The 1949 election; the economic miracle

1949 election

In 1949, 73-year-old Konrad Adenauer of the Christian Democratic Union was elected as FRG's first chancellor, a position he held for 14 years. Meanwhile, Free Democratic Party's Theodor Heuss was elected by the convention as federal president.

On 20 September 1949, Adenauer formed his cabinet with ministers from the Christian Democratic Party, Christian Social Union and Free Democratic Party.

Adenauer and Heuss in Bonn

Apart from Saarland, all Länder participated in the 1949 election of the 1st German Bundestag. The Bundestag first convened in Bonn on 7 September 1949. The coalition of CDU/CSU, FDP and DP which garnered 208 seats or 51.7% of the Bundestag elected Adenauer as chancellor. On the same day, Erich Köhler was elected as the president of the Bundestag.

SPD Paul Löbe opened the Bundestag's first session on 7 September 1949

As decided by the Parliamentary Council, Bonn became the capital city of the FRG and home of the parliament. Depicted in the picture above, Löbe opened the first session of the Bundestag. He was the oldest serving representative of the parliament.

Economic miracle

The rapid reconstruction and revival of the West German economy at the time of Adenauer was called Wirtschaftswunder or economic miracle. Under the leadership of Ludwig Erhard, Adenauer's economic minister, West Germany achieved a social market economy.

In 1948, as part of currency reform and to address inflation, the Reichsmark was replaced by the Deutsche Mark as West Germany's legal tender. It was implemented along with tax cuts for moderate-income earners.

Historians regarded ordoliberalism or the ordoliberal growth model as the main key to West Germany's economic miracle. This concept highlighted the need for the state to ensure that the free market's output is close to its potential.

In 1948, the currency reform somehow alleviated the rampant inflation in post-war West Germany.

After rebuilding capital stocks, which increased economic output, West Germany slowly recovered over the course of the decade. With high capital investments and low consumption, along with a mixed economy, West Germans experienced productivity growth, which led to greater security in their lives.

By the late 1950s, West Germany became one of the leading economies in Europe. They achieved the highest annual growth rate in Western Europe. Moreover, unemployment decreased to 0.4% by 1960, while productivity increased by 600%. Lastly, very low inflation enabled average Germans to buy more consumer goods.

Political and social stability

Prior to being the first chancellor of the FRG, Adenauer served as chairman of the CDU in 1949. After the coalition with the Bavarian CSU, Adenauer dominated the Bundestag in September 1949. As chancellor, he believed in individualism under the rule of law. He opposed the idea of creating an egalitarian mass society.

The Adenauer Era (1949-1963) was characterised by political stability. On 5 May 1955, the FRG was declared full sovereign from Allied occupation. However, the British, American and French troops remained in the FRG, while the Reds remained in East Germany. On 9 May, West Germany joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO.

Adenauer's economic and foreign policies gained him more prestige. In the elections of 1953 and 1957, his coalition still dominated the Bundestag.

In support of denazification, Adenauer banned the neo-Nazi Socialist Reich Party in 1952. In the same year, he signed an agreement with Israel, which agreed to pay 3 billion marks as compensation to the Jews who were victimised during the Holocaust.

While high-ranking Nazi war criminals were imprisoned, some party members were rehabilihated. In 1951, Adenauer's government passed amnesty laws for about 150,000 German officials who had been removed from office by the Allied occupation. Three years later, a second amnesty was passed which annulled the British denazification programme. Both amnesties became controversial which weakened the justice system, but gained Adenauer right-wing support.

Foreign policy

Adenauer was very particular in his foreign policies. He believed that communist expansion in the East was a threat to democracy. With deep Christian values, he argued that peaceful coexistence between dictatorship and individualistic rule was impossible. As a result, he became a huge supporter of the Allies' containment policy against the USSR.

Franco-German relations

Map showing the location of Saarland between West Germany and France

With the special status of the Saarland and possible rearmament of the FRG, Adenauer was decisive in improving Franco-German relations in the early 1950s. Between 13 and 15 February, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman met with Adenauer. Their different views on Saarland left the meeting unproductive. At that time, Saarland, a prewar territory of Germany, was one of the richest coalfields in Europe.

Despite calling for a referendum in West Germany, Paris refused to return Saarland. Still determined to restore territorial sovereignty, Chancellor Adenauer made a public announcement on the willingness of the FRG for closer relations with France.

