Partition of India: The War of Identity

Iris Wong Wern Yien
Monash University, Malaysia
ATS1325 - Contemporary Worlds 1
Professor Helen Nesadurai
Mr Chien Aun, Koh
6th May 2014
Soviet American confrontation in the Cold War - German’s decision World War 2 has affected many countries, most of the Europe countries were badly destroyed, and people were suffering mentally and physically. Many country face financial problem as large sums of money was invested in weapons during the war. Germany was forced to take full responsibility of all the chaos that was cause, and in order to force the Germans to pay, the victors of the war made a decision to divide Germany into 4 zones govern by 4 different countries [British, American, French and Soviet Union]. The 4 countries were to treat Germany as an economic unit, yet there was contrast in the governing of the 4 zones as each country hold on to different political ideologies, which caused conflict in Germany and eventually split Germany into East and West. Germany was indirectly the starting cause of the Cold War confrontation of the American and Soviet Union as they imply their policies into the German zones they were governing, and eventually the Germans each supported different ideologies. One of the most significant factor which contributed to the confrontation of the American and Soviet Union was he Germans reaction towards the policies that were establish in each zones, because after the 2nd World War most Germans were mostly confuse and exhausted by the war, the intervention of different countries and ideologies affected the population, which eventually force them to take sides, this then increases the conflict between the American and the Soviet Union due to the contrast of the people’s reaction towards the different ideologies.
The Confuse and Exhausted German Population The Nazi’s have been governing the country for 12 years, and in order to prevent Nazi’s to rise up, the 4 countries that are governing the zones decided to established the 5 Ds in each zone, which is Demilitarization, Denazification, Democratization, Disarment and Decentralization (O’ Dochartaigh, P, p.5). The elimination of Nazi was taken very seriously as the countries believe that “its pernicious ideology had permeated the very core of German society” (O’ Dochartaigh, P, p.11). But in reality, some Germans wished to “simply forget those 12 years and move on” (O’ Dochartaigh, P, p. 13) because when the war ended, “a quarter of the German population was homeless and half the German population had at least lost one family member in the war”, other than that the basic services [transport system, postal service, hospitals, running water, gas and electricity supply, food distribution etc] had ceased to function (Bessel, R 2011, p140). So, most of the Germans often had “little energy for public engagement, which meant that Germany’s new rulers were met by a surprisingly passive population, not the fantacized Nazi ‘Volk’ that many had imagined to greet them” (Bessel, R 2011, p.154). Most Germans had little choice but to adapt to their new circumstances, and submit to the authorities. As the Soviet Union intervened in East Germany, they aroused fear and hostility, making arbitrary arrests, and setting up ‘special camps’ for real and imagined Nazis (p.142). Terror was the tool used by the Stalinist system for denazification in East Germany, forced confessions were obtained through physical and psychological torture, and there was no right and no witness of defense, the indiscriminate wave of arrests led to 35,000 people wrongfully arrest (Molly, P, p. 61). The violence, fear, exhaustion, integration and mobility although establish an order, but it was fragile (Bessel, R 2011, p. 157). The harsh treatment towards the population later affected the decision making of picking sides [ideologies], as there was a contrast in the treatment between East and West Germany.

