation forces handed over a number of documents to the prime ministers and the two ruling mayors of the western zones of occupation. The Frankfurt Documents contained recommendations for establishing a West German state . The main problem with the recommendations was that they did not provide an all-German solution but only a West German state. The Frankfurt Documents formed

212-521: A Lithuania–USSR agreement on mutual assistance was signed in Moscow on 10 October 1939, allowing a Soviet military presence in Lithuania. A total of 18,786 Red Army troops were deployed at strategically important locations within the country: Alytus , Prienai , Gaižiūnai , and Naujoji Vilnia . This move effectively ended Lithuanian neutrality and brought it directly under Soviet influence. While Germany

318-911: A bag, at the doorway raped a seventy-year-old woman. On 10 December, two soldiers shot a passing elderly woman. In Klaipėda Lithuanian men aged 17 to 48 were arrested and deported. In December 1944, Chief of the Priekulė KGB Kazakov wrote to the LSSR Minister of the Interior Josifas Bertašiūnas that due to the soldiers' violence most of the houses in Priekulė were unsuitable for living in: windows were knocked out, fireplaces disassembled, furniture and agricultural inventory broken up and exported as scrap. Many Red Army soldiers engaged in robbery, rape, and murder, and Lithuanians who saw soldiers at night would often run from their homes and hide. "On

424-566: A bid to integrate the country into the economic system of the USSR. The output of major factories would be exported from the republic as there was a lack of local demand. This process of industrialisation was followed by urbanisation, as villages for the workers had to be established or expanded in the vicinity of the new factories, resulting in new towns such as Baltoji Vokė , Naujoji Akmenė , Elektrėnai and Sniečkus or expansion of old ones such as Jonava . Residents would be relocated from elsewhere in

530-456: A national radio broadcast that he had deposed Smetona, and was now president in his own right. On 17 June, the cabinet resolved that Smetona had effectively abandoned his post by leaving the country and confirmed Merkys as president without any qualifiers. Later that day, under pressure from Moscow, on 17 June 1940, Merkys appointed Justas Paleckis prime minister and resigned soon after. Paleckis then assumed presidential duties, and Vincas Krėvė

636-492: A punitive approach championed by Roosevelt 's Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr. (the " Morgenthau Plan "). Under this plan, Germany would have been broken into four autonomous states and not only demilitarized but also deindustrialized to the point of becoming chiefly agrarian. The Morgenthau plan was opposed by Secretary of State Cordell Hull and War Secretary Henry L. Stimson , and Roosevelt distanced himself from

742-658: A significant amount of the Soviet Union's industrial and agricultural output: 22 percent of its electric welding apparatus, 11.1 percent of its metal-cutting lathes, 2.3 percent of its mineral fertilizers, 4.8 percent of its alternating current electric motors, 2.0 percent of its paper, 2.4 percent of its furniture, 5.2 percent of its socks, 3.5 percent of underwear and knitwear, 1.4 percent of leather footwear, 5.3 percent of household refrigerators, 6.5 percent of television sets, 3.7 percent of meat, 4.7 percent of butter, 1.8 percent of canned products, and 1.9 percent of sugar. Lithuania

848-525: A smaller scale. The last deportations took place in 1953, when people were deported to the district of Tomsk and the regions of Altai and Krasnoyarsk. Even after the guerrilla resistance had been quelled, Soviet authorities failed to suppress the movement for Lithuania's independence. Underground dissident groups had been active from the 1950s, publishing periodicals and Catholic literature. They fostered national culture, celebrated historical events, instigated patriotism and encouraged hopes for independence. In

954-539: A special report on the situation in the Klaipėda Region , the head of the local NKGB operational group wrote that: A beautiful city, Šilutė , left by the Germans without a battle, currently looks repulsive: there is not one remaining store, almost no flats that are suitable for living. ... Metal scrap collection teams are blowing up working agricultural machinery, engines of various kinds, stealing valuable equipment from

1060-449: A western German state. Present were Peter Altmeier ( Rhineland-Palatinate ), Karl Arnold ( North Rhine-Westphalia ), Lorenz Bock ( Württemberg-Hohenzollern ), Max Brauer ( Hamburg ), Hans Ehard ( Bavaria ), Wilhelm Kaisen ( Bremen ), Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf ( Lower Saxony ), Hermann Lüdemann ( Schleswig-Holstein ), Reinhold Maier ( Württemberg-Baden ), Christian Stock ( Hessen ) and Leo Wohleb ( Baden ). A West German state

1166-568: A whole' in respect of West Germany and Berlin. At the same time, East Germany progressed from being a satellite state of the Soviet Union to increasing independence of action; while still deferring in matters of security to Soviet authority. The provisions of the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany , also known as the "Two-plus-Four Treaty", granting full sovereign powers to Germany did not become law until 15 March 1991, after all of

