Midwives To Unity

Forty-five years after the end of World War II, no peace treaty has been signed between Germany and the four Allied powers that conquered the country. As a result, the U.S., Britain, France and the Soviet Union to this day retain remnants of the rights they exercised as occupying forces. This is why World War II's Big Four will now serve as midwife to the unification of Germany.

At the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945 the victors agreed that Germany would be temporarily divided into zones of occupation, one to be administered by each of them, until a peace agreement was signed. Berlin was considered a separate entity, and another four-power division was made of the German capital.

After the cold war broke out, the American, British and French zones were merged to form the Federal Republic of Germany, while the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic. But the Allies retained military authority over Berlin as well as the right to base troops and conduct military maneuvers in the Germanys.

One of the most striking symbols of four-power rule was the guarding of Nazi war criminals at the Spandau prison in West Berlin, where the four countries rotated guard duties every month. After Rudolf Hess, the last prisoner, died in 1987, the prison was demolished. Now the World War II victors will again have a role to play in determining Germany's destiny.