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166-613: Chapultepec Peace Accords Civil War Massacres Aftermath The Salvadoran Civil War ( Spanish : guerra civil de El Salvador ) was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guerilla groups backed by the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro as well as

332-419: A Boy Scout troop), they were soon taken over by El Salvador's military intelligence service, National Security Agency of El Salvador (ANSESAL), led by Major Roberto D'Aubuisson , and became a crucial part of the state's repressive apparatus, murdering thousands of union leaders, activists, students and teachers suspected of sympathizing with the left. The Socorro Jurídico Cristiano (Christian Legal Assistance) –

498-451: A French Zone in the far west; a British Zone in the northwest; an American Zone in the south; and a Soviet Zone in the East. Berlin was separately divided into four zones. These divisions were not intended to dismember Germany, only to designate zones of administration. By the subsequent Potsdam Agreement , the four Allied Powers asserted joint sovereignty over "Germany as a whole", defined as

664-405: A Salvadoran woman who worked in the press corps, for an American television network. Monterrosa's girlfriend let her co-worker know that something had gone wrong at El Mozote, though she did not go into detail. But people knew that he had lost radio contact with his men and that it was unfortunate and something that later brought regrettable consequences. Although he says he lost contact with his men,

830-515: A State of Emergency") and the labour unions . Demonstrations and protests grew in number, and in 1967 the student Benno Ohnesorg was shot in the head by a policeman. The press, especially the tabloid Bild-Zeitung newspaper, launched a campaign against the protesters. By 1968, a stronger desire to confront the Nazi past had come into being. In the 1970s environmentalism and anti-nationalism became fundamental values among left-wing Germans. As

996-1050: A U.N. Agreement on Human Rights signed July 26 by the Cristiani government and the FMLN. The Peace Accords were the result of a long negotiation process between the Government and the FMLN that had begun in the mid-1980s. The first meetings took place in Chalatenango on October 15, 1984, exactly 5 years after the start of the civil war. Further negotiations occurred in La Libertad on November 30, 1984. A third round of negotiations occurred in San Miguel on September 19, 1986. The last negotiations occurred in San Salvador on October 4, 1987, between President José Napoleón Duarte and government officials with delegates of

1162-541: A caretaker. However, he ruled for 14 years. The grand statesman of German postwar politics had to be dragged—almost literally—out of office in 1963. In October 1962 the weekly news magazine Der Spiegel published an analysis of the West German military defence. The conclusion was that there were several weaknesses in the system. Ten days after publication, the offices of Der Spiegel in Hamburg were raided by

1328-562: A coalition would be far from a majority. Neither condition changed until 1998. Denazification was an Allied initiative to rid German politics, judiciary, society, culture, press and economy of Nazi ideology and personnel following the Second World War . It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Party or SS members from positions of power and influence, by disbanding the organizations associated with Nazism, and by trying prominent Nazis for war crimes . The program

1494-566: A coup on 15 October 1979 . The United States feared that El Salvador, like Nicaragua and Cuba before it, could fall to communist revolution. Thus, Jimmy Carter's administration supported the new military government with vigor, hoping to promote stability in the country. While Carter provided some support to the government, the subsequent Reagan administration significantly increased U.S. spending in El Salvador. By 1984 Ronald Reagan's government would spend nearly $ 1 billion on economic aid for

1660-497: A divide between a small but powerful land-owning elite and an impoverished majority. This divide grew through the 1920s and was compounded by a drop in coffee prices following the stock-market crash of 1929. In 1932, the Central American Socialist Party was formed and led an uprising of peasants and indigenous people against the government. The FMLN was named after Farabundo Martí , one of the leaders of

1826-460: A doctrine by Mao Zedong that emphasized that "The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea." Aryeh Neier , the executive director of Americas Watch , wrote in a 1984 review about the scorched earth approach: "This may be an effective strategy for winning the war. It is, however, a strategy that involves the use of terror tactics—bombings, strafings , shellings and, occasionally, massacres of civilians." Beginning in 1984,

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1992-635: A final Peace Treaty. Following wartime commitments by the Allies to the governments-in-exile of Czechoslovakia and Poland, the Potsdam Protocols also agreed to the 'orderly and humane' transfer to Germany as a whole of the ethnic German populations in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Eight million German expellees and refugees eventually settled in West Germany. Between 1946 and 1949, three of

2158-624: A former member of the Revolutionary Government Junta , with Monsignor Arturo Rivera y Damas , Archbishop of San Salvador , acting as a mediator. The statement was brief and vague; without firm agreements and with the sole achievement of constituting a political rapprochement. On November 30, 1984, the second round of negotiations occurred in Ayagualo, La Libertad . The negotiations were headed by government representative Abraham Rodríguez with Rubén Zamora representing

2324-557: A full alignment with the NATO rather than neutrality, and secured membership in the military alliance. Adenauer was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union . When the G6 was established in 1975, there was no serious debate as to whether West Germany would become a member. Following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc , symbolised by the opening of

2490-634: A leading FDP official, became Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister. Schmidt, a strong supporter of the European Community (EC) and the Atlantic alliance, emphasized his commitment to "the political unification of Europe in partnership with the USA". Mounting external problems forced Schmidt to concentrate on foreign policy and limited the domestic reforms that he could carry out. The USSR upgraded its intermediate-range missiles, which Schmidt complained

2656-521: A legal aid office within the archbishop's office and El Salvador's leading human rights group at the time – documented the killings of 687 civilians by government forces in 1978. In 1979 the number of documented killings increased to 1,796. The repression prompted many in the Catholic Church to denounce the government, which responded by repressing the clergy. Historian M. A. Serpas posits displacement and dispossession rates with respect to land as

2822-872: A major role in drafting the antisemitic Nuremberg Race Laws in Nazi Germany. In 1957, 77% of the West German Ministry of Justice 's senior officials were former Nazi Party members. In West Germany, most of the political agencies and buildings were located in Bonn, while the German Stock Market was located in Frankfurt which became the economic center. The judicial branch of both the German Federal Constitutional Court ( Bundesverfassungsgericht ) and

2988-415: A major structural factor leading ultimately to civil war. El Salvador is an agrarian society, with coffee fueling its economy , where "77 percent of the arable land belonged to .01 percent of the population. Nearly 35 percent of the civilians in El Salvador were disfranchised from land ownership either through historical injustices, war or economic downturns in the commodities market. During this time frame,

3154-741: A meeting to take place, the Legislative Assembly approved a National Reconciliation Law on January 23, by means of which El Salvador refused to open legal cases against the war fighters, opening a national amnesty. The Massive and gradual loss of troops from the Armed Forces took place while ex-guerrilla combatants were deployed from the occupied zones to fifteen areas that had previously been established for that purpose. Guerrilla weapons were deposited in containers controlled by ONUSAL , except those small arms intended for personal defense. Police agents from various countries accompanied

3320-781: A member of the subsequently founded Warsaw Pact . The former capital, Berlin , had been divided into four sectors, with the Western Allies joining their sectors to form West Berlin , while the Soviets held East Berlin . West Berlin was completely surrounded by East German territory and had suffered a Soviet blockade in 1948–49, which was overcome by the Berlin airlift . The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 led to U.S. calls to rearm West Germany to help defend Western Europe from

