Curated playlist
Aftermath of World War II in Germany
- Restatement of Policy on GermanyJames F. Byrnes, the US secretary of state, delivered the "Restatement of Policy on Germany" in Stuttgart on the 6th of September, 1946. It quickly acquired a second name: the Speech of Hope. That hope was not evenly distributed. Germans…
- Allied plans for German industry after World War IIAllied plans for German industry after World War II set an explicit benchmark for postwar living standards. Germany was to be reduced to what it had been in 1932, the lowest point of the Great Depression. The Potsdam Conference, held…
- Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)The flight and expulsion of Germans between 1944 and 1950 stands as the largest forced migration in modern European history. By 1950, roughly 12 million Germans had left or been removed from east-central Europe, resettling in…
- German Instrument of SurrenderThe German Instrument of Surrender was signed at 22:43 Central European Time on the 8th of May 1945, in a building that had served as the seat of the Soviet Military Administration in the Berlin district of Karlshorst. But by that point,…
- History of Germany (1945–1990)On the 5th of June 1945, the four Allied powers signed the Berlin Declaration, formally abolishing the German Reich. What remained of Germany was a shattered landscape. Some eight million foreign displaced persons wandered its roads,…
- Morgenthau PlanThe Morgenthau Plan began as a handwritten memorandum in 1944 and very nearly erased one of the world's great industrial nations from the map. Henry Morgenthau Jr., United States Secretary of the Treasury, titled his proposal 'Suggested…
- WirtschaftswunderThe Wirtschaftswunder, a German word meaning "economic miracle," describes one of the most dramatic reversals of fortune in modern history. West Germany and Austria lay in ruins at the end of World War II. Cities were rubble, factories…
- Soviet occupation zone in GermanyFour Allied powers claimed German territory in 1945, and the Soviet occupation zone in Germany was Moscow's share. The Potsdam Agreement of August 1945 fixed its borders. Within those borders, the Soviet Military Administration built a…
- Elbe DayElbe Day, the 25th of April 1945, began with a small boat crossing a river in Germany. First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue paddled across the Elbe near Strehla with just three men from an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon. On the far…
- Victory Day (9 May)Victory Day on the 9th of May is one of the most emotionally charged public holidays in Russia and across the former Soviet world. At its heart is a question of time: the war in Europe ended, officially, on the 8th of May 1945 in Central…
- World War II reparationsWorld War II reparations stand as one of the most contested and far-reaching financial settlements in modern history. When the guns finally fell silent in 1945, the victorious Allies turned to a question that had no simple answer: how do…