Sowjetische Militäradministration in Deutschland (SMAD) 1945-1949. Struktur und Funktion by Jan s> Foitzik (review)

Abstract

770 SEER, 79, 4, 200I to a punishment battalion. 'In that faraway time, which we hope will never return, they knew how to attach a false accusation to someone and make it stick'(p. I15). The writer's attitude to the counter-intelligence organization Smersh comes across when he speaks of its chief representative in his own tank brigade. 'For someone who headed up this atypical organization he was a remarkableman by everydaystandardsand a good comrade' (p. 24). This reviewer found particularly rewarding the passages derived from Colonel Loza's participation in the Manchurian campaign of August I945. He illustratesthe topographical and other differencesbetween this front and the one against the Germans. Here the Matilda tank was in its own country, so to speak.It had been mistakento send Matildasinto swampytracts,as had sometimes happened on that other front: mud jammed the openings in the tanks'sides.In Mongolia, however,where sandwas thrownup, thissimplyfell away. We are told the circumstances which caused the surrender of the Kwantung Army to be delayed till four days after the government in Tokyo had raisedthe white flag. The appendices include the text of the militaryoath and the full text of Stalin's order no. 227, together with a table of precedence of Soviet combat decorations and the law setting out the privilegesaccompanying them. There are very full notes in which, interalia, the editor-translatorexplains the Soviet armyjargon used in the book. London BRIAN PEARCE Foitzik,Jan. Sowjetische Militdradministration inDeutschland (SMAD)I945-1949. Struktur undFunktion. Quellen und Darstellungen zur Zeitgeschichte, 44. Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 1999. 544 pp. Appendix. Short biographies. Bibliography.Index. DM 74.00. JAN FoITZIK has undertaken the mammoth task of writing a long-overdue history of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany, similar to the acclaimed OMGUSHandbuch edited by Christoph Weisz (Munich, 1994) on the US Military Government. Anyone familiarwith the Soviet state archives and their way of operation can appreciate the problems Foitzik must have faced, but the result is, nevertheless, outstanding. Based on a wide range of archival material from the Soviet Union, East and West Germany, the USA and Britain and on an impressive array of secondary material, Foitzik establishesa fullpicture of the SMAD in the Soviet Zone of Occupation. The book is divided into six parts,each with severalsub-chapters.The first part considers the justification of military governments under international law, the Soviet authorities involved in the process of post-war planning, the scheduled organization of the Soviet militaryadministrationin Germany and how its personnel were prepared and trained for their task. In this context Foitzikdoes not forget to examine the German Communist Partyin exile as well as the members of the Nationalkommittee Freies Deutschland and the role assignedto them by Stalin. Parttwo focuseson the process of occupation, the end of the war,and the experiencesof both the Russiansand the Germans. REVIEWS 77I Here, Foitzik gives a brief and balanced account of the historiography of Soviet atrocities (pp. 53 if.) and their long-term impact on Soviet-German relations. The problems which Displaced Personscaused for the SMAD and the fate of Soviet POWs who were immediately put into special assaultunits after their liberation or else were repatriated are described, demonstrating once again the ruthlessnessof Stalin againsthis own people. Partthree takesa close look at the organizationalstructureof the SMAD, both at its centre and on a regional level. Foitzikalso considers the security apparatusand special organizationslike the SovjetischeAktiengesellschaften,and, in particular,the branch that operated uranium mining in East Germany. The chapter on personnel policy within the SMAD is so detailed that the non-expert reader may find its depth overwhelming or even tedious, but in doing so Foitzikhas produced the ultimate reference book on the topic. Partfour investigatesthe command structureof the SMAD and the externalinfluencesemanating from the Allied Control Council and from the various hierarchiesin Moscow. The differentchannels of reporting to Moscow, the influence of the secret police, the various networks and their internal feuds are also elaborated in detail (pp. 254 ff). In the chapteron political control Foitzikdemonstratesthe chaos and disorganizationwithin the Stalinistsystem, pointing out it could take up to two months, even for an importantpersonnel decision takenby the SMAD, to reach the relevantauthoritiesin Moscow (p. 274). In the...