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1272-899: A working basis for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany . They were created at the London 6-Power Conference , which took place between February and June 1948. The handover took place at the IG Farben Building in Frankfurt am Main , and the documents took the name of the city. The building is now located on the Campus Westend of Goethe University.The military governors Lucius D. Clay (United States), Marie-Pierre Koenig (France) and Brian Hubert Robertson (UK) issued an order establishing

1378-656: The Allied Control Council de facto broke down on 20 March 1948 ( restored on 3 September 1971) in the context of growing tensions between the Allies, with Britain and the US wishing cooperation, France obstructing any collaboration in order to partition Germany into many independent states, and especially: the Soviet Union unilaterally implementing from early on elements of a Marxist political-economic system (enforced redistribution of land, nationalisation of businesses). Another dispute

1484-680: The French Army . In April and May 1945, the French 1st Army had captured Karlsruhe and Stuttgart , and conquered a territory extending to Hitler's Eagle's Nest and the westernmost part of Austria. In July, the French relinquished Stuttgart to the Americans, and in exchange were given control over cities west of the Rhine such as Mainz and Koblenz . All this resulted in two barely contiguous areas of Germany along

1590-567: The General Treaty (German: Deutschlandvertrag ) entered into force. However, upon the creation of the Federal Republic in May 1949, the military governors were replaced by civilian high commissioners , whose powers lay somewhere between those of a governor and those of an ambassador. When the Deutschlandvertrag became law, the occupation ended, the western occupation zones ceased to exist, and

1696-644: The Neris river ; on 19 August a fifteen-minute firefight took place between the garrison soldiers and prison guards; on 22 August drunk officers shot at each other. On 1 October 1944, Chief of the Kaunas NKVD G. Svečnikov reported that on the night of 19 October two aviation unit soldiers killed the Mavraušaitis family during a burglary. On 17 January 1945, Chairman of the Alytus Executive Committee requested

1802-631: The Russian SFSR 's declaration of sovereignty on 12 June meant that the Soviet Union could not enforce Lithuania's retention. While other republics held the union-wide referendum in March to restructure the Soviet Union in a loose form , Lithuania, along with Estonia , Latvia , Armenia , Georgia , and Moldova did not take part. Lithuania held an independence referendum earlier that month, with 93.2% voting for it. Iceland immediately recognised Lithuania's independence. Other countries followed suit after

1908-646: The Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , which contained agreements to divide Europe into spheres of influence , with Lithuania falling into Germany's sphere of influence. On 28 September 1939, the USSR and Germany signed the Frontier Treaty and its secret protocol, by which Lithuania was placed in the USSR's sphere of influence in exchange for Germany gaining an increased share of Polish territory, which had already been occupied. The next day,

2014-619: The Soviet occupation and annexation illegal and, like the other two Baltic States, claimed state continuity . This legal continuity has been recognised by most Western powers . The Soviet authorities considered the independence declaration illegal, but after the January Events in Lithuania and failed 1991 Soviet coup attempt in Moscow, the Soviet Union itself recognized Lithuanian independence on 6 September 1991. On 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and

2120-450: The constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its territory and borders mirrored those of today's Republic of Lithuania , with the exception of minor adjustments to its border with Belarus . During World War II , the previously independent Republic of Lithuania was occupied by the Red Army on 16 June 1940, in conformity with the terms of

2226-723: The failed coup in August , with the State Council of the Soviet Union recognising Lithuania's independence on 6 September 1991. The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist on 26 December 1991. It was agreed that the Soviet Army (later the Russian Army) must leave Lithuania because it was stationed without any legal reason. Its troops withdrew in 1993. The first secretaries of the Communist Party of Lithuania were: Collectivization in

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2332-774: The 1970s, dissidents established the Lithuanian Liberty League under Antanas Terleckas. Founded in Vilnius in the wake of an international conference in Helsinki , Finland, which recognised the borders established after the Second World War, the Lithuanian Helsinki Group demanded that Lithuania's occupation be recognised as illegal and the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact be condemned. The dissidents ensured that

2438-452: The 1980s, the USSR sank into a deep economic crisis. In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev was elected head of the USSR's Communist party and undertook internal reforms which had the effect of liberalising society (whilst actually increasing the economic chaos) and a new approach to foreign policy that effectively ended the Cold War. This encouraged the activity of anti-communist movements within the USSR,

2544-537: The 23 August 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , and established as a puppet state on 21 July. Between 1941 and 1944, the German invasion of the Soviet Union caused its de facto dissolution. However, with the retreat of the Germans in 1944–1945, Soviet hegemony was re-established and continued for forty-five years. As a result, many Western countries continued to recognize Lithuania as an independent, sovereign de jure state subject to international law, represented by

