The Soviet Occupation of Germany: Hunger, Mass Violence and the Struggle for Peace, 1945-1947

188 Pages·2013·1.2 MB·English

by  Filip Slaveski

The Soviet Occupation of Germany
This is a major new account of the Soviet occupation of post-war
Germanyand thebeginning oftheCold War.DrFilipSlaveski shows
how in the immediate aftermath of war the Red Army command
struggled to contain the violence of soldiers against German civilians
and,atthesametime,feedandrebuildthecountry.Thistaskwasthen
assumed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG),
whichwasestablishedtoimposeorderonthischaos.Itsattempt,how-
ever, intensified the battle for resources and power among competing
occupation organs, especially SVAG and the army, which spilled over
fromthreatsandsabotageintofightingandshootoutsinthestreets.At
times, such conflicts threatened to paralyse occupation governance,
leaving armed troops, liberated POWs, and slave labourers free to
roam. SVAG’s successes in reducing the violence and reconstructing
eastern Germany were a remarkable achievement in the chaotic after-
mathofwar.
filip slaveski is an Honorary Fellow in History at the School of
Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne,
Australia.

The Soviet Occupation
of Germany
Hunger, Mass Violence, and the Struggle
for Peace, 1945–1947
Filip Slaveski
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107043817
©FilipSlaveski2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
ISBN978-1-107-04381-7Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication,
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
For Sr Lieutenant I. N. Sychkov,
who lost more in victory than in defeat
dod 25.3.1946

Contents
Listoftablesandmap pageviii
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xiv
Listofabbreviations xvi
PartI Theexplosionofviolence 1
1 TheSovietadvanceintoGermany 3
2 Inheritingwartimechaos 12
3 Bringingsoldierstoheelafterthewar 28
4 SVAG–armyconflictsin‘peacetime’ 44
5 Suicide,apathy,violence 61
6 ThemutedGermanresponsetoviolence 71
PartII Thebeginningsofpeaceandstability 85
7 ThestruggletofeedGermany 87
8 Thepoliticsoffoodandpeacefulprotest 103
9 BuildingtheSED 117
10 Theshiftinpolicyandendofchaos 127
Conclusion 147
Map 151
Bibliography 152
Index 165
vii
Tables and map
Table7.1 Landavailableper100people,1946(acres) page89
Table7.2 DailyrationentitlementsfortheSovietsectorin
BerlinandDresden,August1945(calories) 91
Table7.3 Calorificentitlementsfornormalconsumers(NCs)
andveryheavyworkers(VHWs),1946 93
Table7.4 The1947coal–foodcycle(tonnes) 94
Table7.5 Birth–deathcycleinBritishzone,1947 95
Table7.6 InfantmortalityratesinBritishzone,1946–7 95
Table7.7 MonthlyinfectionsrecordedinMecklenburg,
1945–6 101
Map1 Thepost-wardivisionofGermanyandland/province
boundariesintheSovietoccupationzone.After
E.F.Ziemke,TheU.S.ArmyintheOccupationofGermany
1944–1946.ArmyHistoricalSeries(Washington,DC:
CenterofMilitaryHistory,UnitedStatesArmy,1990),
backcover. 151
viii