3486-769: A memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising crushed by the Germans, Brandt unexpectedly knelt and meditated in silence, a moment remembered as the Kniefall von Warschau . Brandt resigned as chancellor in 1974, after Günter Guillaume , one of his closest aides, was exposed as an agent of the Stasi , the East German secret service . Finance Minister Helmut Schmidt (SPD) formed a coalition and he served as Chancellor from 1974 to 1982. Hans-Dietrich Genscher ,

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3652-586: A new generation of teachers, educated with the findings of historical studies, could begin to reveal the truth about the war and the crimes committed in the name of the German people, one courageous attorney, Fritz Bauer patiently gathered evidence on the guards of the Auschwitz concentration camp and about twenty were put on trial in Frankfurt in 1963. Daily newspaper reports and visits by school classes to

3818-608: A new meeting in Caracas , Venezuela , the general agenda for negotiations was established and the issues that would be submitted for discussion. Two negotiating delegations were created: the government under David Escobar Galindo, Abelardo Rodríguez, Oscar Santamaría, and Mauricio Ernesto Vargas, and the FMLN under Schafik Hándal , Joaquín Villalobos , Salvador Sánchez Cerén , José Eduardo Sancho Castañeda , Francisco Jovel, Salvador Samayoa, Nidia Díaz, Juan Ramón Medrano, Ana Guadalupe Martínez, and Roberto Reeds. On January 16, 1992,

3984-587: A new peace walk. West Germany in Europe  (dark grey) in Europe  (dark grey) West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic (German: Bonner Republik ) after its capital city of Bonn . During

4150-686: A policy of 'reform with repression.'" A prominent Catholic spokesman insisted that "any military aid you send to El Salvador ends up in the hands of the military and paramilitary rightist groups who are themselves at the root of the problems of the country." "In one case that has received little attention", Human Rights Watch noted, "US Embassy officials apparently collaborated with the death squad abduction of two law students in January 1980. National Guard troops arrested two youths, Francisco Ventura and José Humberto Mejía, following an anti-government demonstration. The National Guard received permission to bring

4316-551: A reputation for brutality. Ochoa was close associate of Major Roberto D'Aubuisson and was alleged to have been involved in the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. D'Aubuisson and Ochoa were both members of La Tandona , the class of 1966 at the Captain General Gerardo Barrios Military School . From the start, the invasion of Cabanas was described as a "cleansing" operation by official sources. Hundreds of civilians were massacred by

4482-622: A result, in 1979 the Greens were able to reach the 5% minimum required to obtain parliamentary seats in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen state election, and with the foundation of the national party in 1980 developed into one of the most politically successful green movements in the world. Another result of the unrest in the 1960s was the founding of the Red Army Faction (RAF). The RAF was active from 1968, carrying out

4648-705: A result, it officially considered West Germans and West Berliners as foreigners. The initialism BRD (FRG in English) began to prevail in East German usage in the early 1970s, beginning in the newspaper Neues Deutschland . Other Eastern Bloc nations soon followed suit. In 1965, the West German Federal Minister of All-German Affairs , Erich Mende , had issued the "Directives for the Appellation of Germany", recommending avoiding

4814-633: A sovereign state" on 5 May 1955 (although "full sovereignty" was not obtained until the Two Plus Four Agreement in 1990). The former occupying Western troops remained on the ground, now as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which West Germany joined on 9 May 1955, promising to rearm itself soon. West Germany became a focus of the Cold War with its juxtaposition to East Germany ,

4980-458: A special performance. Supporters of the Shah (later known as Jubelperser ), armed with staves and bricks attacked the protesters while the police stood by and watched. A demonstration in the centre was being forcibly dispersed when a bystander named Benno Ohnesorg was shot in the head and killed by a plainclothes policeman. (It has now been established that the policeman, Kurras, was a paid spy of

5146-541: A state in 1957 after it had been separated as the Saar Protectorate from Allied-occupied Germany by France (the separation had been not legal as it had not been recognized by the Allied Control Council ). In addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto eleventh state. While de jure not part of West Germany, for Berlin was under the control of

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5312-541: A succession of terrorist attacks in West Germany during the 1970s. Even in the 1990s, attacks were still being committed under the name RAF . The last action took place in 1993, and in 1998 the group announced it was ceasing activities. In the 1969 election, the SPD gained enough votes to form a coalition government with the FDP. SPD leader and Chancellor Willy Brandt remained head of government until May 1974, when he resigned after

5478-536: A symbol of reconciliation between the political ideologies of the right and the left. The figure of a dove in his left hand in flight position. In 2017, on the 25th anniversary of the signing of the peace accords in the, President Salvador Sánchez Cerén , an ex-FMLN commander, celebrated with the inauguration of the Monument to the Reconciliation . In January 2024, the monument was demolished to make way for

5644-539: A whole despite the Soviets declaring the end of occupation of East Berlin unilaterally many decades before). The Two-plus-Four Agreement also saw the two parts of Germany confirm their post-war external boundaries as final and irreversible (including the 1945 transfer of former German lands east of the Oder–Neisse line ), and the Allied Powers confirmed their consent to German Reunification. From 3 October 1990, after

5810-536: Is in the hands of the armed forces. They know only how to repress the people and defend the interests of the Salvadoran oligarchy." Romero warned that US support would only "sharpen the injustice and repression against the organizations of the people which repeatedly have been struggling to gain respect for their fundamental human rights". On 24 March 1980, the Archbishop was assassinated while celebrating Mass,

5976-694: The Columbia Journalism Review and Anthony Lewis , made other American journalists tone down their reporting on the crimes of the Salvadoran regime and the US role in supporting the regime. As details became more widely known, the event became recognized as one of the worst atrocities of the conflict. In its report covering 1981, Amnesty International identified "regular security and military units as responsible for widespread torture, mutilation and killings of noncombatant civilians from all sectors of Salvadoran society." The report also stated that

6142-716: The 1979 Salvadoran coup d'état which overthrew President Carlos Humberto Romero . The coup had covert support from the United States , who wished to prevent Romero's government from falling to left-wing militant groups in the country, the same fate as did the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle in Nicaragua. The coup of 1979 allowed for the rise of militant left-wing groups in the country. The five largest groups, Farabundo Martí People's Forces of Liberation (FPL), Communist Party of El Salvador (PCES), National Resistance (RN), People's Revolutionary Army (ERP), and

6308-519: The Allied Control Council (ACC), West Berlin politically aligned itself with West Germany and was directly or indirectly represented in its federal institutions. The foundation for the influential position held by Germany today was laid during the economic miracle of the 1950s ( Wirtschaftswunder ), when West Germany rose from the enormous destruction wrought by World War II to become the world's second-largest economy. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer , who remained in office until 1963, worked for

6474-581: The Berlin Wall , both states took action to achieve German reunification . East Germany voted to dissolve and accede to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990. The five post-war states ( Länder ) were reconstituted, along with the reunited Berlin , which ended its special status and formed an additional Land . They formally joined the federal republic on 3 October 1990, raising the total number of states from ten to sixteen, and ending

6640-706: The Cold War , the western portion of Germany and the associated territory of West Berlin were parts of the Western Bloc . West Germany was formed as a political entity during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II , established from 12 states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe

6806-573: The Guillaume affair , in which a senior member of his staff was uncovered as a spy for the East German intelligence service, the Stasi . However, the affair is widely considered to have been merely a trigger for Brandt's resignation, not a fundamental cause. Instead, Brandt, dogged by scandal relating to alcohol and depression as well as the economic fallout of the 1973 oil crisis , almost seems simply to have had enough. As Brandt himself later said, "I

