postwar Germany
Occupied, then split
Postwar Germany refers to Germany in the period following World War II, particularly the years of Allied occupation (1945–1949) and the subsequent division into West Germany and East Germany.
The term often evokes reconstruction, denazification, and the economic recovery known as the *Wirtschaftswunder*: My grandmother grew up in postwar Germany when food was still rationed.
It may extend through reunification in 1990, though "postwar" most commonly designates the immediate aftermath.
- Potsdam Conference1945 summit reshaping Europe
- WirtschaftswunderPostwar German revival
- economic miracleRapid postwar prosperity surge
- Marshall PlanPostwar American economic assistance
- divided nationCountry split by conflict
Deutsche Mark · generational divide · refugee resettlement · Bundestag · Berlin Airlift · Berlin Wall · Checkpoint Charlie · European integration · Cold War · Iron Curtain · Helsinki Accords · Nuremberg Trials · collective guilt · education reforms · Bretton Woods system · denazification · guest workers · trade unions
- German HistoryNazi, Prussia, Saxony, Reichstag, Napoleonic Wars
- postwar eraMarshall Plan, prosperity, reconstruction, Cold War, iron curtain
- occupied Germanymilitary government, US Army, Soviet occupation, denazification, Berlin Airlift