[Map of the Occupation Areas]

Soviet version of a popular Allied occupation map.

Though the German military high command surrendered on May 8, 1945 (due to the time change, it’s celebrated a day earlier in America), there was little formal organization in place for the administration of its territory and population. The Berlin Declaration, issued the following month, assumed total Allied authority over German sovereignty, and the country was divided into four territories to be overseen by the victorious powers; France, the United States, the Soviet Union, and England.

This map shows the organization of the occupied area, with each country’s territory highlighted in a specific color. Text is printed in four languages (English, French, German, Russian), and an inset map of Berlin in the lower left shows the divided organization of the contested capital city.

The map was copyrighted in 1946 by Atlanta-Service of Frankfurt, Germany. Several different variants were issued, this being the version published by a Soviet Military Administration Battalion. The image is identical to the English edition, though the nomenclature used in Poland is slightly different.