<P> The Potsdam Conference of July / August 1945 officially recognized the zones and confirmed jurisdiction of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (German: Sowjetische Militäradministration in Deutschland, SMAD) from the Oder and Neisse rivers to the demarcation line . The Soviet occupation zone included the former states of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg - Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony - Anhalt, and Thuringia . The city of Berlin was placed under the control of the four powers . The German territory east of the Oder - Neisse line, equal in size to the Soviet occupation zone, was handed over to Poland and the Soviet Union for de facto annexation . This territory transfer was seen as a compensation for Nazi German military occupation of Poland and parts of the Soviet Union . The millions of Germans still remaining in these areas under the Potsdam Agreement were over a period of several years expelled and replaced by Polish settlers (see Expulsion of Germans after World War II). </P> <P> Russian soldiers systematically humiliated the Germans in 1945 by raping large numbers of women, many of them repeatedly . Soviets raped an estimated two million women and girls in East Germany alone immediately after occupation . Naimark states that not only did each victim have to carry the trauma with her for the rest of her life, it inflicted a massive collective trauma on the East German nation that affected the acceptability of Soviet control . </P> <P> Each occupation power assumed rule in its zone by June 1945 . The powers originally pursued a common German policy, focused on denazification and demilitarization in preparation for the restoration of a democratic German nation - state . Over time, however, the western zones and the Soviet zone drifted apart economically, not least because of the Soviets' much greater use of disassembly of German industry under its control as a form of reparations . Reparations were officially agreed among the Allies from 2 August 1945, with' removals' prior to this date not included . According to Soviet Foreign Ministry data, Soviet troops, organised in specialised "trophy" battalions, removed 1.28 m tons of materials and 3.6 m tons of equipment, as well as large quantities of agricultural produce). No agreement on reparations could be reached at the Potsdam Conference, but by December 1947 it was clear that Western governments were unwilling to accede to the Soviet request for $10 bn in reparations (which the Soviets placed into perspective by calculating total war damage of $128 bn). (In contrast the Germans estimate a total loss of German property, due to the border changes promoted by the USSR and the population expulsions, of 355.3 billion Deutschmarks). As a result, the Soviets sought to extract the $10 bn from its occupation zone in eastern Germany, in addition to the trophy removals; Naimark (1995) estimates that $10 bn was transferred in material form by the early 1950s, including in 1945 and 1946 over 17,000 factories, amounting to a third of the productive capital of the eastern occupation zone . </P> <P> In the western zones, dismantling and / or destruction of German industry continued until 1951 in accordance to the (several times modified) "German level of industry" agreement connected with the Potsdam conference whereby Germany was to be treated as a single unit and converted into an "agricultural and light industry economy". By the end of 1948 the US had dismantled or destroyed all war - related manufacturing capability in its occupation zone. (3) In accordance with the agreements with the USSR, shipment of dismantled industrial installations from the west began on March 31, 1946 . Under the terms of the agreement the Soviet Union would in return ship raw materials such as food and timber to the western zones . When the Soviets did not fulfil their side of the agreement, the US temporarily halted shipments east, and they were never resumed . It was later shown that although utilized for cold war propaganda reasons, the main reason for halting shipments east was not the behavior of the USSR but rather the recalcitrant behavior of France . Material received by the USSR included equipment from the Kugel - Fischer ballbearing plant at Schweinfurt, the Daimler - Benz underground aircraft - engine plant at Obrigheim, the Deschimag shipyards at Bremen - Weser, and the Gendorf powerplant. (4), (5) </P>

Timeline of events leading to the collapse of the gdr