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6972-650: The London and Paris Conferences , the Brussels Treaty was modified to include West Germany, and to form the Western European Union (WEU). West Germany was to be permitted to rearm (an idea many Germans rejected), and have full sovereign control of its military, called the Bundeswehr . The WEU, however, would regulate the size of the armed forces permitted to each of its member states. Also,

7138-514: The People's Revolutionary Army (ERP) also began to develop. The growth of left-wing insurgency in El Salvador occurred against a backdrop of rising food prices and decreased agricultural output exacerbated by the 1973 oil crisis . This worsened the existing socioeconomic inequality in the country, leading to increased unrest. In response, President Molina enacted a series of land reform measures, calling for large landholdings to be redistributed among

7304-486: The Red Brigades ( Brigate Rosse ), many students went to work in the factories, but with little or no success. The most notorious of the underground groups was the Red Army Faction which began by making bank raids to finance their activities and eventually went underground having killed a number of policemen, several bystanders and eventually two prominent West Germans, whom they had taken captive in order to force

7470-635: The Republic of Baden , which had derived ultimately from former independent German kingdoms and principalities. In the dominant post-war narrative of West Germany, the Nazi regime was characterised as having been a 'criminal' state, illegal and illegitimate from the outset; while the Weimar Republic was characterised as having been a 'failed' state, whose inherent institutional and constitutional flaws had been exploited by Hitler in his illegal seizure of dictatorial powers. Consequently, following

7636-721: The Revolutionary Party of the Central American Workers – El Salvador (PRTC) joined forces on October 10, 1980, nearly one year after the coup, to form the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), the most prominent opposition force to the Salvadoran government throughout the Salvadoran Civil War . The group was named after Farabundo Martí , the leader of the Communist Party during an uprising in 1932 which resulted in

7802-431: The Roman Catholic Church and United Nations . The peace talks were mediated by Álvaro de Soto , the special representative of the UN Secretary-General . The final agreement was divided into 9 chapters that covered 5 fundamental areas: Compliance with the agreements took place under the supervision of a special mission of the United Nations, which gave a settlement after 3 years of management. On December 31, 1991,

7968-427: The Salvadoran Air Force was able to locate guerrilla strongholds reportedly using intelligence from U.S. Air Force planes flying over the country. On 15 March 1981, the Salvadoran Army began a "sweep" operation in Cabañas Department in northern El Salvador near the Honduran border. The sweep was accompanied by the use of scorched earth tactics by the Salvadoran Army and indiscriminate killings of anyone captured by

8134-500: The Soviet Union . A coup on 15 October 1979 followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters is widely seen as the start of civil war. The war did not formally end until after the collapse of the Soviet Union , when, on 16 January 1992 the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City. The United Nations (UN) reports that the war killed more than 75,000 people between 1979 and 1992, along with approximately 8,000 disappeared persons. Human rights violations, particularly

8300-421: The Vietnam War . An integral part of the Salvadoran Army's counterinsurgency strategy entailed "draining the sea" or "drying up the ocean", that is, eliminating the insurgency by eradicating its support base in the countryside. The primary target was the civilian population – displacing or killing them in order to remove any possible base of support for the rebels. The concept of "draining the sea" had its basis in

8466-490: The massacre of 10,000 to 40,000 peasants under the rule of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez . The resulting civil war killed anywhere from 70,000 to 80,000 people and lasted twelve years from 1979 to 1992. After 10 years of war, more than one million people had been displaced out of a population of 5,389,000. 40% of the homes of newly displaced people were completely destroyed and another 25% were in need of major repairs. Death squad activities further escalated in 1990, despite

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8632-427: The "Joint Communiqué of the Third Dialogue Meeting" was issued which stated the government and guerrillas will to seek a ceasefire and to support the decisions made by the Contadora Group which was seeking peace in Central America . In 1989, the government of President Alfredo Cristiani called for a dialogue meeting which was held on September 15 of that year in Mexico City . There, a joint request for mediation

8798-415: The "Two-plus-Four Agreement"); by which transitional status of Germany following World War II was definitively ended and the Four Allied powers relinquished their joint residual sovereign authority for Germany as a whole including the area of West Berlin which had officially remained under Allied occupation for the purposes of international and GDR law (a status that the Western countries applied to Berlin as

8964-570: The "sweep" through Cabañas, the Battalion occupied the village of El Mozote and massacred at least 733 and possibly up to 1,000 unarmed civilians, including women and 146 children, in what became known as the El Mozote massacre . The Atlácatl soldiers accused the adults of collaborating with the guerrillas. The field commander said they were under orders to kill everyone, including the children, who he asserted would just grow up to become guerrillas if they let them live. "We were going to make an example of these people," he said. The US steadfastly denied

9130-436: The 'overall' German state that was held to have embodied the unified German people since the Frankfurt Parliament of 1848, and which from 1871 had been represented within the German Reich ; albeit that this overall state had become effectively dormant long before 8 May 1945. In 1949 with the continuation and aggravation of the Cold War (for example, the Berlin Airlift of 1948–49), the two German states that had originated in

9296-421: The 1970s, the West German state was to maintain that these 1937 boundaries continued to be 'valid in international law', although the Allies had already agreed amongst themselves that the territories east of the Oder-Neisse line must be transferred to Poland and the Soviet Union in any peace agreement. The conference agreed that post-war Germany, minus these transfers, would be divided into four occupation zones :

9462-504: The 20th century. On 14 July 1969, an armed conflict erupted between El Salvador and Honduras over immigration disputes caused by Honduran land reform laws. The conflict (known as the Football War ) lasted only four days but had major long-term effects for Salvadoran society. Trade was disrupted between El Salvador and Honduras, causing tremendous economic damage to both nations. An estimated 300,000 Salvadorans were displaced due to battle, many of whom were exiled from Honduras; in many cases,

9628-423: The Allies stationed troops within West Germany for NATO defense, pursuant to stationing and status-of-forces agreements. With the exception of 55,000 French troops, Allied forces were under NATO's joint defense command. (France withdrew from the collective military command structure of NATO in 1966.) Konrad Adenauer was 73 years old when he became chancellor in 1949, and for this reason he was initially reckoned as

9794-433: The Atlantic alliance, emphasized his commitment to "the political unification of Europe in partnership with the USA". The goals of SPD and FDP however drifted apart in the late 1970s and early 1980s. On 1 October 1982 the FDP joined forces with the CDU/CSU to elect CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl as Chancellor in a constructive vote of no confidence . Following national elections in March 1983, Kohl emerged in firm control of both

9960-464: The Auschwitz trial reverberated decades later. The calling in question of the actions and policies of government led to a new climate of debate. The issues of emancipation, colonialism, environmentalism and grass roots democracy were discussed at all levels of society. In 1979 the environmental party, the Greens, reached the 5% limit required to obtain parliamentary seats in the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen provincial election. Also of great significance

10126-493: The EDC while maintaining independent control of their own armed forces. Though the EDC treaty was signed (May 1952), it never entered into force. France's Gaullists rejected it on the grounds that it threatened national sovereignty, and when the French National Assembly refused to ratify it (August 1954), the treaty died. The French Gaullists and communists had killed the French government's proposal. Then other means had to be found to allow West German rearmament. In response, at

