Federal Republic of Germany and the Economic Miracle

Dates

1949
Elections to the first German Bundestag (parliament): relatively narrow majority for the CDU,/CSU (31.0%) compared with the SPD (29.2%) (14th Aug.)

Election of the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Theodor Heuss (FDP), by the Federal Convention in Bonn (12th Sep.)

Election of the first Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer (CDU), by the Bundestag in Bonn (15th Sep.)

Formation of the first Federal Government, consisting of CDU/CSU, FDP, Deutscher Partei (20th Sep.)

Statute of Occupation comes into force: "Allied High Commission" with the highest power of government in West Germany; control of the federal and regional organs (21st Sep.)

Petersberg Agreement: end of dismantlement for confiscation by the Allies; permission for Germans to take part in the "Ruhr Authority", in international organisations and in the economic integration of western Europe (22nd Nov.)

1950
Abolition of food rationing in West Germany: free market based on demand and supply (1st May)

1951
Federal Republic of Germany becomes member of the European Council (15th Jun.)

1952
Signing of the Deutschland Treaty concerning the relationship of West Germany with the three Western Powers (26th May)

Signing of a Treaty for the formation of a European Defence Community: German participation in the military defence of Western Europe; Treaty founders after rejection by France (27th May)

Federal Republic of Germany becomes member of the European Coal and Steel Community as a basis for the economic integration of western Europe (23rd Jun.)

Signing of the Paris Treaties concerning the end of Allied occupation, rearmament and membership of the Federal Republic of the North Atlantic Pact (NATO) (23rd Oct.)

1955
Sovereignty of the Federal Republic, after the Deutschland Treaty and the Paris Treaties come into force, subject to Allied responsibility for the whole of Germany (5th May)

Federal Republic joins NATO (8th May)

Compulsory military service for men introduced in West Germany (7th Jul.)

Plebiscite in the Saar region: rejection of Europeanization striven for by France, by a two-thirds majority (23rd Oct.)

1957
Incorporation of the Saar region as tenth Federal Land of West Germany (1st Jan.)