Title

A Glimpse of Freedom: Allied Occupation and Political Resistance in East Germany

Author(s)

Luis Martinez Luis Martinez (University of Chicago )

Jonas Jessen Jonas Jessen (the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin))

Guo Xu Guo Xu (University of California, Berkeley)

Abstract

This paper studies costly political resistance in a non-democracy. When Nazi Germany surrendered in May 1945, 40% of the designated Soviet occupation zone was initially captured by the western Allied Expeditionary Force. This occupation was short-lived: Soviet forces took over after less than two months and installed an authoritarian regime in what became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). We exploit the idiosyncratic line of contact separating Allied and Soviet troops within the GDR to show that areas briefly under Allied occupation had higher incidence of protests during the only major episode of political unrest in the GDR before its demise in 1989 - the East German Uprising of 1953. These areas also exhibited lower regime support during the last free elections in 1946. We argue that even a “glimpse of freedom" can foster civilian opposition to dictatorship.

Creation Date

2020-04

Section URL ID

Paper Number

18

URL

https://esoc.princeton.edu/publications/esoc-working-paper-18-glimpse-freedom-allied-occupation-and-political-resistance-east

File Function

Jel

D72, D74, P26

Keyword(s)

German Democratic Republic; East Germany,World War II, Dictatorship, Protests, Soviet Union, Line of Contact, Regression Discontinuity Design

Suppress

false

Series

12