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10292-479: The East German security forces.) Protest demonstrations continued, and calls for more active opposition by some groups of students were made, which was declared by the press, especially the tabloid Bild -Zeitung newspaper, as a massive disruption to life in Berlin, in a massive campaign against the protesters. Protests against the US intervention in Vietnam , mingled with anger over the vigour with which demonstrations were repressed led to mounting militance among

10458-422: The FMLN launched a large offensive that caught Salvadoran military off guard and succeeded in taking control of large sections of the country and entering the capital, San Salvador . In San Salvador, the FMLN quickly took control of many of the poor neighborhoods as the military bombed their positions—including residential neighborhoods to drive out the FMLN. This large FMLN offensive was unsuccessful in overthrowing

10624-463: The FMLN's first major attack. The attack established FMLN control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments for the war's duration. Attacks were also launched on military targets throughout the country, leaving hundreds of people dead. FMLN insurgents ranged from children to the elderly, both male and female, and most were trained in FMLN camps in the mountains and jungles of El Salvador to learn military techniques. Much later, in November 1989,

10790-425: The FMLN's leadership. Despite the attempts to establish peace and end the war, none of them succeeded and the war dragged on. On October 16, 1984, the first round of negotiations occurred in La Palma, Chalatenango . The meeting resulted in the "La Palma Joint Communiqué." The Government delegation was made up of the President, José Napoleón Duarte , while the guerrilla delegation was headed by Dr. Guillermo Ungo ,

10956-420: The Federal Republic of Germany, so Bundesrepublik Deutschland became the official name of reunified Germany. In East Germany, the terms Westdeutschland (West Germany) or westdeutsche Bundesrepublik (West German Federal Republic) were preferred during the 1950s and 1960s. This changed under its constitutional amendment in 1974, when the idea of a single German nation was abandoned by East Germany. As

11122-440: The Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany. The expanded Federal Republic retained West Germany's political culture and continued its existing memberships in international organisations, as well as its Western foreign policy alignment and affiliation to Western alliances like NATO and the European Union. The official German reunification ceremony on 3 October 1990

11288-447: The Federal Republic subject to the terms of the Unification Treaty between the two states; and then both West Germany and East Germany radically amended their respective constitutions in accordance with that Treaty's provisions. East Germany then dissolved itself, and its five post-war states ( Länder ) were reconstituted, along with the reunited Berlin which ended its special status and formed an additional Land . They formally joined

11454-440: The Free Democratic Party (FDP) in order to lay the groundwork for an eventual return to power. Although this effort was exposed and disrupted, many former Nazis still attained positions of power and influence in the political system. West German President (1974–1979) Walter Scheel and Chancellor (1966–1969) Kurt Georg Kiesinger were both former members of the Nazi Party. Konrad Adenauer's State Secretary Hans Globke had played

11620-402: The German constitution prohibited any military action, except in the case of an external attack against Germany or its allies ( Bündnisfall ). Also, Germans could reject military service on grounds of conscience, and serve for civil purposes instead. The three Western Allies retained occupation powers in Berlin and certain responsibilities for Germany as a whole. Under the new arrangements,

11786-409: The National Police on patrol tasks, which had ceased to depend on the Ministry of National Defense; said support was given until the creation of the National Civil Police. The distribution of land to ex-combatants took longer than expected, as did the establishment of the National Academy of Public Security and the legalization of the FMLN as a political party. The delays began to create tension among

11952-522: The Salvadoran Civil War, however, many peasants cited reasons other than material benefits in their decision to join the fight. Piety was a popular reason for joining the insurrection because they saw their participation as a way of not only advancing a personal cause but a communal sentiment of divine justice. Even prior to the civil war, numerous insurgents took part in other campaigns that tackled social changes much more directly, not only

12118-416: The Salvadoran government could not meet their needs. The Football War also strengthened the power of the military in El Salvador, leading to heightened corruption. In the years following the war, the government expanded its purchases of arms from sources such as Israel, Brazil, West Germany and the United States. The 1972 Salvadoran presidential election was marred by massive electoral fraud, which favored

12284-475: The Salvadoran government. The JRG enacted a land reform program that restricted landholdings to a 100-hectare maximum, nationalised the banking, coffee and sugar industries, scheduled elections for February 1982, and disbanded the paramilitary private death squad Organización Democrática Nacionalista (ORDEN) on 6 November 1979. The land reform program was received with hostility from El Salvador's military and economic elites, however, which sought to sabotage

12450-489: The State Counsel Siegfried Buback . In October 1969 Willy Brandt became chancellor. He maintained West Germany's close alignment with the United States and focused on strengthening European integration in western Europe, while launching the new policy of Ostpolitik aimed at improving relations with Eastern Europe. Brandt was controversial on both the right wing, for his Ostpolitik , and on

12616-504: The State Department that the extreme right was arming itself and preparing for a confrontation in which it clearly expected to ally itself with the military. "The immediate goal of the Salvadoran army and security forces—and of the United States in 1980, was to prevent a takeover by the leftist-led guerrillas and their allied political organizations. At this point in the Salvadoran conflict the latter were much more important than

12782-584: The U.S. Army School of the Americas in Panama in 1980. Atlácatl soldiers were trained and equipped by the U.S. military, and were described as "the pride of the United States military team in San Salvador. Trained in antiguerrilla operations, the battalion was intended to turn a losing war around." The November 1981 operation was commanded by Lt. Col. Sigifredo Ochoa , a former Treasury Police chief with

12948-535: The United Nations estimated that FMLN guerrillas were responsible for 5 percent of atrocities committed during the civil war, while 85 percent were committed by the Salvadoran security forces. Accountability for these civil war-era atrocities has been hindered by a 1993 amnesty law. In 2016, however, the Supreme Court of Justice of El Salvador ruled in case Incostitucionalidad 44-2013/145-2013 that

13114-748: The United Nations, NATO, OECD , and the European Economic Community . Before reunification, Germany was divided between the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany; commonly known as West Germany) and the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR; German Democratic Republic; commonly known as East Germany). Reunification was achieved by accession ( Beitritt ) of the German Democratic Republic to

13280-477: The United Nations, ended the peace process in El Salvador, noting that although it was true that not all the agreements had been fully complied with, the degree of compliance was acceptable. The Monument to Peace is a sculpture designed by the sculptor Rubén Martínez that was unveiled in the municipality of San Marcos, El Salvador . The figure of the "Christ of Peace", which was made with bullet casings, brass and cast bronze, and stands with outstretched arms as

13446-633: The United States also intervened in El Salvador. The military government in Chile provided substantial training and tactical advice to the Salvadoran Armed Forces, such that the Salvadoran high command bestowed upon General Augusto Pinochet the prestigious Order of José Matías Delgado in May 1981 for his government's avid support. The Argentine military dictatorship also supported the Salvadoran armed forces as part of Operation Charly . During

13612-627: The United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union held the Yalta Conference where future arrangements regarding post-war Europe and Allied strategy against Japan in the Pacific were negotiated. They agreed that the boundaries of Germany as at 31 December 1937 would be chosen as demarcating German national territory from German-occupied territory; all German annexations after 1937 were automatically null. Subsequently, and into

13778-832: The Western Allied and the Soviet Zones respectively became known internationally as West Germany and East Germany. Commonly known in English as East Germany , the former Soviet occupation zone in Germany , eventually became the German Democratic Republic or GDR . In 1990 West Germany and East Germany jointly signed the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany (also known as