2650-515: The British implemented government modeled on the UK system, placing heavy emphasis on local level democracy. The goal was to create a British-style administration with employees who viewed themselves as public servants, on the basis that this would help to reeducate Germans to democratic modes of thought. To that end the British introduced new local government structures, including a nonpolitical position similar to

2756-568: The Communist Party and communist organisations. Science and art based on communist ideology and their expression controlled by censorship mechanisms. People were encouraged into atheism in an attempt to secularise Lithuania, with monasteries closed, religion classes prohibited and church-goers persecuted. The second Soviet occupation was followed by armed resistance in 1944–1953, aiming to restore an independent Lithuania, re-establish capitalism and eradicate communism, and bring back national identity and freedom of faith. Partisans were labelled bandits by

2862-547: The Communist Party, a post held by Antanas Sniečkus until 1974. Upon recapturing Lithuania from the retreating Germans in 1944, the Red Army immediately began committing war crimes . The situation was so extreme that even Sniečkus complained to Lavrentiy Beria on 23 July that "If such robbery and violence continues in Kaunas , this will burst our last sympathy for the Red Army". Beria passed this complaint on to Joseph Stalin . In

2968-470: The Communist party. Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic ( Lithuanian SSR ; Lithuanian : Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika ; Russian : Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика , romanized :  Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania , was de facto one of

3074-475: The English town clerk ("city director") that replaced the office of mayor. In general, the British believed strongly in reeducation as a means to achieve democracy, which led them to prioritize the reestablishment of schooling and university education in their zone. The French were less concerned with improving Germany's moral and civic character, focusing instead on ensuring France's future security and utilizing

3180-656: The French border which met at just a single point along the River Rhine . Three German states ( Land ) were established: Rheinland Pfalz in the north and west and on the other hand Württemberg-Hohenzollern and South Baden , who later formed Baden-Württemberg together with Württemberg-Baden of the American zone. The French zone of occupation included the Saargebiet , which was disentangled from it on 16 February 1946. By 18 December 1946 customs controls were established between

3286-404: The French occupation zone, was separated from Allied-occupied Germany to become a French protectorate with its constitution took effect on 17 December 1947, however the separation was opposed by the Soviet Union and Germans here were not expelled. In October 1946, the population of the various zones and sectors was as follows: The original Allied plan to govern Germany as a single unit through

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3392-458: The French zone) and Hesse (without Rhenish Hesse and Montabaur Region , both part of the French zone) with a new capital in Wiesbaden , and of northern parts of Württemberg and Baden . Those formed Württemberg-Baden and became northern portions of the present-day German state of Baden-Württemberg founded in 1952. The ports of Bremen (on the lower Weser River ) and Bremerhaven (at

3498-469: The French zone, let alone into the separated Saar protectorate. However, the native population, returning after Nazi-imposed removals (e.g., political and Jewish refugees) and war-related relocations (e.g., evacuation from air raids), were allowed to return home in the areas under French control. The other Allies complained that they had to shoulder the burden to feed, house and clothe the expellees who had to leave their belongings behind. In practice, each of

3604-696: The GDR declared it its capital (Hauptstadt der DDR). Allied aims with respect to postwar Germany were first laid out at the Yalta Conference , where Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin signed an agreement stating that they intended to: disarm and disband the German armed forces ; break up the German General Staff ; remove or destroy all German military equipment; eliminate or control German industry that could be used for military production; punish war criminals; exact reparations for damage done by Germany; wipe out

3710-531: The GDR established a military, the National People's Army (NVA). Despite the grants of general sovereignty to both German states in 1955, full and unrestricted sovereignty under international law was not enjoyed by any German government until after the reunification of Germany in October 1990. Though West Germany was effectively independent, the western Allies maintained limited legal jurisdiction over 'Germany as

3816-609: The German surrender, leaving Northern Germany to be occupied by the British. The British Army of the Rhine was formed on 25 August 1945 from the British Liberation Army . In July the British withdrew from Mecklenburg 's capital Schwerin which they had taken over from the Americans a few weeks before, as it had previously been agreed to be occupied by the Soviet Army . The Control Commission for Germany (British Element) (CCG/BE) ceded more slices of its area of occupation to

3922-663: The LSSR People's Commissars Council to withdraw the border guards unit, which was sent to fight the Lithuanian partisans , because it was burning not only the enemy's homes and farms, but also those of innocent people. They were also robbing local inhabitants cattle and other property. The Sovietisation of Lithuania began with the strengthening of the supervision of the Communist Party. Officials were sent from Moscow to set up bodies of local governance. They were exclusively Lithuanian, with trustworthy Russian specialists for assistants – it

4028-535: The LSSR included. On 23 August 1987, the Lithuanian Liberty League initiated an unsanctioned meeting in front of the monument to Adomas Mickevičius in Vilnius. At the meeting, the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact was condemned for the first time in public. The meeting and the speeches made at it were widely reported by western radio stations. Also meeting was reported by Central Television and even TV Vilnius . In May 1987,

