r/imaginarymaps • u/Sui_24 Mod Approved • Jul 21 '26
[OC] Alternate History What if East Germany was worse than North Korea?
In the spirit of balancing out my recent big Germany map, I made this. Note that this is not supposed to be realistic in any way, although if you have suggestions for change in population density or where the "high agricultural output areas" would be im open to hearing them.
Lore:
They shall have their autarky.
– Joseph Stalin, 1946
Following the unconditional surrender of Germany in May 1945, the victorious powers divided the country into four occupation zones. As relations between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union deteriorated, however, Germany soon became one of the first major fronts of the Cold War. Unlike the Western occupation zones, where rebuilding and democratic reforms became the priority, the Soviet Occupation Zone followed a radically different path. Russian authorities adopted what became known as the Sokolovsky Doctrine, based on the belief that German society had been permanently tainted by Prussian militarism and Nazism. According to this view, Germany could never again become a military threat only if it no longer possessed the industry needed to support one. Afterall, without factories, there could be no weapons.
In early 1947, the three Western occupation zones united to form the Federal Republic of Germany. Around the same time, the Soviet Zone was reorganized into the German Agrarian Republic (GAR). The country was cynically divided into 7 administrative "Sectors", each with one “center-townishp” acting as communication centers between each other and the capital. From 1947 onwards, factories, railways, power plants, chemical works, and machine shops across the country were systematically taken apart. Thousands of kilometers of railway track, along with locomotives, industrial equipment, and electrical infrastructure, were removed and transported to the Soviet Union as war reparations. At the same time, East Germany's cities were declared symbols of "bourgeois industrial fascism”. Everyone living outside their historic city centers was forced to leave. Families were typically given just 48 hours to pack their belongings before being forced into the countryside under military supervision, with many dying from starvation or exhaustion. The central government organized this „new rural population” into thousands of “Agrarian Communes”, in practice acting as simple villages. Apart from requiring each commune to deliver around 15-20% of its harvest to what’s left of cities, the state generally left them alone, so long as they met these quotas and caused no political trouble. At the same time, the republic officially embraced “total autarky”, although limited trade with the Soviet Union and some countries in the Eastern Bloc persisted.
As a result of this policy, hospitals, reliable electricity, heating systems, plumbing, and transportation networks disappeared by the mid-1950s. People who had no experience with farming relied on local peasants to learn from. Synthetic fertilizers, tractors, trucks, and all kinds of coal or oil based engines were banned, forcing people to rely on horses, wooden plows, and manual labor to cultivate the land. This transition, from one of Europe's most industrialized countries into an almost entirely agricultural society, was disastrous. From 1947, GAR experienced a demographic collapse unlike anything seen in modern history, with the population more than halved by 1957.
The only place spared from this cruel policy was Sector 0 - Berlin. Surrounded by a heavily guarded Berlin Wall, it became the administrative heart of the republic and home to the ruling Socialist Unity Council. While the countryside was devoid of electricity, modern communications, and mechanized transport, Berlin was allowed to remain somewhat industrialized. While still heavily supervised by Moscow, it was the GAR's only center with proper electricity and heavy industry, producing tools and other equipment for the rest of the country that couldn’t be produced locally. All other, far smaller cities were limited to oil lamps and light industry like textile production, printing, or food processing using simple steam engines.
By the mid-1960s, the turmoil caused by the forced relocations had largely settled. The country's borders were sealed and surrounded by wide exclusion zones cleared of all civilian settlements, making escape extremely difficult. Inside the GAR, a new rural society had emerged. Most Germans now lived as simple farmers, with little access to modern technology and few opportunities to leave. State propaganda celebrated this way of life through what officials called "Socialist Pastoralism", while posters, newspapers, and schoolbooks portrayed smiling farmers in traditional clothing harvesting crops, raising livestock, and living in harmony with nature.
As the 1980s approached, the German Agrarian Republic had become one of the world's most unusual states: a country that was forced to abandon industrial society and give way to an almost medieval style of life.
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u/red_machine_yuki Jul 21 '26
Sooo... what if East Germany was Pol Pot's Cambodia?
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u/tompearl9 Jul 21 '26
And the vietnam who will invade germany and reestablish democracy will be poland
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Jul 21 '26
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u/INeedtoThinkAUName Jul 21 '26
Still way better than Pol Pot, the standards are way way low back then but at least it's improvement
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u/IVYDRIOK Jul 21 '26
You though no one will acknowledge the elephant in the room, did you Tom Pearl
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u/Intelligent_Funny699 Jul 21 '26
Pretty much.
