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87-593: The Jewish Trust Corporation ( JTC ) was established in 1950 in the former British zone of occupation in northwest Germany as a Jewish body to pursue claims for the restitution of heirless property of murdered persons and dissolved organizations that had been pursued on racial grounds under the Nazi regime. It was based on the model of the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization , which had been established in

174-530: 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

261-633: A forest borderland between Pomerania and Greater Poland . According to the Bavarian Geographer 's description, the Miloxi inhabited the future Neumark region: they had 47 settlements between the Oder and Poznań . The region came under the sovereignty of the first Polish state during the 10th-century rule of Mieszko I (died 992) and Bolesław I (ruled 992–1025), Dukes of the Polans . Polish rulers incorporated

348-492: 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

435-741: A small island of SPD voters. In the Reichstag vote of December 1924 1,900 votes were cast for the Polish People's Party out of a population of 570,000. In 1925 the Neumark had 3,500 Polish speakers. In the Reichstag vote of 6 November 1932, the Nazi Party won the election in the region. When the Nazi authorities dissolved the province of Posen-West Prussia in 1938, they expanded the Frankfurt Region to include

522-601: A small section around Chojna in Szczecin Voivodeship . Since the reorganization of Polish voivodeships on 1 January 1999, almost all of the former Neumark region lies within the Lubusz Voivodeship . During the Polish post-war census of December 1950, data about the pre-war places of residence of the inhabitants as of August 1939 was collected. In case of children born between September 1939 and December 1950, their origin

609-568: 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

696-562: A younger son of Joachim I Nestor, Elector of Brandenburg , it returned to Elector John George , the margrave's nephew and Joachim I Nestor's grandson. With the rest of the Electorate of Brandenburg, it became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 and part of the German Empire in 1871 when each of those states first formed. After World War I the entirely ethnic German Neumark remained within

783-562: 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 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

870-592: 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

957-673: The Bronze Age the area which became the Neumark fell within the area of the Lusatian culture . In the Iron Age the Jastorf culture operated in this region, identified sometimes with Germanic and sometimes with Celtic tribes. As its inhabitants moved westward, the region became depopulated during the Migration Period . After AD 500 West Slavic tribes gradually repopulated the area, which became

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1044-565: The First Peace of Thorn in 1411. In 1454/1455 the Knights' mismanagement led to their pawning of the Neumark back to Brandenburg, by then led by Elector Frederick II of the Hohenzollern dynasty ( Treaties of Cölln and Mewe ). After Frederick completed the re-acquisition of Neumark in 1463 for 40,000 guilders , the region belonged to Brandenburg for the following centuries, with the exception of

1131-662: The Free State of Prussia , itself part of the Weimar Republic (Germany). After World War II the Potsdam Conference assigned the majority of the Neumark to Polish administration, and since 1945 has remained part of Poland. Polish settlers largely replaced the expelled German population . Most of the Polish territory became part of the Lubusz Voivodeship , while the northern towns Choszczno (Arnswalde) , Myślibórz (Soldin) , and Chojna (Königsberg in der Neumark) belong to

1218-680: 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

1305-626: 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

1392-567: The Knights Templar and Knights Hospitaller to establish monasteries , near which settlements began to develop. To fortify the borderland Pomeranian and Polish dukes built castles in the north, around which settlements also grew. The Ascanian margraves of Brandenburg, starting with Albert the Bear (ruled 1157–1170), aspired to extend their dominion east of the Oder. They had gained a foothold east of

1479-565: The Parsęta River. For instance, the Polish castellany of Santok , an important base and crossing point over the Warta near its junction with the Noteć, was sought by Pomerania. To relieve himself of the trouble of maintaining the fortress, Duke Przemysł I of Greater Poland granted the castellany to Margrave Conrad as a dowry for his daughter Konstancja. To safeguard the region Margrave John I founded

1566-558: The Ruhr , Saxony , or Upper Silesia . Near the end of World War II , the Soviet Red Army reached the Neumark at the end of January 1945. Because the Red Army had advanced so quickly, the civilian population of the region suffered greatly from warfare and occupying troops because they had not prepared to flee in time. More than 40,000 New Marchers were killed in action as soldiers. Under

