The Governments of the United States of America , the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United Kingdom , and the Provisional Government of the French Republic , will hereafter determine the boundaries of Germany or any part thereof and the status of Germany or of any area at present being part of German territory . " State authority was from then on carried out by the Allied Control Council until its '' de facto '' suspension in 1948 . All pre-war international treaties to which the German Reich had been a party were renounced in respect Germany from 1945 ( subject to specific continuation agreements negotiated through the ACC ) . International legitimation resulted from Allied occupational supremacy , and neutral countries were invited to recognise the Allied Control Council as the sole sovereign authority in Germany . Nevertheless , German nationality continued to be recognised , and a German national territory was considered still to exist . By virtue of the legitimacy asserted in the Berlin Declaration , the Allied Powers at the Potsdam Conference assigned the eastern territories of the former German Reich to Polish and Soviet administration ; pending a final peace settlement . The remaining German territory was divided into four occupational zones , which along with the joint occupational zone of the capital Berlin would together constitute post-war ' Germany as a whole ' , and were subject to the administration of an Allied Command '' ( Alliierte Kommandantur ) '' , which in turn was subordinate to the Allied Control Council . The western boundary of Poland , pending exact delimitation at an eventual Peace conference , was set at the Oder-Neisse line ; all territories east of this being excluded from the Soviet zone of occupation , and hence from ' Germany as a whole ' . " For occupational purposes , Germany will be divided into three zones , within her borders of December 31st 1937 , to each of which one of the three powers will be assigned , as well as a special zone for Berlin , which is governed by the joint occupation of the three powers " ( London Protocol of December 12th , 1944 ; extension to France did not take place until the Yalta Conference in February 1945 . ) Meanwhile , grassroots reconstruction of German public administration commenced . Municipal administrations ( '' Gemeinden '' ) had continued operating almost uninterrupted , and by 1946 local elections took place in all occupational zones . Germany 's federal states located within the occupational zones of the western allies were once again assigned state governments between May 1945 and July 1947 . In addition , state assemblies bearing constitutional authority were elected , and from 1946 onward , state constitutions became effective , in most cases following referendums
Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
Legal status of Germany