13944-509: The army as Col. Ochoa's troops moved through the villages. Col. Ochoa claimed that hundreds of guerrillas had been killed but was able to show journalists only fifteen captured weapons, half of them virtual antiques, suggesting that most of those killed in the sweep were unarmed. This operation was followed by additional "sweeps" through Morazán Department , spearheaded by the Atlácatl Battalion. On 11 December 1981, one month after

14110-675: The army. Those displaced by the "sweep" who were not killed outright fled the advance of the Salvadoran Army; hiding in caves and under trees to evade capture and probable summary execution . On 18 March, three days after the sweep in Cabañas began, 4–8,000 survivors of the sweep (mostly women and children) attempted to cross the Rio Lempa into Honduras to flee violence. There, they were caught between Salvadoran and Honduran troops. The Salvadoran Air Force, subsequently bombed and strafed

14276-721: The assassination. A week after the arrest of D'Aubuisson, the National Guard and the newly reorganized paramilitary ORDEN, with the cooperation of the Military of Honduras , carried out a large massacre at the Sumpul River on 14 May 1980, in which an estimated 600 civilians were killed, mostly women and children. Escaping villagers were prevented from crossing the river by the Honduran armed forces, "and then killed by Salvadoran troops who fired on them in cold blood". Over

14442-623: The authorities. The Socorro Jurídico documented a jump in documented government killings from 234 in February 1980 to 487 the following month. Under pressure from the military, all three civilian members of the junta resigned on 3 January 1980, along with 10 of the 11 cabinet ministers. On 22 January 1980, the Salvadoran National Guard attacked a massive peaceful demonstration, killing up to 50 people and wounding hundreds more. On 6 February, US ambassador Frank Devine informed

14608-469: The behavior and group norms of their combatants. In this regard, the FMLN had a more effective approach than El Salvador's army in politically educating their members about their mission. Individuals who aligned themselves with the FMLN were driven by a profound sense of passion and purpose. They demonstrated a willingness to risk their lives for the greater good of their nation. The FMLN strategy focused on community organization, establishing connections within

14774-421: The church and labor unions. In contrast, El Salvador's army had inadequate training, and many of its combatants reported joining out of job insecurity or under intimidation from the government.These disparities were notably reflected in their respective combat methods. Further, the Salvadoran military caused more civilian casualties than the FMLN. In addition, the insurgents in the civil war viewed their support of

14940-472: The country also experienced a growing population amidst major disruption in agrarian commerce and trade." A threat to land change meant a challenge to a state where "marriages intertwined, making the wealthiest coffee processors and exporters (more so than the growers) also those with the highest ties in the military. With tensions mounting and the country on the verge of an insurrection, the civil-military Revolutionary Government Junta (JRG) deposed Romero in

15106-404: The course of 1980, the Salvadoran Army and three main security forces (National Guard, National Police and Treasury Police) were estimated to have killed 11,895 people, mostly peasants, trade unionists, teachers, students, journalists, human rights advocates, priests, and other prominent demographics among the popular movement. Human rights organizations judged the Salvadoran government to have among

15272-542: The court that they regarded their action as a legitimate act in what they described as the "struggle against imperialism". The student movement began to split into different factions, ranging from the unattached liberals to the Maoists and supporters of direct action in every form—the anarchists. Several groups set as their objective the aim of radicalising the industrial workers and taking an example from activities in Italy of

15438-580: The day after he called upon Salvadoran soldiers and security force members to not follow their orders to kill Salvadoran civilians. President Carter stated this was a "shocking and unconscionable act". At his funeral a week later, government-sponsored snipers in the National Palace and on the periphery of the Gerardo Barrios Plaza were responsible for the shooting of 42 mourners. On 7 May 1980, former army major, Roberto D'Aubuisson ,

15604-555: The death of Hitler in 1945 and the subsequent capitulation of the German Armed Forces, the national political, judicial, administrative, and constitutional instruments of both Nazi Germany and the Weimar Republic were understood as entirely defunct, such that a new West Germany could be established in a condition of constitutional nullity. Nevertheless, the new West Germany asserted its fundamental continuity with

15770-414: The displacement of large portions of the rural populace, and many peasants fled. Of those who fled or were displaced, some 20,000 resided in makeshift refugee centers on the Honduran border in conditions of poverty, starvation and disease. The army and death squads forced many of them to flee to the United States, but most were denied asylum. A US congressional delegation that, on 17–18 January 1981, visited

15936-562: The division of Germany. The reunited Germany is the direct continuation of the state previously informally called West Germany and not a new state, as the process was essentially a voluntary act of accession: the Federal Republic of Germany was enlarged to include the additional six states of the German Democratic Republic. The expanded Federal Republic retained West Germany's political culture and continued its existing memberships in international organisations, as well as its Western foreign policy alignment and affiliation to Western alliances such as

16102-404: The electoral fraud. Security forces arrived on the scene and opened fire, resulting in a massacre as they indiscriminately killed demonstrators and bystanders alike. Estimates of the number of civilians killed range between 200 and 1,500. President Molina blamed the protests on "foreign Communists" and immediately exiled a number of top UNO party members from the country. Repression continued after

16268-676: The entry into the Bundestag of the Greens , who received 5.6% of the vote. In January 1987 the Kohl–Genscher government was returned to office, but the FDP and the Greens gained at the expense of the larger parties. Kohl's CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the CSU, slipped from 48.8% of the vote in 1983 to 44.3%. The SPD fell to 37%; long-time SPD Chairman Brandt subsequently resigned in April 1987 and

16434-549: The existence of the El Mozote massacre, dismissing reports of it as leftist "propaganda", until secret US cables were declassified in the 1990s. The US government and its allies in US media smeared reporters of American newspapers who reported on the atrocity and, more generally, undertook a campaign of whitewashing the human rights record of the Salvadoran military and the US role in arming, training and guiding it. The smears, according to journalists like Michael Massing writing in

16600-563: The fleeing civilians with machine gun fire, killing hundreds. Among the dead were at least 189 persons who were unaccounted for and registered as "disappeared" during the operation. A second offensive was launched, also in Cabañas Department, on 11 November 1981 in which 1,200 troops were mobilized, including members of the Atlácatl Battalion . Atlácatl was a rapid response counter-insurgency battalion organized at

16766-561: The former. The military resources of the rebels were extremely limited and their greatest strength, by far, lay not in force of arms but in their 'mass organizations' made up of labor unions, student and peasant organizations that could be mobilized by the thousands in El Salvador's major cities and could shut down the country through strikes." Critics of US military aid charged that "it would legitimate what has become dictatorial violence and that political power in El Salvador lay with old-line military leaders in government positions who practice

16932-566: The full text of the agreements was signed in the Castle of Chapultepec in a solemn act, with the assistance of Heads of State from friendly countries, as well as official negotiating delegations. Chapter I handled with the Armed Forces of El Salvador which accepted the following terms: Chapter II handled with the police force of the nation to which the government complied with the following terms: Chapter III handled with human rights and

17098-468: The government and the CDU. The CDU/CSU fell just short of an absolute majority, because of the entry into the Bundestag of the Greens, who received 5.6% of the vote. In January 1987 the Kohl–Genscher government was returned to office, but the FDP and the Greens gained at the expense of the larger parties. The Social Democrats concluded that not only were the Greens unlikely to form a coalition, but also that such

