GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY BERLIN

Transcription

1 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY BERLIN

2 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS OF CONTEMPORARY BERLIN by ELMER PLISCHKE Professor and Head Department of Government and Politics University of Maryland THE HAGUE MARTIN US NIjHOFF I963

3 Copyright I963 by Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, Netherlands Soflcover r eprint of the hardcover J st edition 1963 All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or part thereof in any form ISBN DOl / ISBN (ebook)

4 to Edgar and Esther

5 CONTENTS Glossary-German zations Preface Maps Page Political Parties and Mass Organi- XI XIII XV /XVI I {- 5 INTRODUCTION Berlin Divided-A City of Contrasts Governmental Heritage Early Postwar Developments Under Allied Complexity of Governance ALLIED GOVERNMENTAL AUTHORITY "Statement of Principles" for Berlin The Allied Kommandatura CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM Temporary Constitution of 1946 Abortive Constitution of 1948 Division of Berlin Constitution of 1950 Amending the Constitution GOVERNMENTAL SYSTEM Electoral Law The Legislature The Executive Executive-Legislative Relations The Judiciary Government of East Berlin The Berlin Bezirke (Boroughs) POLITICS AND ELECTIONS Political Parties Communist Party (KPD) Socialist Unity Party (SED) Social Democratic Party (SPD) Occupation I I

6 VIII CONTENTS Christian Democratic Union (CDU) 53 Free Democratic Party (FDP) 54 East-Christian Democrats and East-Liberal Democrats 54 Minor Parties 55 Early Elections 56 Elections Since LEGAL AND POLITICAL STATUS OF BERLIN 63 Legal Prerogatives of World-War-II Allies 63 Legal Status of the Kommandatura 65 Berlin and the West German Federation 67 Legal Status of Berlin in West German Federation 68 Problem of the Capital of the West German Federal Republic 70 Other Aspects of Berlin Relations with West Germany 71 East Berlin and the East German Republic 73 CONCLUDING STATEMENT 75 Berlin-Pawn of the Powers 77 APPENDICES 80 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 108 CHARTS AND TABLES 1. Allied Control of Germany and Berlin, Allied Kommandatura, Allied Kommandatura, Structure of Berlin Government Following 1946 Elections 5. Structure of Government of Land Berlin, Structure of Government of Land Berlin, Structure of the East Berlin Magistrat, Structure of East Berlin Government, 1961 Table I. Berlin Election Results APPENDICES I. Protocol on Zones of Occupation in Germany and Administration of Greater Berlin, September 12, 1944-Excerpts Agreement on Control Machinery in Germany, November 14, 1944-Excerpts 82

7 CONTENTS IX 3. Quadripartite Statement on Zones of Occupation in Germany, June 5, Quadripartite Statement on Control Machinery in Germany, June 5, 1945-Excerpts Allied Agreement on Quadripartite Administration of Berlin, July 7, Kommandatura Order No. I, July II, Declaration by Western Commandants to Continue Operation of Kommandatura, December 21, Statement of Principles for Berlin, Instrument of Revision of Statement of Principles, Allied Declaration on Berlin, May 5, II. Kommandatura Letter Approving Constitution of Berlin Constitution of INDEX II7

8 GLOSSARY GERMAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND MASS ORGANIZATIONS Political Parties CDU DP FDP FDV FSU FVP GB/BHE KP KPD LDP SED SPD USPD Christlich-Demokratische Union (Christian Democratic Union) Deutsche Partei (German Party) Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party) Freie Deutsche Volkspartei (Free German People's Party) Freie Soziale Union (Free Social Union) Freie Volkspartei (Free People's Party) Gesamtdeutscher Block/Block der Heimatvertriebenen und Entrechteten (Refugee Party - All-German Bloc/Bloc of Expellees and Victims of Injustice) Konservativ Partei (Conservative Party) Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of Germany) Liberal-Demokratische Partei (Liberal Democratic Party) Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany) Unabhiingige Sozial-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands (Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany) East German Mass Organizations DFD FDGB FDJ Demokratischer Frauenbund Deutschlands (Democratic Women's League of Germany) Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (Free German Trade Union Federation) Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth)

