Editing Soviet occupation zone in Germany

{{Short description|Zone of Soviet occupation in postwar Germany}}
{{Redirect|Soviet occupation zone|the zone in Austria|Allied-occupied Austria|the zone in Korea|Soviet Civil Administration}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| native_name            = {{nobold|Sowjetische Besatzungszone<br/>Советская оккупационная зона Германии}}
| conventional_long_name = Soviet occupation zone in Germany
| common_name            = Soviet occupation zone
| subdivision            = [[Military occupations by the Soviet Union|Military occupation zone]]
| nation                 = the [[Soviet Union]]
| government_type        = {{nowrap|Military occupation}} (member of the [[Eastern Bloc]])
| life_span              = 1945–1949
<!-- Titles and names of the first and last leaders and their deputies -->| title_leader           = Military governors
| leader1                = [[Georgy Zhukov]]
| leader2                = {{nowrap|[[Vasily Sokolovsky]]}}
| leader3                = [[Vasily Chuikov]]
| title_deputy           = <!-- Default: "Prime minister" -->
| year_leader1           = 1945–1946
| year_leader2           = 1946–1949
| year_leader3           = 1949
| capital                = [[Berlin]]
| event_start            = [[German Instrument of Surrender|Surrender of Nazi Germany]]
| year_start             = 1945
| year_end               = 
| date_start             = 8 May
| event_end              = [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] established
| date_end               = 7 October 1949
| event1                 = <!-- Optional: other events between "start" and "end" -->
| era                    = Post-[[World War II]] <br /> [[Cold War]]
| event_pre              = <!-- Optional: A crucial event that took place before before "event_start" -->
| date_pre               = 
| event_post             = 
| date_post              = <!-- Images -->
| image_flag             = Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1924–1955).svg
| flag_type              = Flag of the Soviet Union
| flag                   = Soviet Union
| image_coat             = <!-- Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}}.svg -->
| symbol_type            = <!-- Displayed text for link under symbol. Default "Coat of arms" -->
| symbol                 = <!-- Link target under symbol image. Default: Coat of arms of {{{common_name}}} -->
| image_map              = Deutschland Besatzungszonen 8 Jun 1947 - 22 Apr 1949 sowjetisch.svg
| image_map_caption      = The Soviet occupation zone in red
| p1                     = Nazi Germany
| flag_p1                = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg
| s1                     = East Germany
| flag_s1                = Flag of East Germany.svg
| today                  = [[Germany]]
| demonym                = 
}}

The '''Soviet occupation zone in Germany''' ({{Langx|de|Sowjetische Besatzungszone (SBZ)}} or {{langx|de|Ostzone|label=none}}, {{lit|East Zone}}; {{Langx|ru|Советская оккупационная зона Германии|Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii}}) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the [[Soviet Union]] as a [[communist]] area, established as a result of the [[Potsdam Agreement]] on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the [[German Democratic Republic]] (GDR), commonly referred to in English as [[East Germany]], was established in the Soviet occupation zone.

[[File:1949 Soviet visa from occupied Germany.jpg|thumb|1949 Soviet visa from occupied Germany in a Polish service-passport]]

The SBZ was one of the four [[Allied-occupied Germany|Allied occupation zones of Germany]] created at the end of World War II with the Allied victory. According to the [[Potsdam Agreement]], the [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany]] (German initials: SMAD) was assigned responsibility for the middle portion of Germany. Eastern Germany beyond the [[Oder-Neisse line]], equal in territory to the SBZ, was to be annexed by Poland and its [[Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II|population expelled]], pending a final peace conference with Germany.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Politics Today Companion to West European Politics|author=Geoffrey K. Roberts, Patricia Hogwood|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|page=50|isbn=9781847790323|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q40tDwAAQBAJ}}; {{cite book|title=The United States and Poland|author=Piotr Stefan Wandycz|publisher=Harvard University Press|year= 1980|page=303|isbn=9780674926851|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XaFaNshCrkC}}; {{cite book|title=The Oder-Neisse Line: a reappraisal under international law|author=Phillip A. Bühler|series=East European Monographs|year= 1990|page=33|isbn=9780880331746|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riBpAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>

By the time armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom began to meet Soviet Union forces, forming the [[Line of Contact]], significant areas of what would become the Soviet zone of Germany were outside Soviet control.  After several months of occupation, these gains by the British and Americans were ceded to the Soviets by July 1945, according to the previously agreed occupation zone boundaries.

