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| French occupation zone in Germany Französische Besatzungszone Deutschlands | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Military occupation zone of theFrench part ofAllied-occupied Germany | |||||||||||||
| 1945–1949 | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
 French occupation zone, in blue | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Baden-Baden | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • Type | Military Occupation (member ofWestern Bloc) | ||||||||||||
| Military governors | |||||||||||||
• 1945 | Jean de Lattre de Tassigny | ||||||||||||
• 1945–1949 | Marie-Pierre Kœnig | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Post-World War II Cold War | ||||||||||||
| 8 May 1945 | |||||||||||||
• Federal Republic of Germany established | 23 May 1949 | ||||||||||||
| 5 May 1955 | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Today part of | Germany | ||||||||||||
TheFrench occupation zone in Germany (German:Französische Besatzungszone,French:Zone d'occupation française en Allemagne) was one of theAllied-occupied areas inGermany afterWorld War II.
In the aftermath of theSecond World War,Winston Churchill,Franklin D. Roosevelt andJoseph Stalin met at theYalta Conference to discuss Germany's post-war occupation, which included among other things coming to a final determination of the inter-zonal borders.
Originally, there were to be only three zones, with the French excluded. French GeneralCharles de Gaulle, who by this point was the leader of theProvisional Government of the French Republic, was not invited to Yalta. Deeply offended by this snub, the French leader nevertheless worked tirelessly to restore his nation's honour in the aftermath of theGerman occupation. Key to this was ensuring a French occupation of substantial German territories – in de Gaulle's view, only a French occupation of Germany could restore the honour of France. He therefore vehemently demanded that a zone be allocated for French occupation.[1]
Despite the personal disdain each of the "Big Three" held for de Gaulle[citation needed], they were not overly inclined to resist this particular demand[citation needed]. With relatively minor exceptions such as theChannel Islands, the Western Allies' own territories had not been invaded or occupied and thus they did not have the sort of considerations the French deeply felt with respect to matters such as national honour or pride. More importantly perhaps, as a civil and military matter a French occupation zone would relieve the other Allies of some of the burden of administering German territory – this was no small consideration especially in light of the fact the British and Americans still had theEmpire of Japan to subdue after Germany's defeat. Stalin, who was still neutral in the Far Eastern conflict at this point, also agreed. However, the Soviet leader insisted on the condition that the French zone was to be formed out of the previously-agreed American and British zones[citation needed].
For practical and logistical reasons, it was agreed that the French would occupy those regions of Germany bordering their own country, i.e.southwestern Germany. To create the occupation zone, the British ceded theSaarland, thePalatinate, and territories on the left bank of theRhine toRemagen (includingTrier,Koblenz, andMontabaur). The Americans cededland south ofBaden-Baden, land south of theFree People's State of Württemberg (which becameWürttemberg-Hohenzollern), theLindau region onLake Constance, and four regions inHesse east of the Rhine.French Forces in Germany took possession of the area on 26 July 1945.[1]
Also included in the French zone was the town ofBüsingen am Hochrhein, a Germanexclave separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of neutralSwiss territory. The Swiss government refused to consider annexing the town on the grounds that any transfer of territory could be negotiated only with a sovereign German government - something which had ceased to exist following the German surrender. However, the Swiss shared French concerns that the exclave might become a haven for Nazi war criminals, thus an agreement was quickly reached to allow limited numbers of French soldiers to cross Switzerland for the purpose of maintaining law and order in Büsingen.
In April and May, theFrench 1st Army had capturedKarlsruhe andStuttgart and conquered territory extending toHitler's Eagle's Nest and western Austria. In July, the French ceded Stuttgart to the Americans in exchange for control of cities west of the Rhine (includingMainz andKoblenz).[2] This resulted in two barely-contiguous areas of Germany along the French border, which met at a point along the Rhine. After further negotiations, France was also granted anoccupation zone in Austria. The French zone in west of that country bordered the French zone in Germany, thus creating a contiguous area of French-occupied territories (besides the aforementioned exclave of Büsingen am Hochrhein) that bordered each other and/or France itself.
Within French-occupied Germany, threeGerman states were established:Rheinland Pfalz in the northwest,Württemberg-Hohenzollern in the southeast, andSouth Baden in the southwest. Württemberg-Hohenzollern and South Baden later formedBaden-Württemberg when they joined with Württemberg-Baden in the American Zone. The French occupation zone initially included theSaar Protectorate, but this was separated on 16 February 1946. By 18 December that year, customs controls were established between the Saar area and Allied-occupied Germany.
On 9 February 1945 the Berlin districts ofReinickendorf andWedding were assigned to the French.[3][failed verification] By the end of October 1946, the French zone had a population of approximately five million:
The Saar Protectorate had an additional 0.8 million people.[4] The French Education Directorate in Germany was created to educate the children of military and civilian families.
On 18 May 1947 the first Landtag elections were held in the French zone. In Rhineland-Palatinate,Peter Altmeier (CDU) formed an all-parties government withCDU,SPD,FDP andKPD. In Baden, CDU won a majority; Leo Wohleb (CDU) at first formed agrand coalition with SPD, but in 1948 he decided to govern alone without a coalition and in Württemberg-Hohenzollern,Lorenz Bock (CDU) formed a "Germany coalition" with CDU, SPD and FDP.
After representing the French during the signing of theGerman Instrument of Surrender, which officially ended the conflict in the European theater,Jean de Lattre de Tassigny briefly served as commander-in-chief of the French Forces in Germany[5] before the role was assumed byMarie-Pierre Kœnig.[6]André François-Poncet, ambassador to Germany during the 1930s, was named French high commissioner to West Germany after the war. François-Poncet's position was later elevated to ambassador, and he served in that capacity until 1955.[7][8]Claude Hettier de Boislambert, Guillaume Widmer and Pierre Pène were governors of the Rhineland-Palatinate, Württemberg-Hohenzollern and Baden, respectively.[9]
Allied-occupied Germany (1945–1949/1956/1990) | ||
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American Zone |  | |
British Zone | ||
French Zone | ||
Soviet Zone | ||
| Berlin (1949–1990) |
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| International | |
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| National | |
