|
|
|
|
|
The Morgenthau Plan showing
the planned partitioning of Germany into a North State,
a South State, and an International
zone. Areas in grey are areas intended for
control by France, Poland
and the USSR.
Wikipedia - "Allied-occupied
Germany"
| As victory against Germany became
evident plans were assembled as to what to do with Germany after the war.
In 1944 Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau came up with a plan to divide
Germany into two separate states, to either internationalize or integrate
other parts of Germany with neighboring countries and to de-industrialize
Germany by turning it into an essentially agricultural country (or countries).
Churchill amended the idea in several ways - though it is still remembered
as the 'Morgenthau Plan.' But in 1945 the allies came up with a different
plan for dividing Germany, though merely into temporary occupational or
'administrative' zones. And in early 1946 the Morgenthau Plan for
de-industrializing Germany was put aside in favor of Truman's Secratary
of State Bynes' "Restatement of Policy on Germany."
The original idea of governing Germany as a joint effort of the Allied Control Council began to break down as disagreements between the Soviets and the American, British and French developed rather quickly. |
Official map from 1945 showing
the Allied allocation of the occupied German territories.
Text is in English and German.
The territories east of the Oder-Neisse line
that were granted to Poland
are here described as "Polish territory".
Wikipedia - "Allied-occupied
Germany"
The four sectors of the occupied
Berlin
Wikipedia - "Allied-occupied
Germany"
Workers removing the sign
from a former "Adolf Hitler Street"
Wikipedia - "Denazification"
Demonstrating American G.I.s
marching down the Champs Elysees in Paris
demanding to be sent home
- January 1946
Wide World
Botting, p. 34
|
The General Assembly of the
United Nations meets in London - 1946
David E. Scherman for
Life
Botting, p. 29
United Nations Headquarters
- New York City
Hiroyuki Matsumoto/Black
Star
Peck and Deyle, p. 635
Eleanor Roosevelt – Truman's
representative at the United Nations
United Nations
Evans, p. 405
|
Black-market trading between
soldiers and civilians - Berlin Tiergarten - summer 1945
Cameras, household goods
and hierlooms were traded for money or cigarettes - to then purchase scarce
food
Edward Vebell
Botting, p. 58
Berliners looking for anything
of value that can be used for barter
UPI/Corbis-Bettmann
Jennings and Brewster, p.
298
Citizens of Dresden sorting
out useable brick and stone as a volunteer effort to rebuild Germany.
Gehard Gronefeld, Munich
Botting, p. 38
A woman in Nuremberg in a
makeshift home cooking a mix of apples, potatoes and greens
UPI
Botting, p. 16
Makeshift life in Hamburg
Imperial War Museum, London
Botting, p. 17
A small group of German women
and children arriving in the British sector of Berlin - October 1945
the sole survivors of 150
who were expelled from Lodz, Poland, 270 miles away.
The mother in front is striding
out ahead, anxious to get help for her 3-year old son.
The mother clasps the son to keep him warm – and then realizes that her son has just died.
The women grieving as the
boy's head is pillowed on a railroad track
Edward Clark International
Botting, p. 82
A German girl being led from
a Berlin train station –
having been gang-raped by
Polish youths (typically, war orphans)
who regularly boarded trains
to rob or rape German refugees fleeing Poland
Leonard McCombe
Botting, p. 83
Hunger in Palermo, Sicily
Frederico Patellani, Milan
Botting, p. 11
Homeless orphaned sisters
on a street in Rome
Toni Frissell - courtesy
of Frissell Collection, Library of Congress
Botting, p. 14
But somehow life goes on
German farmers and miners
gathering with families and possessions
to move from the horribly
overcrowded American sector to the French sector
where skilled labor was
actually in short supply
National Archives
Botting, p. 84
Some citizens of Cologne,
Germany, resuming as much a normal life as possible -
though for most life amounted
to a constant search for food, shelter and clothing - 1946.
Walter Sanders for
Life
Botting, p. 1
Sheep resuming a normal life
in a bombed out hangar in Leipzig
One quarter of the city was totally flattened
by Allied bombing
Margaret Bourke-White /
LIFE
LIFE, p. 215
Britishers looking for coal
- Feb. 1947
Cold, rundown mines and
lack of transport made the fuel shortage worse than during the War
Press Association, London
Botting, p. 19
Recovery was not quick:
Hamburg still in Ruins - 1947
George Silk - Life Magazine
Jennings and Brewster, p.
285
|
Japan, though bombed thoroughly, found
the occupation of their country by
their once-enemy to be less traumatic
than it proved to be for Germany
MacArthur arrives in Yokohama,
Japan - August 30, 1945
UPI
Osborne and Cotler, p. 40
American GIs playing softball
with a Tokyo team in October 1945 –
only two months after the
end of the war
U.S. Army
Osborne and Cotler, p. 23
Supreme Commander Douglas
MacArthur and Japanese Emperor Hirohito - 1945
National Archives NA-208-N-46403-FA
Evans, p. 389
The man once considered a
god, Emperor Hirohito, meets with residents of a new housing project near
Tokyo
– part of the democratization
of Japanese authority
U.S. Army
Osborne and Cotler, p. 45
|
While much of the world struggles to
mere survival –
American prosperity continues to increase
at a phenomenal rate
Single family homes and university education
are widely accessible --
thanks to the GI Bill of Rights legislation
(1944)
A post-war housing subdivision
outside Los Angeles
Loomis Dean
LIFE, p. 233
Levittown - Long Island -
home for more than 17,000 families - late 1940s
Joe Scherschel for
Life
The Vietnam Experience:
A Nation Divided, p. 49
Rapid suburban housing growth
in the post-war years in America
Housing starts jumped from 114,000 in
1944 to 1.7 million in 1950
Joe Scherschel -
Life
Jennings and Brewster, p.
284
Suburban family in Levittown,
New York
Bernard Hoffman, Life
Magazine, Time Warner, Inc.
Peck and Deyle, p. 650.
A young American post-war
family living on the GI Bill of Rights - 1947
Charles Smayda's wife irons while he studies
for his courses at the University of Iowa --
his bills paid for by Uncle Sam.
In just the first 20 years of the GI Bill of Rights (1944-1964)
10 million former servicemen were able
to attend college and 6.2 million able to buy their own homes
Margaret Bourke-White /
LIFE
LIFE, p. 229
The television has also brought a dramatic change (enrichment?) to American life
One of the very earliest
TVs
Photofest
Peck and Deyle, p. 655
The opening night of the
CBS TV Ed Sullivan Show - 1948
Guests included Richard Rodgers and Oscar
Hammerstein, 22-year-old
Jerry Lewis (3rd, 4th + 5th from
left) and Dean Martin (4th from right)
CBS Photo Archive
LIFE, p. 236
Milton Berle and Judy Canova
- 1948
His Tuesday night NBC show mesmerized
the nation
Shone / Gamma Liaison
LIFE, p. 213
|
Despite -- or because of -- this success, America is challenged to define itself spiritually and morally
Christian Evangelist Billy
Graham
Unusual Films
Keesee and Sidwell, p. 560
KKK gathering before the
county courthouse in Wrightsville, Georgia - March 2, 1948
Ullstein Bilderdienst, Berlin
Stepan, Photos that Changed
the World, pp. 72-73
Tough labor leader, John
L. Lewis, receiving the stare of a rich lady
New York Daily News
Evans, p. 412
Miles
H. Hodges - 2011
