Russian Commands and German Resistance: The Soviet Occupation, 1945-1949

by Edward N. Peterson

Overview

The common assumption has been that Stalin established a totalitarian state in his zone and that the authoritarian Germans simply continued from one obedience to the other. Scholarly analysis, first possible with the coming down of the Wall, begins with the Soviet Command in Berlin. It then traces policy implementation in four German states and eight local communities. The surprising conclusion is that the purposes of Stalin were confused, that the Moscow policy was ambivalent, and the assigned personnel insufficiently prepared and controlled. The German response was a massive resistance, whether out of a desire for freedom, or for a higher standard of living, or the inertia of continuing in their individualistic/capitalist ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820439488
Publisher:	Lang, Peter Publishing, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/01/1999
Series:	Studies in Modern European History , #29
Pages:	510
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

The Author: Edward N. Peterson received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1953. He has taught history at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls since 1954. His publications include Hjalmar Schacht: For and Against Hitler; The Limits of Hitler's Power; The American Occupation of Germany: Retreat to Victory; The Many Faces of Defeat: The German People's Experience in 1945; An Analytical History of World War II.

Table of Contents

	Abbreviations	vii
	Introduction	1
	What the Russians Commanded
Part I.	Berlin: the Center of Commands
	1945 - From Violence to Ambivalence	7
	1946 - The SED Compelled and Resisted	29
	1947 - The German Way Comes to a Dead End	51
	1948 - Blockading Berlin, Isolating the Zone	71
	1949 - The Controversial Birth of the DDR	89
	How the Germans Resisted
Part II.	Sachsen - Dresden Radicals Thwart Berlin	103
	Leipzig City - The Cultured Socialist Mayor Struggles	145
	Leipzig Landkreis - The Corrupt Landrat Fights	171
	Grimma - Frustrated Farmers Frustrate SMA	187
	Gorlitz - From "Dying City" to Luxury Wagons	221
Part III.	Thuringen - Vigor in Command and in Dissent	253
	Eisenach - Open Exposure and Corruption by the West	305
Part IV.	Sachsen-Anhalt - A Bourgeois President Resists and Survives	331
	Stendal and the Altmark - Violence, Sabotage, SED Failure	379
Part V.	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern - Rural Reactionary to Refugee Radical	399
	Schwerin - Confiscations, Compulsion, Cleanliness, Complaints	437
	Stralsund - Russian Chaos into German Calm	453
Part VI.	A Sum of the Many Commands and Resistances	473
	The SBZ in the Perspective of the American Zone
	The SBZ in the Perspective of Time
	Bibliography	495
	Index	505

Editorial Reviews

Analyzes the Soviet Command in Germany immediately after WWII, beginning with Berlin and tracing its implementation in four German states and eight local communities. Shows that the purposes of Stalin were confused, the Moscow policy was ambivalent, and the assigned personnel were insufficiently prepared and controlled, and details how and why Germans resisted. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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