1653-598: The West Pomeranian Voivodeship . Some territory near Cottbus , which was administratively part of the Government Region of Frankfurt (coterminous with the Neumark) after the 1815 Congress of Vienna , became part of East Germany in the 1940s, becoming part of Germany after reunification in 1990. The Oder marked the borders of the Neumark in the west and south; in the north it bordered Pomerania , and in

1740-690: The districts of Schwerin and of Meseritz , although the New Marcher districts of Arnswalde  [ de ] and of Friedeberg were reassigned to Pomerania. According to the 1939 census, the Neumark had a population of 645,000 residents, including 3,000 non-Germans. The dialect spoken in much of the territory was the East Low German Brandenburgisch dialect . The Neumark region long featured agriculture and forestry . The medium-sized towns were mostly Ackerbürgerstädte , or farmer-citizen-towns. The textile industry became prominent in

1827-584: The 19th century. With the construction of modern roadways, of the Fernverkehrstraße 1 (an arterial road from Berlin to Königsberg ), and of the Prussian Eastern Railway , the Neumark also began to develop industrially. Such development was primarily geared toward agricultural needs and was concentrated near the cities of Landsberg and Küstrin, and the Neumark did not become nearly as industrialized or densely populated as other German areas such as

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1914-848: The American zone in 1948. By the end of 1967, the JTC had recovered about 169,500,000 DM (approx. $ 42,375,000), and it wrapped up its operations by 1980. Many of the JTC's records are held by the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People. References [ edit ] ^ Jewish successor organizations entry in the Jewish Virtual Library ^ Pottlitzer, Margot (July 1981). "Journey's End: The recovery of heirless property" (PDF) . AJR Information . XXXVI (7). Archived from

2001-515: 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

2088-686: The Communist party. Neumark Called the Lubusz Land while part of medieval Poland , the territory later known as the Neumark gradually became part of the German Margraviate of Brandenburg from the mid-13th century. As Brandenburg-Küstrin the Neumark formed an independent state of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1535 to 1571; after the death of the margrave John ,

2175-475: 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

2262-605: 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

2349-404: 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

2436-458: 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

2523-469: 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

2610-744: 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

2697-531: 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

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2784-662: 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

2871-545: 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

2958-471: 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

3045-582: The Neumark became reunited with the Kurmark under Joachim II's son, John George . In 1618, East Brandenburg became part of Brandenburg-Prussia after the electors' inheritance of the Duchy of Prussia . During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) both Swedish and Imperial troops plundered, ravaged and burnt the land, while plague epidemics in 1626 and 1631 killed much of the populace. While occupied by Swedish troops

3132-610: The New March  [ de ] , Neuküstrinchen (a locality of Oderaue), Neulietzegöricke  [ de ] , Neuranft , Neurüdnitz , Neutornow  [ de ; pl ] , Neuwustrow  [ de ] , Schaumburg in the Oderbruch (a locality of Bleyen), Schiffmühle  [ de ] , Zäckericker Loose  [ de ] and Zelliner Loose (a locality of Letschin ). The villages of Aurith  [ de ] and Kunitz-Loose (a locality of Wiesenau ) formed part of

3219-841: The New Marcher villages west of the Oder, now the German-Polish border, remained with post-World War II Germany. Formerly located within the District of Königsberg in the New March were the villages Adlig Reetz  [ de ] , Alt and Neu Bleyen  [ de ] , Altglietzen  [ de ] , Altreetz  [ de ] , Altwustrow  [ de ] , Bralitz  [ de ] , Croustillier  [ de ] , Drewitz Ausbau (a locality of Bleyen), Gabow  [ de ] , Güstebieser Loose  [ de ] , Hohenwutzen , Karlsbiese  [ de ] , Karlshof  [ de ] , Königlich Reetz (a locality of Oderaue ), Küstrin-Kietz , Neuenhagen in

3306-642: The Oder (the Kurmark ) went to his older son Joachim II Hector , while the Neumark went to his younger son John , who began ruling the Neumark as an independent margraviate and consolidated the land. An enthusiastic supporter of the Protestant Reformation , John succeeded in converting the Neumark to Lutheranism and in confiscating church property. He lived frugally and acquired wealth for his treasury through usury and hiring out mercenary companies. The division of Brandenburg resulted in trade wars between