4134-412: The LSSR, and from other USSR republics. By 1979, more than half of population lived in urban areas. All symbols of the former Republic of Lithuania were removed from public view by 1950, and the country had its history rewritten and its achievements belittled. The veneration of Stalin was spread and the role of Russia and the USSR in the history of Lithuania was highlighted. People were encouraged to join

4240-592: The Lithuanian Cultural Fund was established to engage in environmental activity and the protection of Lithuanian cultural assets. On 3 June 1988, the Lithuanian Reformation Movement (LRM) was founded; its mission was to restore the statehood of Lithuania; LRM supporters formed groups across Lithuania. On 23 August 1988, a meeting took place at Vingis Park in Vilnius, with a turnout of about 250,000 people. On 23 August 1989, marking 50 years of

4346-667: The Lithuanian SSR took place between 1947 and 1952. The 1990 per capita GDP of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was $ 8,591, which was above the average for the rest of the Soviet Union of $ 6,871. This was half or less of the per capita GDPs of adjacent countries Norway ($ 18,470), Sweden ($ 17,680) and Finland ($ 16,868). Overall, in the Eastern Bloc , systems without competition or market-clearing prices became costly and unsustainable, especially with

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4452-562: The Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian people to part ways with the USSR. The LSSR de facto ceased to exist on 11 March 1990, with the Reconstituent Seimas declaring Lithuania's independence restored. It took the line that since Lithuania's membership in the USSR was a violation of international law, it was reasserting an independence that still legally existed. Therefore, the Reconstituent Seimas argued that Lithuania did not need to follow

4558-560: The Molotov–Ribbentrop pact and aiming to draw the world's attention to the occupation of the Baltic states, the Baltic Way event was staged. Organised by the Lithuanian Reformation Movement, the Baltic Way was a chain of people holding hands that stretched for nearly 600 kilometres (370 mi) to connect the three Baltic capitals of Vilnius, Riga, and Tallinn. It was a display of the aspiration of

4664-592: The Nazi government in 1937. The British also created the new German states of: Also in 1947, the American zone of occupation being inland had no port facilities – thus the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and Bremerhaven became exclaves within the British zone. At the end of October 1946, the British zone had a population of: The British headquarters were originally based in Bad Oeynhausen from 1946, but in 1954 it

4770-471: The Nazi party and its institutions; remove all Nazi and militarist influences from public life; and take any other measures in Germany as might be necessary to ensure future peace and safety. The consensus among the Allies was that it was necessary to ensure Germany could not cause further world wars, but beyond that their opinion on what Germany's future should look like differed. The US originally considered

4876-520: The Potsdam Agreement 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

4982-564: The Saar area and Allied-occupied Germany. The French zone ceded further areas adjacent to the Saar (in mid-1946, early 1947, and early 1949). Included in the French zone was the town of Büsingen am Hochrhein , a German exclave separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of neutral Swiss territory. The Swiss government agreed to allow limited numbers of French troops to pass through its territory in order to maintain law and order in Büsingen. At

5088-408: The Saar region, fusing it with France in a customs and currency union and encouraging the development of export industries. As a result, the French managed to extract a surplus from their occupation zone, and prevented it from becoming a financial liability the way the British and American zones were to their respective occupying powers. Soviet aims in Germany were similar to those of the French, with

5194-573: The September 1990 Peace Treaty) the northern portion of East Prussia became the Kaliningrad Oblast within the Soviet Union (today Russian Federation ). A small area west of the Oder, near Szczecin , also fell to Poland. Most German citizens residing in these areas were subsequently expropriated and expelled . Returning refugees, who had fled from war hostilities, were denied return. Saarland, an area in

5300-419: The Soviet Union – specifically the Amt Neuhaus of Hanover and some exclaves and fringes of Brunswick , for example the County of Blankenburg , and exchanged some villages between British Holstein and Soviet Mecklenburg under the Barber-Lyashchenko Agreement . Within the British zone of occupation, the CCG/BE re-established the city of Hamburg as a German state , but with borders that had been drawn by

5406-411: The Soviet imposition of the Berlin Blockade that was enforced from June 1948 to May 1949. The three western zones were merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) i.e. West Germany in May 1949, and after that the Soviets followed suit in October 1949 with the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) i.e. East Germany. In the west, the occupation continued until 5 May 1955, when

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5512-407: The Soviets. The clergy published chronicles of the Catholic Church of Lithuania, secretly distributed in Lithuania and abroad. The faithful would gather in small groups to teach their children religion, celebrate religious holidays, and use national and religious symbols. The most active repressed figures of the movement were Vincentas Sladkevičius , Sigitas Tamkevičius , and Nijolė Sadūnaitė . In

