With relations deteriorating between the Soviet Union and the United States, the three western Allies met in March 1948 to merge their zones of occupation and permit the formation of what grew to become the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly referred to as West Germany. To encounter antidemocratic forces, the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold society was based by members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Catholic Centre Party, and the liberal German Democratic Party in 1924. Led by ...