On 6 and 21 March 1950, Adenauer was interviewed by American journalist Kingsbury-Smith. He insisted that improving France-German relations was vital in rebuilding West Germany. Adenauer's idea was to create a united states in Europe through the political and economic unification of France and West Germany. The idea was bluntly dismissed by the French government.

On 23 October 1954, France and West Germany agreed on the Saarstatut or establishment of an independent Saarland. However, a plebiscite rejected the pact.

On 27 October 1956, the Saar Treaty declared Saarland's little unification (kleine Wiedervereinigung) with West Germany.

The Deutsche Mark replaced the Saar franc on 7 July 1959. Moreover, French remained to be the first foreign language in Saar schools.

Map showing contested German territories under the Treaty of Versailles

Need for rearmament

Under the Morgenthau Plan, Germany was obliged to return its economy to its pre-industrial state. In order to avoid another war, significant industries in raising the military were reduced. In 1946, the US government approved the moderation of the plan to avoid desperation among the German people. Similar to the rise of the Nazis, the Western powers believed that poverty and hunger would push the Germans to join extremist groups, such as the communists.

Following Soviet denotation of the RDS-1 atomic bomb in August 1949 and the Korean War in June 1950, the US believed that West Germany should undergo a rearmament programme and be included in the Allies defensive system.

Despite the reluctance of France and Great Britain, Dwight Eisenhower endorsed West Germany's right to re-arm. In 1955, West Germany was accepted to NATO. In the same year, the Bundeswehr or West German military was established.

Walter Hallstein (left) and Konrad Adenauer (centre) at the NATO Conference in Paris in 1954

The Bundeswehr was neither the successor of the Reichswehr (1921-1935) nor the Wehrmacht (1935-1946). According to Hasso von Manteuffel, a former Wehrmacht general and politician, the Bundeswehr was created for the defence of the FRG.

On 12 November 1955, the Bundeswehr was officially created. Members of the new German armed forces were educated to become defenders of a democratic state and its citizens. In 1956, the US Military Assistance Advisory Group or MAAG introduced military equipments. Also in the same year, conscription for all men between the ages 18 and 45 was introduced.

The police forces and the military units created by the FRG were integrated into the European army as proposed by NATO.

<img src="https://simplestudy-assets-prod.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets/backend/uploads/manually-styled-note-images/dcd6a10a-7c3f-46c6-bdf3-0cda697445f7.png" width="153" height="218" alt=""His comrades - our allies", German poster promoting the integration of the Bundeswehr into NATO" />

"His comrades - our allies", German poster promoting the integration of the Bundeswehr into NATO

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

In response to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) initiated by the USSR in January 1949, the Allies created NATO in April 1949.

The United States and Canada signed a treaty with Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal signifying that assistance should be given if any of the said countries were attacked. West Germany and Turkey followed suit.

EEC (European Economic Community)

Following their acceptance in NATO, the FRG became one of the founding members of the EEC in March 1957.

Under the Treaty of Rome, the EEC and EURATOM (European Atomic Energy Community) were established. The EEC aimed to bring economic integration among its members. Founding members included Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It was later joined by the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain. In 1990, following the unification, East Germany also joined the EEC.

Signing of the Treaty of Rome, 1957

Policy towards USA and USSR

Adenauer's chancellorship of the FRG encompassed two phases of the Cold War. The first was between 1948 and 1953 covering the Berlin Blockade and the death of Stalin. The second was from 1959 until 1963, scoping the Berlin Crisis and the US-Soviet clashes in Cuba.

Since the establishment of the FRG, Adenauer, being its first chancellor, was known to forge alliance with the West, particularly the United States. He was a staunchly anti-communist who guaranteed the protection of West Germany through its admission in NATO and rearmament programme.

On 10 March 1952, Joseph Stalin sent a document, later known as the Stalin Note or the March Note, to the Western Allies in West Germany. The document contained Stalin's proposal for the unification of Germany with no political and economic conditions. In response, a member of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations characterised Stalin's proposal as a bluff. The Allies and Adenauer on the other hand saw the action as a way to stall the West Germany reintegration. Exchanges of notes between the Allies and the USSR eventually ended with no positive results for Stalin.

As per Adenauer, he believed that unification with East Germany was impossible without the unification of Western Europe. He argued that securing West Germany's alliance with the West meant they will no longer be under the Soviet Union.