The U.S.S.R. not only disrupted unity on the Allied quadripartite level but also destroyed those united Germany democratic institutions which already existed in 1947-48. An example is the destruction of the political and legal unity of Greater Berlin during 1947-48. First the Soviets interfered in the democratic processes of government in 1947, and then during 1948 they formally and “legally” disrupted the city. A short chronological account follows:
From the beginning of the occupation in 1945, Greater Berlin was considered by the U.S.S.R. and the Western Allies as a single city. There was no “East” or “West” Berlin. The Soviets, taking advantage of their capture of the city, appointed the provisional government of the city and of its subdivisions.
During 1946, in the hope that by this maneuver they could “legitimize” Communist rule in Berlin and in East Germany, the Soviets forced the merger in the East Zone of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) with the KPD (Communist Party) into the SED, the Socialist Unity Party. The intention was to “capture” the Socialist voters of Berlin and the East Zone. The “merger” took place on April 19-20, 1946.
The SPD of Berlin resisted this “merger” and insisted on running under its own name as a separate party in the first postwar Berlin elections of October 20, 1946.
In these elections the Communists received a severe defeat, as is shown by the following table of distribution of votes:
SPD (Social Democratic Party .......... 48.7%
CDU (Christian Democratic Union ………. 22.2%
LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) ………. 9.3%
Non-Communist vote ……………… 80.2%
SED (Socialist Unity Party) (Communist vote) ………. 19.8%
When the first democratically elected city parliament assembled, the Communists had only one one-fifth of the membership. The parliament first elected Mayor Ostrowski (Social Democrat) as Governing Mayor. In April 1947 the parliament repudiated a written agreement by Ostrowski to cooperate with the SED in administering the city's affairs. The parliament voted nonconfidence in him, and Ostrowski resigned. On June 24, 1947, the parliament elected the SPD leader, Ernst Reuter, as Governing Mayor of Berlin. His election conformed to both Allied Kommandatura and Berlin municipal law. The Soviets, however, afraid that Reuter would install officials of his own rather than men of their choice in the city administration, “vetoed” his election. The unified city therefore had no Governing Mayor throughout the greater period of its democratic administration (June 1947-December 1948). In the absence of a Governing Mayor, Deputy Mayor Louise Schroeder conducted the city's affairs.
The city government quite properly insisted on making all civil officials subject to its authority. A struggle broke out immediately over control of the police. The Soviets had installed their representatives in the police, who refused to submit to the legal German controls which had been authorized by the Allied Kommandatura. Instead, the Soviet representatives continued to take orders directly from Soviet (not German and not Allied) officials. This led to a crisis in the city, in which the Western Allies and the legal municipal government and parliament were all equally opposed to arbitrary Soviet interference in the affairs of the city. In the Western sectors the issue was eventually resolved; in the Soviet Sector, however, the Communist police officials defied to the very end the orders of the Allied Kommandatura and the Berlin Government.
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