3393-416: The Oder to guard against Poland. The Slavic inhabitants of the region gradually became Germanized . Because the new Terra trans Oderam , or "land across the Oder", formed an extension of the Margraviate of Brandenburg , it became known as the Neumark ("New March") after the middle of the 15th century. With the extinction of the Ascanian line in 1320, Brandenburg's interest in the Neumark decreased. Neither

3480-413: The Order neglected the region as well. After the Teutonic Knights' defeat in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) in 1410, the future Grand Master Michael Küchmeister von Sternberg used the Neumark as a staging ground for an army of German and Hungarian mercenaries which he later used against the forces of King Władysław II Jagiełło of Poland. This allowed the Order to retain much of its territory in

3567-411: 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

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3654-466: 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

3741-408: 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

3828-414: 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

3915-419: 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

4002-411: 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

4089-786: 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

4176-444: The Weststernberg district. The Oder-Neisse line delimiting Germany and Poland split several localities of the region into divided cities : To replace the expelled indigenous German population, Soviet authorities re-settled Neumark with Poles and Ukrainians from territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union . From 1975 to 1998 the former Neumark territory was divided between the Voivodeships of Gorzów and Zielona Góra with

4263-426: The brothers, as Crossen and Landsberg competed with the Kurmark's Frankfurt for mercantile primacy. The two margraves eventually compromised – at the economic expense of Stettin . (The brothers also reconciled out of concern for their territories during the Schmalkaldic War of 1546–47.) In 1548 John's administration moved from Soldin to Küstrin . With the death of both brothers within ten days of each other in 1571,

4350-407: The east Greater Poland until the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century. From the 1772 First Partition of Poland it bordered the Prussian Netze District in the east, which had largely been carved out of the northern part of Greater Poland. After the 1793 Second Partition of Poland the remainder of Greater Poland became part of the Province of South Prussia . In 1807 South Prussia and

4437-455: The eastern border of the Neumark became that of Brandenburg/Frankfurt with West Prussia ( Province of Prussia 1829–1878) and the Grand Duchy of Posen ( Province of Posen from 1848). The Warta and Noteć Rivers and their swamp regions dominated the landscape of the region. At the time of the Neumark's greatest territorial extent (at the end of the 17th century), the region included the following later Kreise (districts) and towns: In

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4524-535: 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

4611-452: 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

4698-439: The formation of the Prussian-led German Empire in 1871 the Neumark — along with the rest of Brandenburg — became part of a unified German state. In the Weimar Republic 's National Assembly of 1 November 1919, the majority of the region voted for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The Neumark populace mostly voted for the German National People's Party in the elections for the German Reichstag on 20 May 1928, with

4785-489: 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

4872-425: The future Neumark territory as the Lubusz Land and by the beginning of the 13th century the previously depopulated region had a thinly-spread population of Poles . Beginning in the 1230s, Low-German –speaking colonists from the Holy Roman Empire began settling north and south of the Warta and Noteć Rivers upon the initiative of Pomeranian and Polish lords (see Ostsiedlung ). The lords invited members of

4959-422: 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

5046-585: 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

5133-413: The margraves of the Wittelsbach (1323–1373) nor those of the Luxembourg dynasties concerned themselves with developing their easternmost territory further. The political vacuum allowed Poland to reassert its influence in the area, while robber barons terrorized the populace. Brandenburg pawned the Neumark to the Teutonic Knights in 1402, and it passed completely under their control in 1429, although

5220-437: 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

5307-433: 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

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5394-724: The original (PDF) on 2013-04-06 . Retrieved 2013-04-29 . ^ "Jewish Trust Corporation (JTC) – London (Main Office) – Administration Files" . Archived from the original on 2013-10-13 . Retrieved 2013-04-28 . Further reading [ edit ] Kapralik, Charles I. (1962). Reclaiming the Nazi loot: the history of the work of the Jewish Trust Corporation for Germany. London: Jewish Trust Corporation for Germany Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jewish_Trust_Corporation&oldid=1250331877 " Categories : Holocaust charities and reparations Compensation for victims of crime Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany

5481-467: 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

5568-405: The political makeup of the Neumark. The districts of Dramburg  [ de ] and Schivelbein  [ de ] and the northern part of the Arnswalde district  [ de ] with the town of Nörenberg became part of the Province of Pomerania . The Neumark's remaining territory was incorporated into the newly created Frankfurt Region of the Province of Brandenburg . With

5655-450: 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

5742-433: The region had to contribute 60,000 thalers and 10,000 Wispel of rye . After the declaration of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, the situation in the Neumark began to improve. King Frederick I initiated new waves of colonization. Many French Huguenots , forced to flee from religious persecution in France , arrived as settlers. The textile industry also began to develop in the Neumark. The Seven Years' War caused

5829-439: The region to regress in its development, as high contributions were exacted from the population for the war effort and the Neumark was the setting for battles such as at Kunersdorf . Under Frederick II , increased land reclamation and economic consolidation resulted from the drainage of the Warta and Notec areas. The reorganization of Prussia after the territorial changes – resulting from the Congress of Vienna in 1815 – changed

5916-421: 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 the war, was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 and transferred to the Lithuanian SSR . All territories annexed by Germany during

6003-450: 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

6090-429: 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

6177-415: The river by 1242 and in 1252 the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Archbishopric of Magdeburg purchased the Lubusz Land. In 1253 they founded Frankfurt an der Oder as a river-crossing and as a staging-point for further expansion eastward. Through land purchases, marriage pacts, and services to Poland's Piast dynasty , the Ascanians extended their territory eastward to the Drawa River and northward to

6264-722: 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

6351-570: The southern part of the Netze District (among other areas) became part of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw , while the northern part of the Netze District was merged into the Province of West Prussia ; the Neumark shared borders with both. After 1815 ( Congress of Vienna ) the Neumark was dissolved, largely becoming part of Regierungsbezirk Frankfurt of the Province of Brandenburg . Most of

6438-403: 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

6525-521: The terms demanded by the Soviet Union in the Potsdam Agreement , the region was put under Polish administration after the Potsdam Conference and eventually became part of Poland. Germans remaining in the region were expelled . Poles, some of whom had themselves been expelled from the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union settled the region. A small part of the German population, mostly technicians for

6612-540: The time between 1535 and 1571. Frederick II wrote for his successors "that the said land, the New Mark, shall belong to German territory and to the worshipful Electorate of the Mark of Brandenburg, with which it was incorporated at the institution of the Electorate, and shall so remain, and shall never pass to those who speak not the German tongue". After the death of Elector Joachim I Nestor in 1535, Brandenburg's territory west of

6699-615: The town of Landsberg an der Warthe (now Gorzów Wielkopolski ) in 1257. The Templars sold Soldin to the Ascanians in 1261, and the town began to become a center for the region. Most of the colonists who settled in Brandenburg's new eastern territory came from Magdeburg or the Altmark ("Old March"). Unlike in the rest of Brandenburg (where the Ascanians settled knights in open villages) the margraves began constructing castles in their land east of

6786-531: 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

6873-442: The water supply companies, were retained and used for compulsory labour; they were allowed to emigrate to Germany in the 1950s. Older estimates indicated that of the pre-war population of 645,000, only 5,000 of the inhabitants from 1939 remained in the province in 1950. After the regulation of the river Oder in the 18th century the western border of the New March was not adapted to the Oder's new partially more eastern course. Thus

6960-691: 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

7047-629: 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

7134-626: 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,

7221-514: 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,

7308-575: 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 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

7395-879: Was reported based on the pre-war places of residence of their mothers. Thanks to this data it is possible to reconstruct the pre-war geographical origin of the post-war population. The same area corresponding to 1939 East Brandenburg east of the Oder-Neisse line (which became part of Poland in 1945) was inhabited as of December 1950 by: Over 95% of the 1950 population were newcomers to the region, with less than 5% residing in German East Brandenburg already back in August 1939 (so called autochthons, who had German citizenship before World War II and were granted Polish citizenship after 1945). The largest group among new inhabitants were Poles expelled from areas of Eastern Poland annexed by

7482-470: 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,

7569-702: 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

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