Soviet Military Administration in Germany

The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (Russian: Советская военная администрация в Германии, СВАГ; Sovyetskaya Voyennaya Administratsya v Germanii, SVAG; German: Sowjetische Militäradministration in Deutschland, SMAD) was the Soviet military government, headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, that directly ruled the Soviet occupation zone of Germany from the German surrender in May 1945 until after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in October 1949.

According to the Potsdam Agreement in 1945, the SMAD was assigned the eastern portion of present-day Germany, consisting mostly of central Prussia. Prussia was dissolved by the Allies in 1947 and this area was divided between several German states (Länder). German lands east of the Oder-Neisse line were annexed by Soviet Union or granted to Poland, and Germans living in these areas were resettled, retaining almost all their belongings, to the American, British, and Soviet zones.

The main purpose of the SMAD was to maintain the unity of Germany. It also had to deal with refugees, such as those resettled from Poland, the homeless, and former German soldiers. Resources were short, and the economy needed to be shifted from wartime production to peacetime. However, the Soviets were also concerned with their own well-being, and dismantled entire factories and railroads to be reassembled in the USSR.

In late 1945 a land reform confiscated the land of German nobles (Junker), to be given to cottagers and landless farmhands. Banks were also nationalized that year. In 1946 an education reform established separation of church and state in elementary schools, and heavy industries were nationalized under the guise of confiscation of the property of Nazi war criminals.

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