East Germany

Admiral Karl Donitz (leader of Germany since Hitler’s suicide), authorized General Alfred Jodl to conclude an armistice with the Western Allies on May 6 in order to continue the war with Russians. Eisenhower demanded full and unconditional surrender, which the Germans were forced to agree to. On May 7, 1945 at Rheims, France General Jodl signed the document on behalf of the German government. The armistice took effect the next day at 11:00 PM.

When the war ended in May, the only Allied soldiers in Berlin were the Soviet forces that had fought their way in at the end of April 1945. Under the terms of the Yalta Agreement, Berlin was to be divided into four occupation zones (US, British, French, and Soviet) under the control of the Allied Control Council. American forces officially arrived on July 4 at a ceremony on the grounds of the former Prussian Military Academy. The US Army would remain in Berlin until 1994.

Harry Truman, Winston Churchill (later Clement Atlee), and Josef Stalin met in the German city of Potsdam to discuss the future of Europe. It had earlier been determined at the Yalta Conference that a meeting between the “Big Three” would be held following the surrender of Germany. Several agreements emerged from Potsdam that would confirm the occupation of Germany, matters pertaining to War Criminals, and territorial issues in Eastern Europe.

Responding to the Western Allies currency reforms in the Western occupation zones, Stalin ordered the land access routes to Berlin to be blockaded. This act cut off over 2,500,000 people living in the Western zones with minimal food stocks. The West responded by launching what became known as the Berlin Airlift. US and British cargo planes flew round the clock sorties to supply the city. Eventually 213,000 sorties carrying 1.7 million tons of supplies would be flown to Berlin.

Soviets re-open access routes to Berlin, ending the Berlin blockade (though the airlift continued until September)

In response to the creation of the new Federal Republic of Germany, the Soviet Union decided to create their own communist Germany in the Eastern Zone. Stalin picked Walter Ulbricht to head the new government, which was closely modeled on Stalinist Russia. Ulbricht created a secret police (the Stasi), who ruthlessly enforced his rule and tolerated no dissent. Rigid standards were imposed on industrial production, and thousands fled the Eastern Zone for the West.

Striking factory works soon began calling for change in leadership and Ulbricht and the other East German communists turned to the Soviets for help. Soviet forces quickly crushed the rebellion, killing at least 40 and arresting thousands more. Despite the revolt, the Soviets decided to keep Ulbricht in power.

Second Berlin Crisis Begins, as Khrushchev requests that the Western Allies leave Berlin.  

Walter Ulbricht officially ordered his police and security forces to begin construction of a barrier that would surround West Berlin, effectively cutting the city in two. Over the next 28 years the wall was steadily expanded and refined, with all access except for a few roads between the East and West sectors cut.

In a speech in West Berlin, President John F. Kennedy said, “All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in saying, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner" [I am a Berliner].

An agreement was signed by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union that codified West Berlin’s ties with West Germany. This agreement helped to significantly reduce tensions between the East and West over the issue of Berlin.

The Basic Treaty governing relations between East and West Germany is signed by both parties. Both states agreed to recognize each other, and the four powers agreed to support their admission to the United Nations. This was undertaken with the caveat that it would not affect the status of Berlin in any way.

In a speech in West Berlin, President Ronald Reagan says, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” 

In an unprecedented move, Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany, visited the capital of West Germany. The new Chancellor of West Germany, Helmut Kohl, received Honecker with full state honors. This was significant because it was a further indicator that the FRG accepted the GDR on an equal setting in the realm of state politics.

On the evening of October 9, 1989, Leipzig witnessed the largest protest demonstration in East Germany since the uprising of June 17, 1953: seventy thousand people marched through the city center, demanding democracy with the chant "Wir sind das Volk" (We are the people). The march is one of many "Monday Demonstrations" held weekly in Leipzig and other East German cities.

Erich Honecker resigns. At his suggestion, Egon Krenz was elected as the new General Secretary of the SED Central Committee. The announcement about the Central Committee meeting continued with the news that Politburo members and Central Committee Secretaries Günter Mittag (economy) and Joachim Herrmann (media) had been removed from their posts. Thus the actual power center around Erich Honecker had been destroyed, bringing an epoch in East German history to an end. 

The center of East Berlin was entirely filled with demonstrators by the early morning of November 4, 1989. Traffic had come to a complete standstill. Actors wearing green and yellow sashes, bearing the slogan "No Violence" were on hand to keep order, and were accepted good-naturedly by everyone. A security partnership with the People's Police had been established.

The entire East German government resigned, after directing a final appeal to the public that, "in this serious situation, all energies be concentrated on keeping up all functions indispensable to the people, society and the economy." The ministers remained in office until a new cabinet was formed, and their last decision was to eliminate military instruction in schools.

After a misunderstanding, Günter Schabowski announced in a press conference the opening of all border crossings within Berlin and with the Federal Republic of Germany. Tens of thousands of people immediately went to the Wall, where the border guards opened access points and allowed them to cross.

The "Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany" more commonly known as the "Two Plus Four Treaty" was the final peace treaty negotiated between the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, and the Four Powers that occupied Germany at the end of World War II in Europe - France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union. The treaty paved the way for the German re-unification, which took place on October 3.

Following a treaty signed by the four occupying powers and the two German states in Moscow on September 12, the two Germanys were officially reunited as one into the Federal Republic of Germany. The first free elections of a unified Germany were held on December 2, 1990.