World War I Dwight D. Eisenhower

Other 4" 1947-1948

[Berlin] Oversized Miscellaneous

World War II (abbreviated MWIT, or the Second World War, was a worldwide conflict fought between the Allied Powers and the Aris Powers, from 1939 until 1945. Armed forces from over seventy nations engaged in aerial, naval and ground-based combat. Spanning much of the globe, World War It resulted in the deaths of over 62 million people, making it the deadliest conflict in human history. The war ended with an Allied victory.

DESCRIPTION:

4" cup cake plate. The flag of each of the "Big Four" nations adorns the dish. The imprint of the manufacturer is on the bottom of the cup cake plate: "1747 / F/ 1947 / Fürstenberg." The flag of each of the 'Big Four'" nations adorns

each dish. Fine condition

Afer Germany's unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945, government power ceased to exist in Germany. On June 5, 1945, the Allied Control Council was established. Government power was taken over by the Commanders-in-Chief of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France. Although the country was divided into occupation zones, the idea of a unified Germany was preserved: decisions on "the chief questions affecting Germany as a whole" were to be made by the Allied Control Council and these decisions needed to be unanimous.

The Allied Control Council met in the former building of the Kammergericht, the Supreme Court of the State of Prussia, in the American sector of Berlin. On August 30, 1945, the Allied Control Council issued its first proclamation informing the German people of its existence, explaining that the commands and directives issued by the Commanders-in-Chief in the four zones would not be affected by the establishment of the Council.

Representing the "Big Four" were General Dwight D. Eisenhower (USA.), Field Marsha; Bernard L. Montgomery (UK), Marshall Georgi Zhukov (USSR), and General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (France). In 1945 and 1946, the Council issued numerous proclamations, laws, and directives dealing with the abolishment of Nazi laws and organizations, demilitarization, and denazification, as well as all issues affecting the German people such as Law No. 7 (November 30, 1945) regulating the distribution of electricity and gas in the various occupation zones, Directive No. 14 (September 13, 1946) equalizing the wages of female and minor workers with male workers, Law No. 49 (March 20, 1947) abrogating the German law of 1933 which governed relations between the German government and the German Evangelical Church, while keeping the independence of that church in internal matters, and Law No. 62 (February 20, 1948) repealing all Nazi laws regulating the activities of churches in

Germany.

On June 5, 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall announced a comprehensive program of American assistance to all European countries wanting to participate, including the Soviet Union and those of Eastern Europe.

The European Recovery Program which became known as the Marshall Plan was opposed by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. He did not want American aid to Soviet controlled nations such as Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.

To coordinate the economies of the American and British occupation zones, these were combined into what was referred to as Bizonia, later re-named the Trizone, when France joined in

Representatives of these three governments, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, met in London in January 1948 to discuss the future of Germany, despite Soviet threats to ignore any decisions taken. The Soviets then began stopping British and American trains to Berlin, in order to check the identities of the passengers.