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The Allied Governments on the Zones of Occupation and the Administration of "Greater Berlin" (July 26, 1945)

In the summer of 1945, the victorious powers amended the protocol of September 12, 1944: France was added as an occupying power, and Germany and Berlin were now divided into four zones each. Additionally, the allocation of zones was specified: the Soviet Union was given the Eastern Zone, Great Britain occupied northwestern Germany, except for the port cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven, which were allocated to the United States to aid in the provisioning of American troops stationed in the southwestern zone. France occupied the westernmost part of Germany.

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Protocol between the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the provisional government of the French Republic on the zones of occupation in Germany and the administration of “Greater Berlin”, September 12, 1944, as amended by the agreements of November 14, 1944 and July 26, 1945


The Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, have reached the following agreement with regard to the execution of Article 11 of the Instrument of Unconditional Surrender of Germany:

1. Germany, within her frontiers as they were on the 31st December 1937, will, for the purposes of occupation, be divided into four zones, one of which will be allotted to each of the four Powers, and a special Berlin area, which will be under joint occupation by the four Powers.

2. The boundaries of the four zones and of the Berlin area, and the allocation of the four zones as between the U.K., the U.S.A., the U.S.S.R. and the Provisional Government of the French Republic will be as follows:

Eastern Zone [ . . . ]
The territory of Germany (including the province of East Prussia) situated to the East of a line drawn from the point on Lübeck Bay where the frontiers of Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg meet [ . . . ] will be occupied by armed forces of the U.S.S.R., with the exception of the Berlin area, for which a special system of occupation is provided below.

North-Western (United Kingdom) Zone [ . . . ]
The territory of Germany situated to the west of the line defined in the description of the Eastern (Soviet) Zone; [ . . . ] will be occupied by the armed forces of the United Kingdom.

South-Western (United States) Zone [ . . . ]
The territory of Germany situated to the south and east of a line commencing at the junction of the frontiers of Saxony, Bavaria and Czechoslovakia and extending westwards along the northern frontier of Bavaria to [ . . . ] where the latter meets the Austro-German frontier will be occupied by armed forces of the United States of America.

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