5618-433: The Soviets. They were forced into the woods and into armed resistance by the Soviet rule. Armed skirmishes with the Red Army were common between 1944 and 1946. From the summer of 1946 a partisan organisational structure was established, with units of 5–15 partisans living in bunkers. Guerrilla warfare with surprise attacks was the preferred tactic. In 1949 the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters under Jonas Žemaitis–Vytautas

5724-408: The USSR and LSSR Ministers of the Interior that due to the violence and mass arrests by the counterintelligence units of SMERSH , many Kaunas inhabitants were forced into crime . Eleven SMERSH subdivisions did not obey any orders, not even those from the NKGB. Chief of the Vilnius Garrison, P. Vetrov, in his order described discipline violations: on 18 August a soldier went fishing with explosives in

5830-491: The USSR and of international law governing the relations of sovereign states . The last session of the government of the Republic of Lithuania was called to discuss the ultimatum, with most members in favour of accepting it. On 15 June, President Antanas Smetona left for the West, expecting to return when the geopolitical situation changed, leaving Prime Minister Antanas Merkys in Lithuania. Before his departure, Smetona transferred most presidential duties to Merkys. Under

5936-433: The USSR offered Lithuania an agreement on the establishment of Soviet military bases in its territory. During the negotiations, the Lithuanian delegation was told of the division of the spheres of influence. The Soviets threatened that if Lithuania refused to host the bases, Vilnius could be annexed to Belarus (at that time the majority of population in Vilnius and Vilnius region were Polish people ). In these circumstances

6042-786: The Weser estuary of the North Sea ) were also placed under U.S. control because of the U.S. request to have certain toeholds in Northern Germany . At the end of October 1946, the American zone had a population of: The headquarters of the American military government was the former IG Farben Building in Frankfurt am Main . Following the complete closure of all Nazi German media, the launch and operation of completely new newspaper titles began by licensing carefully selected Germans as publishers. Licenses were granted to Germans not involved in Nazi propaganda to establish those newspapers, including Frankfurter Rundschau (August 1945), Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin; September 1945), and Süddeutsche Zeitung (Munich; October 1945). Radio stations were run by

6148-410: The authorities put 28,981 persons into livestock cars and dispatched them deep into the USSR. Some people went into hiding and managed to escape the deportations, but then a manhunt began in April. As a result, another two echelons left for the remote regions of the USSR. During March–April 1949, a total of some 32,000 people were deported from Lithuania. By 1952, 10 more operations had been staged, but of

6254-478: The companies. There is no electricity in Šilutė because an internal combustion engine was blown up. In the same report, the mass rape of Lithuanian women in the Klaipėda and Šilutė regions was reported: Seventy year old women and fourteen-year-old girls are being raped, even in the presence of parents. For example, in November 1944 eleven soldiers raped a Priekulė County resident in the presence of her husband. In Šilutė district, two soldiers, covering her head with

6360-446: The constitution, the prime minister became acting president whenever the president was unable to carry out his duties. Meanwhile, the 8th and 11th armies of the USSR, comprising a total of 15 divisions, crossed the border. Flying squads took over the airports of Kaunas, Radviliškis, and Šiauliai. Regiments of the Red Army disarmed the Lithuanian military, took over its assets, and supported local communists. On 16 June, Merkys announced in

6466-527: The destruction battalions, or istrebitels . On 18–21 February 1946, deportations began in four counties: Alytus, Marijampolė, Lazdijai, and Tauragė. On 12 December 1947 the Central Committee of the Lithuanian Communist Party resolved that actions against supporters of resistance were too weak and that additional measures were in order. A new series of deportations began and 2,782 people were deported in December. In January–February 1948, another 1,134 persons were exiled from every county in Lithuania. By May 1948,

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6572-553: 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

6678-535: The end of October 1946, the French zone had a population of: (The Saar Protectorate had a further 0.8 million.) From November 1945, Luxembourg was allocated a zone within the French sector. The Luxembourg 2nd Infantry Battalion was garrisoned in Bitburg and the 1st Battalion was sent to Saarburg . The final Luxembourg forces in Germany, in Bitburg, left in 1955. The Soviet occupation zone incorporated Thuringia , Saxony , Saxony-Anhalt , Brandenburg and Mecklenburg . The Soviet Military Administration

6784-452: The end of hostilities, mostly lying eastward of the July 1945-established inner German border , was temporary. After two months during which they held areas that had been assigned to the Soviet zone, U.S. forces withdrew in the first days of July 1945. Some have concluded that this was a crucial move which persuaded the Soviet Union to allow American, British and French forces into their designated sectors in Berlin, which occurred at roughly

