West German capital city

[Rudi Maxer]

In OTL, Konrad Adenauer chose Bonn for seat of government of West Germany instead of bigger city like Frankfurt or Hamburg as he didn't want it to be perceived as permanent capital (which was supposed to remain in Berlin even if half of it was occupied by GDR).

What if instead, Adenauer decides he doesn't like Berlin and wants to make some West German city to replace it as new permanent capital of Germany? Which city would be best for this role? There were millions of displaced people and refugees in post war Germany. Would it be possible to direct their resettlement into new capital to propel its development? How large could it become by the time Germany is reunified?

 

[Æsir]

Frankfurt apparently was originally going to be the provisional capital, and a parliament building was even built (Instead used, according to Wikipedia, as the headquarters of the Hessian public broadcaster), but some prominent politicians, as you said, didn't want to put the capital in a major city so that it didn't wind up being the permanent capital. IIRC, some younger legislators, who had less memory of the "Old days" when Berlin was the capital, wanted to keep the capital in Bonn after reunification in OTL, so if Frankfurt gets chosen, even if it is just as the provisional capital at first, the Bundestag could vote after ATL reunification to keep the capital in Frankfurt. In my mind, Frankfurt also has the association of having hosted the Frankfurt Parliament, and so could likely have liberal nationalist connotations like the black-red-gold tricolour does.

I do wonder what becomes of Berlin in such a timeline. Most of the rest of the former East Germany remains pretty economically depressed, and without Berlin having the benefit of being the capital it could end up in a worse state, although Dresden and Leipzig seem to be doing alright.

 

[Stateless]

Frankfurt apparently was originally going to be the provisional capital, and a parliament building was even built (Instead used, according to Wikipedia, as the headquarters of the Hessian public broadcaster)

If this is the same building, I feel like there's been a lucky escape:

Even the Ossis had better taste! That said, the Bundeshaus in Bonn looks more like an airport.

I think even if Berlin hadn't been made capital after the Wende, I think it would have been redeveloped much like it has been OTL. Unlike other East German cities, there are West Berliners on their doorstep with family just the other side of the wall, it's far and away bigger than other East German cities and has more money about it - the redevelopment was promoted by the Berlin Senate, not the Federal Government. And I can't imagine Potsdamer Platz not being redeveloped.