Why was bonn chosen as capital instead of Berlin?

Answer 1

Bonn was NEVER meant to be the permanent capital of West Germany. Even when it was voted as provisional seat of government, the delegates assiduously avoided referring to it as "capital" as they still hoped that eventually the zones of occupation would be re-united into one country, with Berlin as its capital.

Following the end of the Second World War, West Germany had to find a new seat of Government. The old Capital City, Berlin, was not an option due to the Quadripartite Agreement that prohibited Berlin being the capital, but also the fact that the city was in the middle of the Soviet occupation zone made it unsuitable.

Four cities submitted applications to become the new provisional seat of government (the expression "capital" was assiduously avoided in light of German hopes of a re-unification):

Frankfurt am Main

Bonn

Kassel

Stuttgart

Kassel soon fell by the wayside due to the extensive war damage and the fact that it was close to the Russian zone. It was soon followed by Stuttgart due to the city's precarious financial situation. This left just Bonn and Frankfurt in the running.

Bonn was heavily favoured by the British military government and the conservative CDU/CSU party. Whilst Frankfurt was favoured by the left of centre SPD. The decision was to be made by a vote of the Parlimentarischer Rat (Parliamentary Council). On the eve of the vote, it looked as though Bonn would lose out to Frankfurt as the Hessian CDU Council members were planning to vote against Bonn, in favour of their own "local" city. However, immediately before the vote, the famous CDU politician Konrad Adenauer (who become Germany's first Bundespräsident), read out a "confidential report" of the German Press Association (Deutsche Presse-Dienst, DPD), which claimed that the SPD leader, Kurt Schumacher, had expressed delight over a "sure defeat" of the conservatives in the vote. This was enough to sway the Hessian members and the vote went Bonn's way, with 33 votes to 29.

It later transpired the "confidential report" had been written by a DPD journalist, who leant towards the CDU and had never been filed with the DPD. It is not known how it came into Adenauer's possession.

The official reasons that were given, as to why Frankfurt had not been chosen, were its lack of office and living space on the one hand but also whether it would have been possible to persuade the US to move its military government out of Frankfurt on the other, as it was intended that the new German seat of government should be free of occupation forces.

Following the vote, accusations of corruption arose and it was claimed that delegates received more than DM2,000,000 in bribes to vote in favour of Bonn. A subsequent inquiry established that the money had indeed been paid to delegates according to their votes but could not establish if or how exactly the payments affected the vote.

With the completion of re-unification on 3 October 1990, Berlin once more became the capital of Germany and plans were set in motion to move the German government from Bonn to Berlin. As a result of this move, the city of Bonn received a generous compensation package to cover the financial loss of such a move and also received the title Bundesstadt (Federal City) in honour of its role during the post-war years.

Answer 2

Before World War II, Germany's capital was of course in Berlin. The treaties that ended the war said Germany could not seat its Parliament permanently in Berlin.

The question of Berlin is going to take some time to explain, so bear with me. Germany's natural inclination is to be one nation with Berlin, its most important city, as its capital. The West German constitution written after the war was ended always contained two articles pertaining to the reunification of Germany: Article 23 and Article 146. If they would have used Article 23, the states (Länder) of the Democratic Republic would accept the Basic Law and become part of the Federal Republic. If they would have used Article 146, the Basic Law of the Federal Republic and the Constitution of the Democratic Republic would have been torn up and a new constitution written. (In the end they used Article 23 - the Democratic Republic was on the verge of collapse after their Soviet benefactors cut off support, and Article 146 would have taken too long.)

So...why Bonn? There were several cities in West Germany that would have made perfect capitals. Frankfurt am Main is the most obvious. Stuttgart, Heidelberg, Munich, Hanover, Bremen and Hamburg would also have been good. Choosing one of them would have sent a message to the German people: We accept this new situation. Germany will no longer be one nation and Berlin will never again be its capital. Das ist nicht Gut, ja? So...they picked the biggest hick town in all Germany and set up their provisional capital in it. (It's cleaned up nicely since then, but it wasn't so good in the late 1940s.) After reunification they reestablished the government in Berlin.