French occupation zone in Germany

Following the armistice of World War One, Allied forces occupied part of German territory throughout the 1920s. [2] France administered the Saar Basin Territory until 1935.

The Treaty of Versailles provided a military presence of the French, the British, the Americans, and the Belgians on the left bank of the Rhine and part of the right bank from January 1920, for a period of 5 to 15 years, depending on the territories[3]. The French inherited both of the largest of the zones of occupation. It grew further with the rapid withdrawal of the United States, as well as the direction of the High Commission inter-allied with Rhine territories, (HCITR), the chairmanship of the government commission of the Saar (mandated by the League of Nations), as well as that of Memel and Upper Silesia.

The strength of the occupying forces was 100,000 in the Rhineland during the calmest periods. The maximum number of soldiers was reached in May 1921, during the first occupation of Ruhrort, Düsseldorf, and Duisburg, with 250,000 soldiers, which included 210,000 French soldiers. This occurred due to the German failure to cover reparations payments. The French troops left in 1931.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the Yalta conference to discuss the post-war occupation of Germany. At the insistence of Charles de Gaulle, and the Provisional Government of the French Republic, they allocated a zone to France.[4]

Extract from the final press release, Article 4

IV. Occupation zone for France and control council in Germany

It was decided that an area of Germany would be allocated to France and occupied by French forces. This zone would be taken from the British and American zones, and its borders would be fixed by the British and the Americans, in agreement with the French Provisional Government.

It was also decided that the French Provisional Government would be invited to be part of the Allied Control Commission in Germany.

To create the occupation zone, the British ceded the Saarland, the Palatinate, and territories on the left bank of the Rhine up to Remagen (including Trier, Koblenz, and Montabaur). The Americans ceded land south of Baden-Baden (which became Land of Baden), land south of Free People's State of Württemberg (which became Land of Württemberg-Hohenzollern), Lindau circle on Lake Constance, and four circles of Hesse east of the Rhine.[4]

French forces in Germany officially took possession of the area on July 26, 1945.[4]

In April and May of 1945, the French 1st Army had captured Karlsruhe and Stuttgart and conquered a territory extending to Hitler's Eagle's Nest and the Westernmost part of Austria. In July, the French relinquished Stuttgart to the Americans, and in exchange, were given control over cities west of the Rhine such as Mainz and Koblenz.[5] This resulted in two barely contiguous areas of Germany along the French border, which met at just a single point along the River Rhine. Three German states (Land) were established: Rheinland Pfalz in the northwest, Württemberg-Hohenzollern in the southeast, and South Baden in the southwest. Württemberg-Hohenzollern and South Baden later formed Baden-Württemberg when they joined with Württemberg-Baden of the American Zone.

The French Zone of Occupation included the Saar Protectorate, which was separated on February 16, 1946. By December 18, 1946, custom controls were established between the Saar area and Allied-occupied Germany. The French zone ceded further areas adjacent to the Saar in mid-1946, early 1947, and early 1949.

Included in the French zone was the town of Büsingen am Hochrhein, a German exclave separated from the rest of the country by a narrow strip of neutral Swiss territory. The Swiss government agreed to allow a limited number of French troops to pass through its territory inorder to maintain law and order in Büsingen.

It was not until February 9, 1945, that the two Berlin districts (Reinickendorf and Wedding District) were assigned to the French.[6]

• 
  French forces in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, 1946
• 
  Forces Françaises à Berlin (French Forces in Berlin) insignia after 1949

By the end of October 1946, the French Zone had a population of approximately five million people (population breakdown below):

• Rheinland Pfalz: 2.7 million
• Baden (South Baden): 1.2 million
• Württemberg-Hohenzollern: 1.05 million

(The Saar Protectorate had a further 0.8 million.)[7]

A French Education Directorate in Germany was created to educate the children of military and civilian families.

After representing the French during the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender which officially ended the conflicts in the European theater of the war, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny briefly served as the commander-in-chief of French Forces in Germany[8] before that role was taken on by Marie-Pierre Kœnig.[9]

André François-Poncet, the ambassador to Germany during the 1930's, was named French high commissioner to West Germany after the war, a position later elevated to ambassador. He served in that capacity until 1955.[10] [11]

Claude Hettier de Boislambert, Guillaume Widmer, Pierre Pène served as governors of the Rhineland-Palatinate, Württemberg-Hohenzollern, and Baden, respectively.[12]

• Monnet plan
• Allied-occupied Austria

• Corine Defrance, La Politique culturelle de la France sur la rive gauche du Rhin, 1945–1955, Presses universitaires de Strasbourg, 1994.
• Compte rendu du deuxième Congrès de l'Organisation des fonctionnaires résistants en Allemagne, Höllhof, 1949
• Hillel, Marc, L'occupation française en Allemagne 1945-1949, Balland, 1983.