The Berlin Wall (75 page)

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Authors: Frederick Taylor

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11
Circular from Stoph regarding ‘West-Studenten’ from BArch SOPMA dc/20/4333 as above. Also for the rules regarding school pupils.

12
Survey for Abteilung Agitation de ZK der SED
Argumente der Intelligenz—Stichtag
20.9.61 and memorandum
Zu den Sicherungsmassnahmen der DDR
in report dated 8.9.61 both in BArch SAPMO DY30/IV 2/9.02 6.

13
Report to
Büro des Politbüros, Abteilung Parteiorgane
21.8.1961 in BArch SAPMO DY/30/IV 2/2.01.

14
Ibid.

15
Dennis,
The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic
1945-1990 p. 102.

16
Information about the pre-GDR history of the indusrrial area from
Der verbotene Stadtteil: Stasi-Sperrbezirk Berlin-Hohenschönhausen
by Peter Erle and Hubertus Knabe pp. 22ff.

17
Klaus Schulz-Ladegast’s experience in prison from interview by the author as above.

18
Erle and Knabe,
Der verbotene Stadtteil: Stasi-Sperrbezirk Berlin-Hohenschönhausen
p. 49ff.

19
Figures from SED
Bezirksleitung Gro?-Berlin, Abteiling für Sicherheitsfragen
10.10.1961 in BArch SAPMO DY30 IV 2/12 80.

20
Ibid. for reports on the clearing of apartment blocks close to the border.

11 ‘That Bastard from Berlin’

1
John C. Ausland, ‘When They Split Berlin, Washington Was Asleep’ in:
International Herald Tribune
14 November 1989. Also Cate,
The Ides of August
pp. 305f.

2
Information on the poor start of President Kennedy’s health in August 1961 from: Dallek,
Kennedy
pp. 471ff.

3
See Cate,
The Ides of August
pp. 330ff. Also for the details of Clifton’s recall of Kennedy from the planned picnic cruise, based on Mr Cate’s interview with Clifton.

4
Cable from the Situation Room to Mr Salinger, Hyannisport WH536-61 13 August 1961 in Kennedy Library Boston NSF Box 91a. Berlin Cables. Separate accompanying cable directly from Rostow from same archival source. The file also contains the original CIA report informing Washington of the sealing of the border.

5
Cited in Richard Reeves,
President Kennedy: Profile of Power
p. 325.

6
Cyril Buffet, ‘De Gaulle, the Bomb and Berlin: How to use a Political Weapon’ in: ed. John Gearson and Kori Schake,
The Berlin Wall Crisis: Perspectives on Cold War Alliances
p. 87.

7
Minute by Macmillan in response to Ministry of Defence memorandum 23 June 1961 in BNA Kew PREM 11/3348. ‘Though,’ he added, ‘of course it would not be any comfort in being blown up to know one was bankrupt’.

8
Note by Harold Macmillan scribbled on estimates for potential Berlin airlift 13 July 1961 in BNA Kew PREM 11/3348.

9
Harold Watkinson to Harold Macmillan 12 September 1961 with handwritten annotation in BNA Kew PREM 11/3351.

10
Buffer, ‘De Gaulle, the Bomb and Berlin’ in
The Berlin Wall Crisis
as above p. 86.

11
See
Vive Berlin! Ein Ort deutsch-französischer Geschichte
1945-2003/
Un lieu d’histoire francoallemande 1945-2003/
A Focal Point of German-French History 1945-2003, a publication of the Allied Museum Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the German-French Friendship Treaty 2003, p. 85.

12
Most frequently quoted original French version: ‘J’aime tellement l’Allemagne que je préfère qu’il y en ait deux’. English attribution by the Conservative minister, John Biffen MP, in the House of Commons on 11 February 1989 in Hansard for that date, column 520.

13
Memorandum from WWR for the President: ‘A
High Noon
Stance on Berlin’ 22 July 1961 in Kennedy Library Boston NSF Box 82 Ger. As for the following.

14
See Christopher Winkler, ‘Between Conflict and Gentleman’s Agreement: the Military Liaison Missions of the Western Allies in Potsdam’ in
Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact
at http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_mlm/texts/intro_winkler_eng.htm.

