n Zones in Germany (Kennan, p. 443).
Berlin assumed a special significance in this policy implementation because of the special design the Allies planned for the capital. The Western Allies intended to make the city a part of the new West German nation. However, the city was completely surrounded and deep inside the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany. Berlin held special significance as the previous center of past reigning Nazi Germany. Therefore, Berlin, unlike the remaining areas of Germany, which were governed separately by the occupying powers, was governed by a joint occupation administration, the Allied Control Commission, which was comprised of all four winning powers (France, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, and the United States) (Kahn and Wiener, 1967, p. 230-238).
OBJECTIVES OF THE CONTENDING OCCUPATIONAL POWERS
Both the Western Allies, on one side, and the Soviet Union, on the other, viewed the struggle over the future of post-war Germany in an ideological context (Binder 73). A major part of this ideological conflict was economic, for each side believed that its economic system provided a provided a superior basis for both the creation and the equitable distribution of wealth. The conflict, however, was also political in character. In a context of political philosophy, both sides believed that freedom and democracy could better be created and preserved by their own system than by the opposing system (Binder, 1981, p. 73). In a context of political security, each side believed their own security would be placed at serious risk, if the other side was permitted to successfully pursue their policies (Servan-Schreiber, 1990, p. 81-89). The objectives of the contending occupational powers with respect to German currency reform in 1948 were shaped by the elements of the ideological contest.
In post-war Germany, both the East and the West were convinced that they possessed the superior economic system. ...