17264-482: The government and the FMLN initialed a preliminary peace agreement under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar . The final agreement was signed in Mexico City on January 16, 1992, at Chapultepec Castle. A nine-month ceasefire took effect on February 1, 1992, and it has never been broken. Civil War Massacres Aftermath The Salvadoran Civil War began on October 15, 1979, with

17430-414: The government but did convince the government that the FMLN could not be defeated using force of arms and that a negotiated settlement would be necessary. In February 1980, Archbishop Óscar Romero published an open letter to US President Jimmy Carter in which he pleaded with him to suspend the United States' ongoing program of military aid to the Salvadoran regime. He advised Carter that "Political power

17596-518: The government but the elites as well, a struggle that soon evolved into a political machine that came to be associated with the FMLN. In the early months of 1980, Salvadoran guerilla groups, workers, communists, and socialists, unified to form the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN). The FMLN immediately announced plans for an insurrection against the government, which began on 10 January 1981, with

17762-457: The government, demanding the resignation of Franz Josef Strauss , Defence Minister, who had decidedly overstepped his competence during the crisis. Adenauer was still wounded by his brief run for president, and this episode damaged his reputation even further. He announced that he would step down in the fall of 1963. His successor was to be Ludwig Erhard. In the early 1960s, the rate of economic growth slowed down significantly. In 1962 growth rate

17928-403: The guerrillas did not believe it and said it was well known to everyone that he had ordered the massacre. In an interview with James LeMoyne, however, he stated that he did in fact order his men to "clean out" El Mozote. Chapultepec Peace Accords The treaty was negotiated by representatives of the Salvadoran government, the rebel movement FMLN, and political parties, with observers from

18094-481: The guerrillas. Rivera y Damas, Giacomo Otonello, and Gregorio Rosa Chávez acted as mediators. At the meeting, the "Ayagualo Joint Communiqué" was drafted. On September 19, 1986, the third round of negotiations took place in Sesori, San Miguel . Rodolfo Antonio Castillo Claramount represented the government and Jorge Villacorta represented the guerillas with Monsignor Rivera y Damas acting as mediator. The terms of

18260-473: The impossibility of military victory for either side in the conflict. On April 4, 1990, a dialogue meeting was held in Geneva , Switzerland , where an agreement was signed that established the set of rules to be followed in the negotiation process and established the will of both parties to reach a negotiated and political solution to end the war. The objectives of the negotiation were set: On May 21, 1990, at

18426-483: The inauguration of President Romero, with his new government declaring a state-of-siege and suspending civil liberties. In the countryside, the agrarian elite organized and funded paramilitary death squads, such as the infamous Regalado's Armed Forces (FAR) led by Hector Regalado. While the death squads were initially autonomous from the Salvadoran military and composed of civilians (the FAR, for example, had developed out of

18592-420: The induction of new cases. Lieutenant Colonel Domingo Monterrosa was chosen to replace Colonial Jaime Flores and became military commander of the whole eastern zone of El Salvador. He was a rare thing: "pure, one-hundred-percent soldier, a natural leader, a born military man." Monterrosa did not want wholesale bloodshed, but he wanted to win the war at any costs. He tried to be more relatable and less arrogant to

18758-468: The infamous Organización Democrática Nacionalista (ORDEN) – reportedly strong-armed peasants into voting for the military candidate by threatening them with machetes. The period between the election and the formal inauguration of President Romero on 1 July 1977 was characterized by massive protests from the popular movement, which were met by state repression. On 28 February 1977, a crowd of political demonstrators gathered in downtown San Salvador to protest

18924-494: The initialism BRD. On 31 May 1974, the heads of West German federal and state governments recommended always using the full name in official publications. From then on, West German sources avoided the abbreviated form, with the exception of left-leaning organizations which embraced it. In November 1979, the federal government informed the Bundestag that the West German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF had agreed to refuse to use

19090-559: The initialism. The ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code of West Germany was DE (for Deutschland , Germany), which has remained the country code of Germany after reunification. ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are the most widely used country codes, and the DE code is notably used as a country identifier, extending the postal code and as the Internet's country code top-level domain .de . The less widely used ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code of West Germany

19256-511: The insurrection as a demonstration of their opposition to the powerful elite's unfair treatment of peasant communities that they experienced on an everyday basis, so there was a class element associated with these insurgencies. They reveled in their fight against injustice and in their belief that they were writing their own story, an emotion that Elisabeth Wood titled "pleasure of agency". The peasants' organization thus centered on using their struggle to unite against their oppressors, not only towards

19422-497: The introduction of new emergency acts : the grand coalition gave the ruling parties the two-thirds majority of votes required for their ratification. These controversial acts allowed basic constitutional rights such as freedom of movement to be limited in case of a state of emergency. During the time leading up to the passing of the laws, there was fierce opposition to them, above all by the Free Democratic Party ,

19588-445: The judiciary to which the government complied with the following terms: Chapter IV handled the civil and political rights of citizens which both sides agreed to: Chapter V handled economic and social fields to which the government agreed to: The definitive cessation of the fighting occurred on February 1, 1992, under the supervision of COPAZ and the notable presence of former FMLN commanders and their former enemies. In order for such

19754-495: The kidnapping, torture, and murder of suspected FMLN sympathizers by state security forces and paramilitary death squads – were pervasive. The Salvadoran government was considered an ally of the U.S. in the context of the Cold War . During the Carter and Reagan administrations, the US provided 1 to 2 million dollars per day in economic aid to the Salvadoran government. The US also provided significant training and equipment to

19920-436: The killing of civilians by state security forces became increasingly systematic with the implementation of more methodical killing strategies, which allegedly included use of a meat packing plant to dispose of human remains. Between 20 and 25 August 1981, eighty-three decapitations were reported. The murders were later revealed to have been carried out by a death squad using a guillotine. The repression in rural areas resulted in

20086-407: The lack of political representation but also the lack of economic and social opportunities not afforded to their communities. While the FMLN can be characterized as an insurrectionist group, other scholars have classified it as an "armed group institution." Understanding the differentiation is crucial. Armed group institutions use tactics to reinforce their mission or ideology. Ultimately influencing

20252-583: The larger cities, especially in West Berlin, where homosexuality had been widely accepted during the twenties in the Weimar Republic. Anger over the treatment of demonstrators following the death of Benno Ohnesorg and the attack on Rudi Dutschke, coupled with growing frustration over the lack of success in achieving their aims led to growing militance among students and their supporters. In May 1968, three young people set fire to two department stores in Frankfurt; they were brought to trial and made very clear to

20418-410: The law was unconstitutional and that the Salvadoran government could prosecute suspected war criminals. El Salvador has historically been characterised by extreme socioeconomic inequality. In the late 19th century, coffee became a major cash crop for El Salvador, bringing in about 95 percent of the country's income. This income was restricted to only 2 percent of the population, however, exacerbating

20584-595: The left wing, for his support of American policies, including the Vietnam War , and right-wing authoritarian regimes. The Brandt Report became a recognised measure for describing the general North-South divide in world economics and politics between an affluent North and a poor South. Brandt was also known for his fierce anti-communist policies at the domestic level, culminating in the Radikalenerlass (Anti-Radical Decree) in 1972. In 1970, while visiting