6890-436: The fall of 1944, lists of 'bandits' and 'bandit family' members to be deported appeared. Deportees were marshaled and put on a USSR-bound trains in Kaunas in early May 1945, reaching their destination in Tajikistan in summer. Once there, they employed as forced labour at cotton plantations. In May 1945, a new wave of deportations from every county took place, enforced by battlegroups made of NKVD and NKGB staff and NKVD troops –

6996-472: The first days of the Holocaust in Lithuania ). Škirpa was named prime minister in the Provisional Government of Lithuania ; however, the Germans placed him under house arrest and dissolved the LAF on 5 August 1941. During the German occupation, Lithuania was made part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland . Between July and October 1944, the Red Army entered Lithuania once again, and the second Soviet government began. The first post-war elections took place in

7102-398: The formal procedure of secession from the USSR. Lithuania declared the sovereignty of its territory on 18 May 1989 and declared independence from the Soviet Union on 11 March 1990 under its pre-1940 name, the Republic of Lithuania . Lithuania was the first Baltic state to assert state continuity , and the first Soviet Republic to declare full independence from the Union (though Estonia

7208-489: The four occupying powers wielded government authority in their respective zones and carried out different policies toward the population and local and state governments there. A uniform administration of the western zones evolved, known first as the Bizone (the American and British zones merged as of 1 January 1947) and later the Trizone (after inclusion of the French zone). The complete breakdown of east–west allied cooperation and joint administration in Germany became clear with

7314-409: The government, and allow an unlimited number of Red Army troops to enter the country. The acceptance of the ultimatum would have meant the loss of sovereignty, but Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov declared to diplomat Juozas Urbšys that, whatever the reply may be, "troops will enter Lithuania tomorrow nonetheless". The ultimatum was a violation of every prior agreement between Lithuania and

7420-422: The high commissioners were replaced by normal ambassadors. West Germany was also allowed to build a military, and the Bundeswehr , or Federal Defense Force, was established on 12 November 1955. A similar situation occurred in East Germany. The GDR was founded on 7 October 1949. On 10 October the Soviet Military Administration in Germany was replaced by the Soviet Control Commission , although limited sovereignty

7526-585: The idea after it was reported on by major American newspapers. Ultimately, US occupation policy came to be determined chiefly by the War Department , with long-term objectives summed up by the four Ds : denazification , democratization , demilitarization , and decentralization (or decartelization ) . Initially, the US was extremely rigorous in its efforts to prevent fraternization with German civilians. US soldiers were forbidden to shake hands with Germans, visit their homes, play games or sports with them, exchange gifts, take part in social events, or walk in

7632-406: The increasing complexity of world economics. Such systems, which required party-state planning at all levels, collapsed under the weight of accumulated economic inefficiencies, with various attempts at reform merely contributing to the acceleration of crisis-generating tendencies. Lithuania accounted for 0.3 percent of the Soviet Union's territory and 1.3 percent of its population, but it generated

7738-555: The legations appointed by the pre-1940 Baltic states, which functioned in various places through the Lithuanian Diplomatic Service . On 18 May 1989, the Lithuanian SSR declared itself to be a sovereign state , though still part of the USSR. On 11 March 1990, the Republic of Lithuania was re-established as an independent state , the first Soviet Republic to leave Moscow and leading other states to do so. Lithuania considered

7844-654: The military government. Later, Radio Frankfurt , Radio München (Munich) and Radio Stuttgart gave way for the Hessischer Rundfunk , Bayerischer Rundfunk , and Süddeutscher Rundfunk , respectively. The RIAS in West-Berlin remained a radio station under U.S. control. By May 1945 the British and Canadian Armies had liberated the Netherlands and had conquered Northern Germany. The Canadian forces went home following

7950-485: The negotiation of the Bonn–Paris conventions during 1951–1952, which terminated the occupation and prepared the way for the rearmament of West Germany. Army units from other countries were stationed within the British occupation zone. The French Republic was at first not granted an occupation zone in Germany, but the British and American governments later agreed to cede some western parts of their zones of occupation to

8056-578: 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 and most of Silesia ) and divided the remaining "Germany as a whole" into four occupation zones, each administered by one of the Allies. 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

8162-486: The night of 20 October, aviation unit senior M. Kapylov, by taking revenge against 14-year-old Marija Drulaitė who refused to have sexual intercourse, killed her, her mother, uncle Juozas and severely injured a 12-year-old." — Georgiy Vladimirovich Svechnikov, Chief of the Kaunas NKVD . Other regions of the LSSR also suffered heavily. For example, on 26 December 1944, Kaunas' NKGB representative Rodionov wrote to

8268-622: The participating governments had ratified the treaty. As envisaged by the Treaty, the last occupation troops departed from Germany when the Russian presence was terminated in 1994, although the Belgian Forces in Germany stayed in German territory until the end of 2005. A 1956 plebiscite ended the French administration of the Saar protectorate, and it joined the Federal Republic as Saarland on 1 January 1957, becoming its tenth state. The city of Berlin

