Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD (Federal Republic of Germany). (1) The West German Federal Republic owed its origin to the divisions between the three western occupying powers on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other, which culminated in the walk-out of the Russian representative from the Control Council (Kontrollrat) on 20 March 1948. On 1 July 1948 an assembly was convened to draw up a constitution. This ‘Verfassungskonvent’ sat in August and created the Parliamentary Council (Parlamentarischer Rat), which adopted the basic constitutional law (see Grundgesetz) on 8 May 1949. It became effective on 23 May.

According to its provisions, which have remained unchanged since reunification (see 2), the head of state is the Federal President (Bundespräsident), elected for five years and eligible for a second term. However, the political direction belongs, not to the President, but to a cabinet under the Federal Chancellor (Bundeskanzler) representing a majority of the members of the elected single-chamber parliament (Bundestag). Election is by a complex system of direct and proportional votes designed to eliminate the small splinter groups which rendered the governments of the Weimar Republic unstable. The limitation of presidential powers is also intended to prevent rule by decree as it occurred in the Hindenburg era. The Federal Government controls foreign policy, defence (Bundeswehr, instituted 1956), railways, post and federal finance, but not police or education (including the universities) both of which pertain to the constituent states (Bundesländer).

The West German Federal Presidents have been Theodor Heuß (1949-59), Heinrich Lübke (1959-69), Gustav Heinemann (1969-74), Walter Scheel (1974-9), Karl Carstens (1979-84), and Richard von Weizsäcker (1984-90). The first West German Chancellor was Konrad Adenauer (1949-63, CDU), followed by Ludwig Erhard (1963-6, CDU), who as minister of economics in the Adenauer cabinet stood for a competitive, not monopolized, social economy and became known as the ‘father of the economic miracle’ (Wirtschaftswunder); Karl Georg Kiesinger (1966-9, CDU), Willy Brandt (1969-74, SPD), whose visit to East Berlin symbolized his momentous ‘Ostpolitik’, Helmut Schmidt (1974-83, SPD), and Helmut Kohl (1983-1990, CDU). The Federal Republic joined NATO in 1955 and was one of the six original members of the European Community (Europäische Gemeinschaft), formed in 1957 as the EEC (Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft, EWG). In 1973 a treaty of mutual recognition came into force between the Federal Republic and the German Democratic Republic (see Deutsche Demokratische Republik).
(2) The Unification (Wiedervereinigung) of Germany, based on the free self-determination of the German people, was a goal contained in the Basic Law of 1949 in the form of an appeal: ‘Das gesamte deutsche Volk bleibt aufgefordert, in freier Selbstbestimmung die Einheit und Freiheit Deutschlands zu vollenden’. It was achieved on 3 October 1990, the ‘Day of German Unity’ (Tag der deutschen Einheit), after intense inter-German and international negotiations, begun in December 1989. The political developments of 1989/90 were the direct result of Mikhail Gorbachev's reformative policy of ‘openness’ (perestroika) and Erich Honecker's refusal to let it interfere with his own repressive regime. Within a year 120, 000 East Germans fled to the West, thousands took refuge in the West German embassies in Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw hoping for help, until on 11 September Hungary opened its ‘green’ border with Austria. This manifest sign of growing unrest encouraged opposition groups (‘Bürgerrechtsgruppen’, among them ‘Neues Forum’), which originally had held their secret meetings in Protestant church buildings, to organize demonstrations; these began on 9 October in protest against official celebrations of East Germany's 40th anniversary. Of those that followed the most spectacular were the ‘Monday demonstrations’ and those held on 23 October in Leipzig in the presence of 300, 000 people, who joined in the chant ‘Wir sind das Volk’, and, finally, the demonstration of 4 November in East Berlin by an estimated 1, 000, 000 people. By now Honecker had been forced to resign; on 7 November the resignation of his entire government signified in effect, if not de facto, the collapse of the regime (for internal developments see Deutsche Demokratische Republik). On 9 November the Wall was opened, and on the following day Chancellor Kohl gave a celebrated address to the Berliners, assuring the East German people of the solidarity of the West Germans. When, on 20 December, he addressed the people of Dresden, they responded with the significantly modified chant ‘Wir sind ein Volk’. On this day negotiations with Prime Minister Modrow began, initially on the formation of a confederation. Two days later the symbolic opening of the Brandenburger Tor was attended by representatives of both governments and their heads. These public displays of a common will met with cautious international responses. The situation in Germany was first discussed at the NATO summit of 4 December 1989; on 14 February 1990 the foreign ministers of the Allied Powers, the Soviet Union, the USA, France, and the United Kingdom, and of East and West Germany began a series of meetings, known as the ‘two-plus-four negotiations’, in order to draft a treaty defining the conditions for Germany's international recognition as a sovereign state. The ‘Vertrag über die abschließende Regelung in bezug auf Deutschland’ was signed on 12 September 1990 after Gorbachev had waived his objections to the issue of sovereignty and membership of NATO (16 July) and a request by the Polish government that the treaty should provide for Germany's permanent recognition of the ‘Oder-Neiße-Linie’ had been complied with. Recognition of this border, established after Germany's defeat in 1945 (see Weltkriege II) along the Oder and its tributary the Neiße, involved the final renunciation of substantial territories in Pommern and Schlesien (see Preussen). A separate treaty to this effect was signed on 14 November 1990. Other provisions included the retention of the Soviet, US, and British forces stationed in Germany until 1994 and the termination by the four powers of their rights and responsibilities for the united Germany. In effect, these powers gave up their rights on 3 October 1990.

Meanwhile free East German elections on 18 March 1990 had resulted in the formation of a coalition government. Under the new premiership of Lothar de Maizière (CDU), negotiations on East Germany's accession to the Federal Republic began to take shape. Plans suggesting a confederation, perceived as a transitional measure, were finally abandoned; East Germany's perilously weak economy was a major factor in the decision to expedite proceedings. On 18 May a treaty establishing economic, monetary, and social union (Wirtschafts-, Währungs- und Sozialunion) was signed to take effect on 1 July 1990, when the Deutsche Mark became the only legal tender in East Germany. Apart from introducing a social market economy, including the social security system of the Federal Republic, the treaty also provided for temporary measures in anticipation of the complex period of transition. Other provisions included environmental policy, which was to be adjusted to that of West Germany, and the merging of political parties in preparation for the first all German elections. These were held on 2 December 1990. Richard von Weizsäcker, the president of the West German Federal Republic, continued in office and became the first president of the unified Germany (1990-4); he was succeeded by Roman Herzog (1994- ). Helmut Kohl (1990- ) retained his position as Chancellor, strengthened by his energetic promotion of German unification.

The Federal Republic is composed of 16 constituent states, Baden-Württemberg, Bayern, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Niedersachsen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thüringen. Both Bayern and Sachsen have retained the description ‘Freistaat’ marking their status as a republic, acquired in (1918/19. Germany's capital city is Berlin, and on 20 June 1991 a parliamentary vote decided that it should also become the seat of government, which would remain in Bonn until preparations for the move were completed.