15
Details from:
Mission erfüllt/Mission Accomplished/Mission Accompli: The Military Liaison Missions of the Western Forces in Potsdam from
1946 to 1990 (a publication of the Allied Museum, Berlin 2004) p. 27.

16
See Erler and Knabe
Der verbotene Stadtteil
as above pp. 41f., which includes a
Stasi
photograph of a British Military Mission (BRIXMIS) vehicle on the edge of the walled security area.

17
Cable No. 274 Berlin Situation Report August 13, 1800 hours. ‘Situation is quiet…’ in BNA Kew PREM 11/3349.

18
Cate,
the Ides of August
pp. 322f.

19
Ibid. p. 320.

20
Ausland, ‘When They Split Berlin’ in
International Herald Tribune
as above.

21
Interview with Robert H. Lochner for the Cold War History Project 1996 as above. And for his comments about Murrow’s phone call to America.

22
Cited in: Peter Wyden,
Wall: The Story of Divided Berlin
p. 219. And for Murrow’s call to Wilson.

23
We cannot know the precise content of this call. Dallek in p. 426 has Murrow later cabling Washington to the effect that the star broadcaster’s conversations with West Berlin’s movers and shakers had indicated a degree of demoralisation that ‘can and should be corrected’. Dallek continues: ‘The absence of any “sharp and definite follow-up” had produced a “letdown” that amounted to a “crisis of confidence”.’

24
Details of Brandt’s speech to the West Berlin
Abgeordnetenhaus
of 13 August 1961 and comments in: Merseburger,
Willy Brandt
pp. 398f. For the entire text (in German) and protocols of the special session of the
Abgeordnetenhaus
see also the official government Berlin Wall website http://www.chronik-der-mauel.de/index.php/chronik/1961/August/13/.

25
Quote from Dallek in
Kennedy
p. 426.

26
Kenneth P. O’Donnell and David F. Powers with Joe McCarthy,
Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye: Memories of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
p. 343.

27
Sir C. Steel to Foreign Office 5.00 p.m. 14 August 1961 in BNA Kew PREM 11/3349. And for the following opinion of Brentano’s views.

28
Wyden,
Wall
p. 219. But Murrow’s direct influence is not mentioned by any German sources.

29
Merseburger,
Willy Brandt
pp. 408f.

30
Interview with Robert H. Lochner for the Cold War History Project 1996 as above.

31
Minutes of the Steering Group on Berlin 15 August 1961 [document dated 16 August], in Kennedy Library Boston NSF Box 88. And for the following quotes.

32
Max Frankel in
New York Times
16 Augusr 1961 ‘Reds Held Losing: Washington to Stress East German Move Confesses Failure’.

33
Cable from Lightner in Berlin to Secretary of State 15 August 1961 in Kennedy Library Boston NSF Box 91 a cables 8/61.

34
For Brandt’s letter, his consequent speech at the
Rathaus
, and the consequences, see Merseburg,
Willy Brandt
pp. 400f. Full text (in German) available at the official website of the Wall Memorial Museum in Berlin: http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/chronik/1961/August/61/.

35
Merseburger,
Willy Brandt
p. 402. And for the roles of Murrow and Lightner in the affair.

36
Account of Berlin Steering Group meeting 17 August 1961 in Kennedy Library Boston NSF Box 88. Present: the President; the Secretary of State and Mr Kohler; the Secretary of Defense, Mr Gilpatric (Deputy Secretary of Defense) and General Lemnitzer (Chairman, Joint Chiefs, of Staff); the Attorney-General (R.F. Kennedy); Mr Dulles and Mr Murphy (CIA); Mr Wilson (USIA); General Taylor, Mr Bundy, and Mr Owen.

37
See the account ‘Despatched to Defend: Welcomed by Citizens’ in the US army’s weekly Berlin newspaper
Berlin Observer
25 August 1961.

38
Norstad to Lemnitzer 18 August 1961 in Foreign Relations, 1961-1963, Volume XIV, Berlin Crisis, 1961-1962 and online at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/kennedyjf/xiv/15862.htm Doc. 119.