8374-424: The peasants from the surrounding areas would be herded to their properties. Since kolkhozes had to donate a large portion of their produce to the state, the people working there lived in poorer conditions than the rest of the nation. Their pay would often be delayed and made in kind and their movement to cities was restricted. This collectivisation ended in 1953. Lithuania became home to factories and power plants, in

8480-523: The primary goals being to prevent future aggression by Germany and to extract reparations. Political activity in the Soviet occupation zone was overseen by the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD), which maintained close control over the Germans and allowed little room for independent action on the part of local German officials. Key posts in local administration, particularly those dealing with security members, were given to members of

8586-563: The process of secession because the entire process by which Lithuania joined the Soviet Union violated both Lithuanian and international law. Specifically, it contended that Smetona never resigned, making Merkys' takeover of the presidency illegal and unconstitutional. Therefore, Lithuania argued that all acts leading up to the Soviet takeover were ipso facto null and void, and it was simply reasserting an independence that still existed under international law. The Soviet Union threatened to invade, but

8692-499: The resources of their occupation zone to facilitate economic recovery within France itself. Since one of their key goals was to ensure that Germany would never again be in a position to threaten France, the French were strongly opposed to a unified approach to occupation, and favored political structures that were as decentralized as possible. On the economic front, the French seized the opportunity to extract coal and steel resources from

8798-550: The rest of Germany – this included the Soviet sector of Berlin, which was legally separate from the rest of the Soviet zone. At the end of October 1946, Berlin had a population of: In 1945 Germany east of the Oder–Neisse line was assigned to Poland by the Potsdam Conference to be "temporarily administered" pending the Final Peace Treaty on Germany between the four Allies and a future German state; eventually (under

8904-428: The results of the elections were likely falsified. At its first meeting on 21 July, the new People's Seimas declared that the Lithuanian people desired to join the Soviet Union. Accordingly, it unanimously changed Lithuania's official name to the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (LSSR) and formally petitioned to join the Soviet Union as a constituent republic. Resolutions to start the country's Sovietisation were passed

9010-523: The same day. On 3 August, a Lithuanian delegation of prominent public figures was dispatched to Moscow to sign the document by which Lithuania acceded to the USSR. After the signing, Lithuania was annexed to the USSR. On 25 August 1940, an extraordinary session of the People's Seimas reorganized itself as the provisional Supreme Soviet of the LSSR, ratified the Constitution of the LSSR, which in form and substance

9116-722: The same time; the need for intelligence gathering ( Operation Paperclip ) may also have been a factor. On 20 March 1948, the Soviets withdrew from the Allied Control Council. The split led to the establishment in 1949 of two new German states, West Germany and East Germany . The American zone in Southern Germany consisted of Bavaria (without the Rhine Palatinate Region and the Lindau District , both part of

9222-403: The streets with them. How strictly this policy was applied varied from place to place, but in many places the restrictions were frequently ignored, as a result of which the policy was quickly abandoned. Germans were also prohibited from inhabiting any part of a building in which US soldiers were housed, leading to large numbers of Germans being ejected from their homes. British occupation policy

9328-446: The total number of deportees had risen to 13,304. In May 1948, preparations for very large-scale deportations were being made, with 30,118 staff members from Soviet organisations involved. On 22–23 May 1948, a large-scale deportation operation called Vesna began, leading to 36,932 arrests, a figure that later increased to 40,002. The second major mass deportation, known as Operation Priboi , took place on 25–28 March 1949, during which

9434-584: 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

9540-526: The winter of 1946 to elect 35 representatives to the LSSR Supreme Council. The results were again likely falsified to show an attendance rate of at over 90% and to establish an absolute victory for Communist Party candidates. The LSSR Supreme Council under Paleckis was formally the supreme governmental authority; in reality, power was in the hands of the first secretary of the Central Committee of

9646-473: The world would receive information about the situation in the LSSR and human rights violations, which caused Moscow to soften the regime. In 1972, young Romas Kalanta immolated himself in Kaunas in a public display of protest against the regime. This was followed by public unrest , demonstrating that a large portion of the population were against the regime. The Catholic Church took an active part in opposing

9752-468: Was also a net donor to the USSR budget. It was calculated in 1995 that the occupation resulted in 80 billion LTL (more than 23 billion euros ) worth of losses, including population, military, and church property losses and economic destruction among other things. Lithuania mostly suffered until 1958 when more than a half of the annual national budgets was sent to the USSR budgets, later this number decreased but still remained high at around 25% of

9858-593: Was appointed prime minister. The Communist Party was legalized again and began publication of its papers and staging meetings to support the new government. Opposition organizations and newspapers were outlawed, and ties abroad cut. On 14–15 July, elections took place for a " People's Seimas ." The only contender was the Union of the Working People of Lithuania , a front for the Communists. Citizens were mandated to vote, and