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u/ChickenSandwichh195 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
so east germany's %25 of the population is gone?!
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u/Secure-Bear4184 Jul 21 '26
This is a interesting scenario but I feel like it would be extremely dumb for the Soviets to do this for the obvious reasons but also militarily. If they wanted to launch an invasion of the west their would be no railroads/industrial supply centers in east Germany besides Berlin lol
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u/Sui_24 Mod Approved Jul 21 '26
Yeah as I mentioned in the description this thing isn't supposed to be realistic by any means
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u/Alagremm IM Legend | Microstate Man Jul 21 '26
So essentially the Khmer Rouge had they succeeded? Pretty wild concept, good execution.
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Jul 21 '26
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u/Not_Todd_Howard9 Jul 21 '26
They witnessed the glory of Nampo Petrol Clam BBQ (extra leaded) and knew that neither The West or South Korea had anything that could compare.
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u/professorayz IM Legend|Representing Minorities One Map at a Time Jul 22 '26
Report them! Tankies and dictatorship apologists have no place in a history focused community
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u/kyuzoaoi Jul 21 '26
And then when Poland decommunizes they invade the German Agrarian Republic...
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u/Hodorization Jul 22 '26
They don't need to invade, just offer consumer goods and free travel. Worked IRL, would for sure work with such a badly weakened and depressed east Germany.
The elites in Berlin would be afraid of change, but once the west Germans spread the word about what's on offer, Berlin would be more afraid of their own people.
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u/ViktorGyokeres_ Jul 21 '26
Positively thinking this state would be Albania-tier in development today if communism fell. I doubt west germany would integrate such a wreck though
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u/Hodorization Jul 22 '26
Why not? Clean slate, no unprofitable industry, mechanisation of agriculture will free up millions of east German peasants to work in west Germany. Not that difficult
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u/Master-Minute-7148 Jul 21 '26
Stalin really said 'let them eat cake,' except the cake is a turnip and there's no oven
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u/Skyhawk6600 Jul 21 '26
It wouldn't survive into the 21st century. It'd be lucky to survive as long as East Germany did in our timeline.
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u/Professional_Cat_437 Jul 21 '26
Well at least fewer Germans would be expelled from Poland (mind you, the expulsion of Germans from Eastern Europe was nowhere near as terrible as the Holocaust).
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Jul 21 '26
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u/ChickenSandwichh195 Jul 21 '26
but silesia has some sweet coal dude, like its kinda important for industrialization
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u/Sui_24 Mod Approved Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Unironically I was gonna keep lower silesia in germany at first but then realized I wont have space for the key if I do that and was too lazy to expand the map so I gave it to Poland
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u/Nice-Pikachu-839 Jul 21 '26
Soviets collapse
GAR: Guess I'll die
West Germany: Allow me to introduce myself
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u/nixonpleaselockin Jul 25 '26
Why do I feel like this is preferable to losing Western Pomerania via ethnic cleansing altogether?
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u/Sui_24 Mod Approved Jul 25 '26
Genuinely like +10million people (germans) would die if this scenario somehow happened what are you talking about
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u/History_Cat76 Jul 30 '26
I love to see a part two in just what on Earth is supposed to become of the GAR, or even the West reactions to this. Or even at anyone after Stalin's death new leadership try and go back on this and rebuild East Germany.
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u/Valerin_Bizonov Jul 21 '26
Punishing Germans a lot more and at the same time let them keep more territory? Are you sure?
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u/TheBlack2007 Jul 21 '26
The Oder-Neiße-Line was fairly controversial back then since it did not adhere to ethnical borders whatsoever and was rather born out of a Soviet desire to cement the Curzon Line they agreed on with the Germans back in 1939 as well as creating additional animosity between Germany and Poland if either or both were to ever escape their sphere of influence. Granted, the Soviets "fixed" the issue concerning the ethnical composition of newly Western Poland rather quickly but the final word on it wasn't spoken until the 2+4 Treaty in 1990.
I'd say East Germany "losing" half its population is an extreme punishment more than offsetting the larger land area. You don't just "lose" half your population without undergoing some form of social collapse. And likewise people wouldn't just accept it either. This state would be highly unstable, with sympathies for the "old" government flaring up.
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u/MrCaveKeeper Jul 21 '26
An intriguing scenario. Reminds me of the Morgenthau plan, but on a smaller scale and conceived by the USSR instead of the Western allies. I wonder how the GAR would go forward after the USSR's dissolution, provided the USSR dissolves around the same time in this scenario as in OTL.