TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Martinez, Luis R.
AU  - Jessen, Jonas
AU  - Xu, Guo
        TI  - A Glimpse of Freedom: Allied Occupation and Political Resistance in East Germany
        PY  - 2022/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 15606
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp15606
        AB  - This paper exploits the idiosyncratic line of contact separating Allied and Soviet troops within East Germany at the end of WWII to study political resistance in a non-democracy. When Nazi Germany surrendered, 40% of what would become the authoritarian German Democratic Republic was initially under Allied control but was ceded to Soviet control less than two months later. Brief Allied exposure increased protests during the major 1953 uprising. We use novel data on the appointment of local mayors and a retrospective survey to argue that even a "glimpse of freedom" can foster civilian opposition to dictatorship.
        KW  - East Germany
KW  - political resistance
KW  - protest
KW  - autocracy
KW  - spatial RDD
KW  - World War II
        ER  -