9964-671: Was conducting its military campaign in Western Europe in May and June 1940, the USSR invaded the Baltic states. On 14 June 1940, an ultimatum was served to Lithuania on the alleged grounds of abduction of Red Army troops. The ultimatum said Lithuania should remove officials that the USSR found unsuitable (the Minister of the Interior and the Head of the Security Department in particular), replace

10070-425: Was founded. Partisan units became smaller still, consisting of 3 to 5 partisans. Open fighting was a rarity, with sabotage and terrorism preferred. Despite guerrilla warfare failing to achieve its objectives and claiming the lives of more than 20,000 fighters, it demonstrated to the world that Lithuania's joining the USSR had not been a voluntary act and highlighted the desire of many Lithuanians to be independent. In

10176-642: Was headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst , which also came to house the chief rezidentura of Soviet intelligence in Germany. At the end of October 1946, the Soviet zone had a population of: While located wholly within the Soviet zone, because of its symbolic importance as the nation's capital and seat of the former Nazi government, the city of Berlin was jointly occupied by the Allied powers and subdivided into four sectors. All four occupying powers were entitled to privileges throughout Berlin that were not extended to

10282-629: Was moved to Mönchengladbach where it was known as JHQ Rheindahlen . Another special feature of the British zone was the enclave of Bonn . It was created in July 1949 and was not under British or any other allied control. Instead it was under the control of the Allied High Commission . In June 1950, Ivone Kirkpatrick became the British High Commissioner for Germany . Kirkpatrick carried immense responsibility particularly with respect to

10388-578: Was not granted to the GDR government until 11 November 1949. After the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953, the Soviet Control Commission was replaced with the office of the Soviet High Commissioner on 28 May 1953. This office was abolished (and replaced by an ambassador) and (general) sovereignty was granted to the GDR, when the Soviet Union concluded a state treaty (Staatsvertrag) with the GDR on 20 September 1955. On 1 March 1956,

10494-514: Was not part of either state and de jure continued to be under Allied occupation of the four countries until the reunification of Germany in October 1990. For administrative purposes, the three western sectors of Berlin were merged into the entity of West Berlin being de facto part of the FRG. The Soviet sector became known as East Berlin and while not recognised by the Western powers as a part of East Germany,

10600-470: Was similar to that of the United States, but with a greater focus on economic problems. The British Occupation Zone included the Ruhr industrial region, which had experienced the heaviest bombing and therefore faced the greatest shortages of housing and food. Initial British occupation directives were concerned primarily with economic considerations and food supply. To further the long-term aim of democratization,

10706-528: Was similar to the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union . On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the USSR and occupied all of Lithuania within a month. The Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF), a resistance organisation founded in Berlin and led by Kazys Škirpa whose goal was to liberate Lithuania and re-establish its independence, cooperated with the Nazis. The LAF was responsible for killing many Lithuanian Jews (during

10812-469: Was stripped of its sovereignty and former state : after Germany formally surrendered on 8 May 1945, the four countries representing the Allies (the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France) asserted joint authority and sovereignty through the Allied Control Council (ACC). At first, Allied-occupied Germany was defined as all territories of Germany before the 1938 Nazi annexation of Austria . The Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945 defined

10918-702: Was the absorption of post-war expellees. While the UK, the US and the Soviet Union had agreed to accept, house and feed about six million expelled German citizens from former eastern Germany and four million expelled and denaturalised Czechoslovaks , Poles, Hungarians and Yugoslavs of German ethnicity in their zones, France generally had not agreed to the expulsions approved by the Potsdam agreement (a decision made without input from France). Therefore, France strictly refused to absorb war refugees who were denied return to their homes in seized eastern German territories or destitute post-war expellees who had been expropriated there, into

11024-603: Was the first Soviet Republic to assert its national sovereignty and the supremacy of its national laws over the laws of the Soviet Union). All of the Soviet Union's claims on Lithuania were repudiated as Lithuania declared the restitution of its independence . The Soviet Union claimed that this declaration was illegal, as Lithuania had to follow the process of secession mandated in the Soviet Constitution if it wanted to leave. Lithuania contended that it did not need to follow

11130-402: Was these who were in effective control. By the spring of 1945, 6,100 Russian-speaking workers had been sent to Lithuania. When the Soviets reoccupied the territory, Lithuanians were deprived of all property except personal belongings. This was followed by collectivisation , which started in 1947, with people being forced to join kolkhozes . Well-off farmers would be exiled, and the livestock of

11236-688: Was to be established under the following conditions: The Frankfurt Documents prompted the prime minister to hold the Rittersturz Conference in Koblenz on the resolutions that had been passed. Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II , from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan , Nazi Germany

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