Intervention of ideologies Germans are often associated, and often associate themselves, with order. Theirs, it seems, is a culture in which people expect the state, society and economy to function (Bessel, R 2011, p.139). After the German defeat, the new East German ‘People’s Police’ was established, many of the new recruits are ill-disciplined or corrupt as most of them joined the force neither out of political conviction nor idealistic desire to serve the public but primarily in order to gain food [ration cards], clothing [uniform, boots] and shelter [police barracks], which left Germany with an ineffective force (Bessel, R 2011, pp. 148-149). Initially the task of imposing order was fallen to the Red Army, whose soldiers also caused widespread fear and disorder (Bessel, R 2011, p.146). The arrival of Soviet troops often occur terrible violence against the civilian population and the burning of towns and villages to the ground (Bessel, R 2011, pp.140-141). This was evident in one of the victims who went through the harsh treatment by the Russian and the German soldiers, Erika a young girl was arrested by the soldiers and was accused of being against Stalin, she was tortured during the force confession by the Russians and later was send to the German camps where she stated that the treatment was way more harsh than it was by the Russians (Molly, P, p. 64). The condition in East Germany was evidently worse compare to the West, which then later lead to people fleeing to the West side.
Germans Migration reflects ideologies As the years go by, and the creation of the German Democratic Republic, East Germany is mostly under the influence of Soviet Union - Stalinism. Yet there was a majority of the population [workers, farmers and intellectuals] are dissatisfied with the economic and political measures that have been introduced by the GDP (Bruce, G 2003, p. 25). Especially when Soviet Union rejected the Marshall plan and the European Recovery Programme to help the economic misery in East Germany (Williamson, D, G, p.27). Some people started to leave East Germany to the West, and an effort was made to “stop the exodus of scientists, engineers, and technicians, as well as ‘cultural workers’ in the arts”, but the Stalinist methods and the proclamation of “socialist realism” in 1948 left many nervously uncertain of the future (Kitchen, M, p. 331). The migration of Germans shows that the people favours the West, and seen it as a more stable place to live. This cause Soviet Union to feel threaten by the increasing power in the West Germany, which then result in more conflict during the confrontation with America. In conclusion, it is seen that the German population was the key factor in affecting the confrontation between the American and the Soviet Union, because the partition of the East and West Germany symbolizes the two different ideologies [capitalist and communist], and yet when the policies were implemented to each zone, it is seen that the Germans favour capitalism. There is a contrast between East and West Germany, and it is seen that the West was more stable compare to the East. Both America and Soviet Union was the strongest country after World War 2 and the partition of Germany was the starting of the competition between both countries ideologically and economically, but with the result of the world today, it is seen that people still favours capitalism.
References
Bessel, R 2011, Establishing Order in Post-war Eastern Germany, The Past and Present Society. pp. 139-157.

Best, A, Hanhimaki, J, Maiolo, J & Schulze, K 2008, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, pp. 248-249.

Bruce, G 2003, Journal of Cold War Studies: The Prelude to Nationwide Surveillance in East Germany: Stasi Operations and Threat Perceptions, 1945-1953, Volume 5, Number 2, Project Muse, The MIT Press, pp. 3-31.

Kitchen, M, A History of Modern Germany 1800 to the present, Chapter 15: The German Democratic Republic, Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 326-357.

Major, P 2009, Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the Frontiers of Power, East Germany’s Dual Crisis: Politics and Economics on the Eve of the Wall, Oxford Scholarship Online, Oxford University Press, pp. 1-43.

Molly, P, The Lost World of Communism: An Oral History of Daily Life Behind the Iron Curtain, Chapter 3: Trials & Punishment, BBC Books, pp. 63-73.

O’Dochartaigh, P, Germany Since 1945, Introduction: Germany before 1945, Chapter 1: Defeat, Occupation and Division, 1945-9, Chapter 2: Economic Success while Cementing Division, 1949-61, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England pp. 1-37.

Williamson, D, G, Germany from Defeat to Partition 1945-1963, Chapter 2: Allied Occupation policy, August 1945-December 1947, Chapter 3: The Division of Germany, Seminar Studies in History, Pearson Education, pp. 11-35.

References: Bessel, R 2011, Establishing Order in Post-war Eastern Germany, The Past and Present Society. pp. 139-157. Best, A, Hanhimaki, J, Maiolo, J & Schulze, K 2008, International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond, Routledge, pp. 248-249. Bruce, G 2003, Journal of Cold War Studies: The Prelude to Nationwide Surveillance in East Germany: Stasi Operations and Threat Perceptions, 1945-1953, Volume 5, Number 2, Project Muse, The MIT Press, pp. 3-31. Kitchen, M, A History of Modern Germany 1800 to the present, Chapter 15: The German Democratic Republic, Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 326-357. Major, P 2009, Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the Frontiers of Power, East Germany’s Dual Crisis: Politics and Economics on the Eve of the Wall, Oxford Scholarship Online, Oxford University Press, pp. 1-43. Molly, P, The Lost World of Communism: An Oral History of Daily Life Behind the Iron Curtain, Chapter 3: Trials & Punishment, BBC Books, pp. 63-73. O’Dochartaigh, P, Germany Since 1945, Introduction: Germany before 1945, Chapter 1: Defeat, Occupation and Division, 1945-9, Chapter 2: Economic Success while Cementing Division, 1949-61, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England pp. 1-37. Williamson, D, G, Germany from Defeat to Partition 1945-1963, Chapter 2: Allied Occupation policy, August 1945-December 1947, Chapter 3: The Division of Germany, Seminar Studies in History, Pearson Education, pp. 11-35.