9 XII KB Konsum VdgB VVN GLOSSARY Kulturbund (Cultural League) Konsumgenossenschaften (Consumer Cooperatives) Vereinigung der gegenseitigen Bauernhilfe (Peasants' Mutual Aid Union) Vereinigung der Verfolgten des N aziregimes (League of Nazi Victims)

10 PREFACE Berlin lies more than 100 miles behind the Iron Curtain within the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany. It is not, however, part of that zone. It is a separate political entity for which the four major allies of the war against Nazi tyranny are jointly responsible. Its special status stems from the fact that it was the capital not only of Hitler's Third Reich but of the German nation formed in the latter half of the 19th century. In essence, the four major allies agreed to hold Berlin, as the traditional capital, in trust for a democratic and united Germany. United States, Department of State Berlin-I96I (1961) The division of Germany, and with it the bifurcation of its one-time capital - Berlin - has produced one of the foremost political controversies of the mid-twentieth century. There has long been a "German problem," and volumes have been written concerning the history and culture of the country, the Nazi era and World War II, the Allied occupation, and recent political and economic developments in Germany. Yet, the "Berlin problem" - as part of the broader German question - is historically of the current era. As a consequence of the Second World War, the fundamental interests of the Great Powers have become remarkably involved in the status and affairs of Berlin. Commitments have been firmly and unequivocably made. Areas of genuine negotiation have become seriously delimited. The future of the city constitutes an epicenter of controversy in the global policies of the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Being a major testing ground for their purpose, their pertinacity, and their power, it also may - perhaps inadvertently as well as overtly - become the issue which provokes the outbreak of war. A good deal of postwar public interest in Berlin, therefore, has concerned the various crises involving the city, the Soviet blockade and the Allied airlift, the Communist wall, and especially the East West power struggle as it concerns all of Germany and the questions of reunification and a peace settlement. Nevertheless, the literature on

11 XIV PREFACE the government of Berlin, as distinct from the international politics of the Powers pertaining to the metropolis, is surprisingly scanty. This volume, on the other hand, is intended to describe briefly the post-world-war II political development of the city. It emphasizes the governmental aspects since the Nazi surrender of It traces important events related to the post-hostilities establishment of local public institutions in Berlin, Allied control through the Kommandatura and other agencies, and the political division of the city. It deals with fundamentals of organization, basic governmental functions and procedures, Allied-German and intra-german relationships of the major organs of the city government, the development and role of Berlin political parties, and interrelations of the Berlin authorities with the Allies, the West German Federal Republic, and the Communist-controlled so-called East German Democratic Republic. Aside from a number of published collections of documents and chronicles of recent German affairs, the author has relied primarily on the following sources: files of the United States Secretary of the Allied Kommandatura, files of the Berlin establishment of the United States authorities in Germany, and various archives of the Berlin government. Earlier studies of the author also have been resorted to as basic resources, especially BERLIN: DEVELOPMENT OF ITS GOVERN MENT AND ADMINISTRATION (Mehlem/Bad Godesberg: Historical Division of the Office of the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany, 1952) and CONTEMPORARY GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1961). The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance and counsel he has received from Dr. Elisabeth Erdmann of the former Historical Division of the United States High Commissioner's Office in Berlin, and to express his appreciation to Jean Spencer for assistance in processing the manuscript. College Park, Maryland September 1, 1962 ELMER PLISCHKE

12 THE FOUR SECTORS OF BERLIN

13 o FEDERAL REPU8UC tt He'm5~ccit ~~=~~~~~ +++++t+railways Source: u.s. Department of State, Berlin: City Between Two Worlds, Dept. of State Publication 7089 (Oct., 1960), p. 7.