20750-469: The local population in the way he presented his military. When he first executed massacres he didn't think much of it because it was part of his military training and because it was tactically approved by the High Command, but he didn't consider whether it would become a political problem. He was accused of responsibility for what happened at El Mozote, though he denied it. Monterrosa later began to date

20916-441: The military and their rule." U.S. military aid was briefly cut off in response to the murders but was renewed within six weeks. The outgoing Carter administration increased military aid to the Salvadoran armed forces to $ 10 million, which included $ 5 million in rifles, ammunition, grenades and helicopters. In justifying these arms shipments, the administration claimed that the regime had taken "positive steps" to investigate

21082-673: The military-backed National Conciliation Party (PCN), whose candidate Arturo Armando Molina was a colonel in the Salvadoran Army. Opposition to the Molina government was strong on both the right and the left. Also in 1972, the Marxist–Leninist Fuerzas Populares de Liberación Farabundo Martí (FPL) – established in 1970 as an offshoot of the Communist Party of El Salvador – began conducting small-scale guerrilla operations in El Salvador. Other organizations such as

21248-587: The military. By May 1983, it was reported that US military officers were working within the Salvadoran High Command and making important strategic and tactical decisions. The United States government believed its extensive assistance to El Salvador's government was justified on the grounds that the insurgents were backed by the Soviet Union. Counterinsurgency tactics implemented by the Salvadoran government often targeted civilians . Overall,

21414-521: The most memorable sessions of parliament, the Bundestag concluded on 20 June 1991, with quite a slim majority, that both government and parliament should move to Berlin from Bonn . Political life in West Germany was remarkably stable and orderly. The Adenauer era (1949–63) was followed by a brief period under Ludwig Erhard (1963–66) who, in turn, was replaced by Kurt Georg Kiesinger (1966–69). All governments between 1949 and 1966 were formed by

21580-504: The murder of four American nuns, but this was disputed by US Ambassador, Robert E. White , who said that he could find no evidence the junta was "conducting a serious investigation". White was dismissed from the foreign service by the Reagan administration after he had refused to participate in a coverup of the Salvadoran military's responsibility for the murders at the behest of Secretary of State Alexander Haig . Other countries allied with

21746-431: The negotiations were not carried out however due to a breakdown in the negotiations. It was not until several months later that the process was resumed in a private meeting in Panama . From October 4 to 5, 1987, the final round of negotiations occurred in San Salvador . Fidel Chávez Mena represented the government with Salvador Samayoa representing the guerillas and Monsignor Rivera y Damas as mediator. At that meeting,

21912-683: The occupation zones began to merge. First, the British and American zones were combined into the quasi-state of Bizonia . Soon afterwards, the French zone was included into Trizonia . Conversely, the Soviet zone became East Germany . At the same time, new federal states ( Länder ) were formed in the Allied zones; replacing the geography of pre-Nazi German states such as the Free State of Prussia and

22078-567: The peasant population. The reforms failed, thanks to opposition from the landed elite, reinforcing the widespread discontent with the government. On 20 February 1977, the PCN defeated the National Opposing Union (UNO) in the presidential elections . As was the case in 1972, the results of the 1977 election were fraudulent and favored a military candidate, General Carlos Humberto Romero . State-sponsored paramilitary forces – such as

22244-548: The perceived Soviet threat. Germany's partners in the European Coal and Steel Community proposed to establish a European Defence Community (EDC), with an integrated army, navy and air force, composed of the armed forces of its member states. The West German military would be subject to complete EDC control, but the other EDC member states ( Belgium , France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands ) would cooperate in

22410-482: The police and quantities of documents were seized. Chancellor Adenauer proclaimed in the Bundestag that the article was tantamount to high treason and that the authors would be prosecuted. The editor/owner of the magazine, Rudolf Augstein spent some time in jail before the public outcry over the breaking of laws on freedom of the press became too loud to be ignored. The FDP members of Adenauer's cabinet resigned from

22576-405: The political forces which led COPAZ to call for a rescheduling which was carried out on June 12, 1992. Said schedule was repeatedly modified to adjust to the actual deadlines that set the pace of progress in the process. Several months later than planned, on December 15, 1992, the definitive end of the armed conflict was officially celebrated. In 1997, Boutros Boutros-Ghali , Secretary General of

22742-643: The prime cause of the violence against students. Trucks carrying newspapers were set on fire and windows in office buildings broken. In the wakes of these demonstrations, in which the question of America's role in Vietnam began to play a bigger role, came a desire among the students to find out more about the role of the parent-generation in the Nazi era. The proceedings of the War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg had been widely publicised in Germany but until

22908-465: The proceedings revealed to the German public the nature of the concentration camp system and it became evident that the Shoah was of vastly greater dimensions than the German population had believed. (The term "Holocaust" for the systematic mass-murder of Jews first came into use in 1979, when a 1978 American mini-series with that name was shown on West German television.) The processes set in motion by

23074-458: The process as soon as it began. Upon learning of the government's intent to distribute land to the peasants and organize cooperatives, wealthy Salvadoran landowners began killing their own livestock and moving valuable farming equipment across the border into Guatemala, where many Salvadoran elites owned additional land. In addition, most co-op leaders in the countryside were assassinated or "disappeared" soon after being elected and becoming visible to

23240-585: The reformation of the GDR's Länder , the East German states and East Berlin joined the Federal Republic . With territories and frontiers that coincided largely with the ones of old Middle Ages East Francia and the 19th-century Napoleonic Confederation of the Rhine , the Federal Republic of Germany was founded on 23 May 1949 under the terms of the Bonn–Paris conventions , whereby it obtained "the full authority of

23406-426: The refugee camps in El Salvador on a fact finding mission, submitted a report to Congress that found: "[T]he Salvadoran method of 'drying up the ocean' is to eliminate entire villages from the map, to isolate the guerrillas, and deny them any rural base off which they can feed." In total, Socorro Jurídico registered 13,353 individual cases of summary execution by government forces over the course of 1981. Nonetheless,

23572-404: The release of prisoners sympathetic to their ideas. In the 1990s attacks were still being committed under the name "RAF". The last action took place in 1993 and the group announced it was giving up its activities in 1998. Evidence that the groups had been infiltrated by German Intelligence undercover agents has since emerged, partly through the insistence of the son of one of their prominent victims,

23738-624: The rising West German student movement , a group calling itself Notstand der Demokratie ("Democracy in Crisis") and members of the Campaign against Nuclear Armament. A key event in the development of open democratic debate occurred in 1967, when the Shah of Iran , Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , visited West Berlin. Several thousand demonstrators gathered outside the Opera House where he was to attend

23904-482: The risk of death. Even so, many still chose to participate. But the violence was not limited to activists but also anyone who promoted ideas that "questioned official policy" were tacitly assumed to be subversive against the government. A marginalized group that metamorphosed into a guerilla force that would end up confronting these government forces manifested itself in campesinos or peasants. Many of these insurgents joined collective action campaigns for material gain; in

24070-438: The ruling parties the two-thirds majority of votes required to see them in. These controversial acts allowed basic constitutional rights such as freedom of movement to be limited in case of a state of emergency . Leading up to the passing of the laws, there was fierce opposition to them, above all by the FDP, the rising German student movement , a group calling itself Notstand der Demokratie  [ de ] ("Democracy in