The SMAD allowed four [[political parties]] to develop, though they were all required to work together under an [[alliance]] known as the "[[Democratic Bloc (East Germany)|Democratic Bloc]]" (later the [[National Front (East Germany)|National Front]]). In April 1946, the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) and the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) were [[Merger of the KPD and SPD into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany|forcibly merged]] to form the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] which later became the governing party of the GDR.

The SMAD set up [[NKVD special camps|ten "special camps"]] for the detention of [[Germans]], making use of some former [[Nazi concentration camps]].

[[Image:EAC_Zonenprotokoll_2.png|thumb|right|Originally planned occupation zones according to the [[London Protocol (1944)]]]]
[[Image:States in German Democratic Republic 1949 - 1952 colored 02.svg|thumb|left|States ''(Länder)'' of the Soviet zone and later also the GDR until 1952:
{{legend|#6D91BC| Mecklenburg }}
{{legend|#EF6768| Brandenburg }}
{{legend|#FEE276| Saxony-Anhalt }}
{{legend|#73A67D| Saxony }}
{{legend|#67BEDD| Thuringia }}]]
In 1945, the Soviet occupation zone consisted primarily of the central portions of [[Prussia]]. After Prussia was dissolved by the Allied powers in 1947, the area was divided between the German states ''(Länder)'' of [[Brandenburg (1945–1952)|Brandenburg]], [[State of Mecklenburg (1945–1952)|Mecklenburg]], [[Saxony (1945–1952)|Saxony]], [[Saxony-Anhalt (1945–1952)|Saxony-Anhalt]] and [[Thuringia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peterson |first=Edward N. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/38207545 |title=Russian commands and German resistance : the Soviet Occupation, 1945–1949 |date=1999 |publisher=P. Lang |isbn=0-8204-3948-7 |location=New York |pages=5 |oclc=38207545}}</ref> On 7 October 1949, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic. In 1952, the ''Länder'' were dissolved and realigned into 14 districts ''(Bezirke)'', plus the district of [[East Berlin]].

In 1952, with the [[Cold War]] political confrontation well underway, [[Joseph Stalin]] sounded out the Western Powers about the prospect of a united Germany which would be non-aligned (the "[[Stalin Note]]").  The West's lack of interest in this proposal helped to cement the Soviet Zone's identity as the GDR for the next four decades.

"Soviet zone" and derivatives (or also, "the so-called GDR") remained official and common names for East Germany in West Germany, which refused to acknowledge the existence of a state in East Germany until 1972, when the government of [[Willy Brandt]] extended a qualified recognition under its [[Ostpolitik]] initiative.
[[File:Allied occupation in Berlin (1945-1990).png|thumb|400px|The occupied sectors of Berlin]]

==See also==
*[[Allied-occupied Austria]]
*[[History of East Germany]]
*[[Bizone]]
*[[Trizone]]
*[[Group of Soviet Forces in Germany]]
*[[Stunde Null]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Brennan, Sean, [https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/munitions-of-the-mind/2016/11/23/propaganda-in-soviet-occupied-germany/ 'Land Reform Propaganda in Soviet Occupied Germany'], University of Kent
* Lewkowicz, Nicolas''The German Question and the International Order, 1943–48'' (Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke and New York) (2008)
* Lewkowicz, Nicolas, ''The German Question and the Origins of the Cold War'' (IPOC: Milan) (2008)

{{Allied-administered Germany}}
{{Soviet occupation}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soviet Occupation Zone}}
[[Category:Soviet occupation zone| ]]
[[Category:1940s in East Germany]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:World War II occupied territories]]
[[Category:Aftermath of World War II in Germany]]
[[Category:Allied occupation of Germany| ]]
[[Category:Soviet military occupations]]
[[Category:Germany–Soviet Union military relations]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1945]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1949]]
[[Category:1945 in Germany]]
[[Category:1945 establishments in Europe]]
[[Category:1949 disestablishments in Europe]]