39
Central Intelligence Agency,
Studies in Intelligence
, vol. 33, No. 4, Winter 1989 pp. 79f.

40
Dallek,
Kennedy
p. 427.

41
Cate,
The Ides of August
p. 402.

12 Wall Games

1
See Hagen Koch,
Meine Flucht nach Vorn
privately published on CD pp. 90ff. Herr Koch claims to have been blackmailed by a local
Stasi
officer into joining, having originally applied to join the East German navy. There is, however, no question bur that he was a convinced and idealistic Communist at that time.

2
Ibid. pp. 132f.

3
Conrad Schumann, interview with CNN for Cold War series episode 9, see http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/09/script.html.

4
Leibing cited in ‘Ein Held, der keiner sein wollte’ by Kai Guleikoff in
Junge Freiheit
14 August 1998. See also the interview with Leibing in ‘Na, springt der?’ by Moritz Schwartz in
Junge Freiheit
10 August 2001.

5
Now once more Mohrenstrasse.

6
Cate,
The Ides of August
p. 404 for the composition of the party.

7
Wyden,
The Wall
pp. 227f. Wyden also, however, cites Clay’s later oral history depositions, in which the general admitted that almost a week after 13 August it was probably already too late for such a thing. And, in fact, if the East Germans had simply built their wall a few blocks back from the actual border, it would have been even harder to do anything about it without ‘invading’ East Berlin.

8
For the personal details of the Bonn meeting with Adenauer see Cate,
The Ides of August
pp. 407f. and Johnson’s own account to the President on his return, available in
Foreign Affairs of the United States
Vol. XIV document 120, and also the Memorandum to McGeorge Bundy from Jay Gildner of the USIA 21 August 1961 in Kennedy Library, Boston NSF Box 74a Germany.

9
Memorandum from Jay Gildner for McGeorge Bundy as above.

10
Cate
The Ides of August
p. 412.

11
Johnson’s report in
Foreign Affairs of the United States
Vol. XIV as above.

12
Sir Harold Caccia to Permanent Secretary Sir Evelyn Shuckburgh of the Foreign Office 21 August 1961 in BNA Kew PREM 11/3350.

13
Memorandum from Jay Gildner as above.

14
Quoted in Merseburger,
Willy Brandt
p. 205 and for the following.

15
Account of the day’s activities with Johnson based on Willy Brandt’s autobiographical sketches,
Begegnungen und Einsichten: Die Jahre
1960-1975 pp. 31ff.

16
From Col Johns’ written account of the journey to Berlin, used in Cate,
The Ides of August
pp. 417-23.

17
See the above account and also the article in the Berlin US forces’ newspaper
Berlin Observer
vol. 17 No. 34 25 August 1961, ‘8th Division Troops Dispatched by JFK to Beef Up Bastion’.

18
Cate,
The Ides of August
p. 427.

19
Memorandum from Jay Gildner as above.

20
Cate,
The Ides of August
p. 430. And for some of the detail on Johnson’s dinner party at the Hilton (now the Hotel Intercontinental) not covered in Brandt’s account.

21
Brandt,
Begegnungen und Einsichten
p. 33 (he quotes the Vice-President in English, clearly from fond memory). Cate in
The Ides of August
p. 435 cites thirty-three cents. Herr Franke was not available for consultation.

22
Account of Günter Litfin’s life and death based on sources including
Stasi
files in Bernd Eisenfeld and Roger Engelmann, 13.8.1961:
Mauerbau Fluchtbewegung und Machtsicherung
p. 95f.

23
‘Mordhetze aus der Hauptstadt’ in
Neues Deutschland
2 September 1961.

24
See Uhl and Wagner,
Ulbricht, Chruschtschow und die Mauer
as above p. 49.

25
Paul Verner to Genosse Walter Ulbricht 18.9.61 Becrifft:
Grenzdurchbruch in der Bouchéstraβe (Kreis Treptow)
in BArch SAPMO DY 30 3682 Büro Ulbricht Bl. 169.

26
Ministry of the Interior report of 22 September 1961 to Central Committee of the SED Betr:
Pioniermaβnahmen an der Grenze zu Westberlin
in BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/12/72 Bl. 162f.

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