24236-717: The same month, the JRG strengthened the state of siege, imposed by President Romero in May 1979, by declaring martial law and adopting a new set of curfew regulations. Between 12 January and 19 February 1981, 168 persons were killed by the security forces for violating curfew. In its effort to defeat the insurgency, the Salvadoran Armed Forces carried out a " scorched earth " strategy, and adopted tactics similar to those being employed in neighboring Guatemala by its security forces. These tactics were inspired and adapted from U.S. counterinsurgency strategies used during

24402-546: The students at the universities in Berlin. One of the most prominent campaigners was a young man from East Germany called Rudi Dutschke who also criticised the forms of capitalism that were to be seen in West Berlin. Just before Easter 1968, a young man tried to kill Dutschke as he bicycled to the student union, seriously injuring him. All over West Germany, thousands demonstrated against the Springer newspapers which were seen as

24568-458: The totality of the territory within the occupation zones. Former German areas east of the rivers Oder and Neisse and outside of 'Germany as a whole' were officially separated from German sovereignty in August 1945 and transferred from Soviet military occupation to Polish and Soviet (in the case of the territory of Kaliningrad) civil administration, their Polish and Soviet status to be confirmed at

24734-733: The true figure for the number of persons killed by the Army and security services could be substantially higher, due to the fact that extrajudicial killings generally went unreported in the countryside and many of the victims' families remained silent in fear of reprisal. An Americas Watch report described that the Socorro Jurídico figures "tended to be conservative because its standards of confirmation are strict"; killings of persons were registered individually and required proof of being "not combat related". Socorro Jurídico later revised its count of government killings for 1981 up to 16,000 with

24900-428: The united caucus of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU), either alone or in coalition with the smaller Free Democratic Party (FDP) or other right-wing parties. Kiesinger's 1966–69 "Grand Coalition" was between West Germany's two largest parties, the CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). This was important for the introduction of new emergency acts—the Grand Coalition gave

25066-457: The uprising. The rebellion was brutally suppressed in La Matanza , during which approximately 30,000 civilians were murdered by the armed forces. La Matanza – 'the slaughter' in Spanish, as it came to be known – allowed military dictatorships to monopolize political power in El Salvador while protecting the economic dominance of the landed elite. Opposition to this arrangement among middle-class, working-class, and poor Salvadorans grew throughout

25232-427: The war, the murders of church figures increased. For example, the Jesuit University of Central America stated that two bishops, sixteen priests, three nuns, one seminarian, and at least twenty-seven lay workers were murdered. By killing Church figures, "the military leadership showed just how far its position had hardened in daring to eliminate those it viewed as opponents. They saw the Church as an enemy that went against

25398-585: The worst human rights records in the hemisphere. On 2 December 1980, members of the Salvadoran National Guard were suspected to have raped and murdered four American, Catholic church women (three religious women, or nuns, and a laywoman) . Maryknoll missionary sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford , Ursuline sister Dorothy Kazel , and laywoman Jean Donovan were on a Catholic relief mission providing food, shelter, transport, medical care, and burial to death squad victims. In 1980 alone, at least 20 religious workers and priests were murdered in El Salvador. Throughout

25564-460: The youths onto Embassy grounds. Shortly thereafter, a private car drove into the Embassy parking lot. Men in civilian dress put the students in the trunk of their car and drove away. Ventura and Mejía were never seen again." As the government began to expand its violence towards its citizens, not only through death squads but also through the military, any group of citizens that attempted to provide any form of support whether physically or verbally ran

25730-409: Was 4.7% and the following year, 2.0%. After a brief recovery, the growth rate slowed again into a recession, with no growth in 1967. A new coalition was formed to deal with this problem. Erhard stepped down in 1966 and was succeeded by Kurt Georg Kiesinger . He led a grand coalition between West Germany's two largest parties, the CDU/CSU and the Social Democratic Party (SPD). This was important for

25896-437: Was DEU, which has remained the country code of reunified Germany. The now deleted codes for East Germany, on the other hand, were DD in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 and DDR in ISO 3166-1 alpha-3. The colloquial term West Germany or its equivalent was used in many languages. Westdeutschland was also a widespread colloquial form used in German-speaking countries, usually without political overtones. On 4–11 February 1945 leaders from

26062-404: Was addressed to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar . It was agreed to and Álvaro de Soto was appointed as special representative. On November 11, 1989, the FMLN launched a general offensive to demonstrate its military strength. The offensive was contained by the Armed Forces. After the offensive concluded in a stalemate with 2,500 dead, many analysts considered

26228-399: Was an unacceptable threat to the balance of nuclear power, because it increased the likelihood of political coercion and required a western response. NATO responded in the form of its twin-track policy. The domestic reverberations were serious inside the SPD, and undermined its coalition with the FDP. One of his major successes, in collaboration with French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing ,

26394-434: Was arrested with a group of civilians and soldiers at a farm. The raiders found documents connecting him and the civilians as organizers and financiers of the death squad who killed Archbishop Romero, and of plotting a coup d'état against the JRG. Their arrest provoked right-wing terrorist threats and institutional pressures forcing the JRG to release D'Aubuisson. In 1993, a U.N. investigation confirmed that D'Aubuisson ordered

26560-409: Was divided between the Western and Eastern blocs . Germany was divided into the two countries. Initially, West Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, representing itself as the sole democratically reorganised continuation of the 1871–1945 German Reich . Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, and the Saarland joined West Germany as

26726-407: Was exhausted, for reasons which had nothing to do with the process going on at the time". Finance Minister Helmut Schmidt (SPD) then formed a government, continuing the SPD–FDP coalition. He served as Chancellor from 1974 to 1982. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, a leading FDP official, was Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister in the same years. Schmidt, a strong supporter of the European Community (EC) and

26892-415: Was held at the Reichstag building , including Chancellor Helmut Kohl , President Richard von Weizsäcker , former Chancellor Willy Brandt and many others. One day later, the parliament of the united Germany would assemble in an act of symbolism in the Reichstag building. However, at that time, the role of Berlin had not yet been decided upon. Only after a fierce debate, considered by many as one of

27058-432: Was hugely unpopular in West Germany and was opposed by the new government of Konrad Adenauer. In 1951, several laws were passed granting amnesties and ending denazification. As a result, many people with a former Nazi past ended up again in the political apparatus of West Germany. Between 1951 and 1953, there was even an effort by a clandestine group of former Nazi functionaries, known as the Naumann Circle , to infiltrate

27224-455: Was succeeded by Hans-Jochen Vogel . The FDP's share rose from 7% to 9.1%, its best showing since 1980. The Greens' share rose to 8.3% from their 1983 share of 5.6%. With the collapse of eastern bloc in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall , there was a rapid move towards German reunification ; and a final settlement of the post-war special status of Germany . Following democratic elections, East Germany declared its accession to

27390-430: Was the launching of the European Monetary System (EMS) in April 1978. In October 1982 the SPD–FDP coalition fell apart when the FDP joined forces with the CDU/CSU to elect CDU Chairman Helmut Kohl as Chancellor in a constructive vote of no confidence . Following national elections in March 1983, Kohl emerged in firm control of both the government and the CDU. The CDU/CSU fell just short of an absolute majority, due to

27556-416: Was the steady growth of a feminist movement in which women demonstrated for equal rights. Until 1977, a married woman had to have the permission of her husband if she wanted to take on a job or open a bank account. Further reforms in 1979 to parental rights law gave equal legal rights to the mother and the father, abolishing the legal authority of the father. Parallel to this, a gay movement began to grow in

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