Cold War Archives - Walled In Berlin

Posts Tagged ‘Cold War’

Berlin’s Rotes Rathaus – Red City Hall

Monday, March 21st, 2022

Rotes Rathaus is located near the Alexanderplatz in Berlin’s Mitte district and occupies an entire city block. The moniker “red” was inspired by the town hall’s red brick facade and not by the political leanings of its occupants. Although during the Cold War, many associated East Berlin’s Red City Hall with Communism.

Pre-WWII History of Rotes Rathaus

Berlin’s Red City Hall was constructed in the second half of the nineteenth century. The neo-renaissance building was designed as a multi-winged complex with three inner courtyards and a just under 250-foot tower. The architecture of the tower is reminiscent of the cathedral tower of Notre Dame. The building was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in World War II. Until 1948, the Neues Stadthaus, which survived the bombing, served as a temporary city hall for the post-war city government for all four sectors of Berlin. After 1948, and until the completion of the reconstruction of the Rotes Rathaus, the Neues Stadthaus housed only the city government of the Soviet sector.

Post-WWII History of Rotes Rathaus

Between 1951 and 1956, the Rotes Rathaus was reconstructed to the original plans. Due to the division of Berlin, Red City Hall was located in the Soviet sector, and the East Berlin magistrate held its sessions there. Meanwhile, the Rathaus Schoeneberg, where John F. Kennedy spoke in 1963, served as the town hall for West Berlin, where the West Berlin senate met. Since the German Reunification, Rotes Rathaus is the seat of Berlin’s governing mayor and Berlin’s city government of the entire city of Berlin.

Berlin’s Rotes Rathaus as seen from the television tower. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-Berlin.com

Also Of Historic Interest

The Rotes Rathaus contains many rooms of historic interest. State visitors are generally received in the armorial hall, which is decorated with the emblems of Berlin’s districts. Equally impressive are the great ceremonial hall and the 30-foot high pillared hall with its orange rib-vaulted ceiling and busts of famous people. The gallery on the third floor holds the portraits of honorary citizens of Berlin.

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic or current events, people, places or food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.

Tags: Berlin, Cold War, Division of Berlin, German reunification, Red City Hall, Rotes Rathaus, World War II
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Entenschnabel – a Cold War Relic of the Berlin Wall

Monday, June 21st, 2021

Entenschnabel (duck’s bill in English) is one of the last remaining Cold War relics in Berlin. Nicknamed for the narrow strip of residential land in the shape of a duck’s bill, it gives the visitor an idea of the magnitude of the impact of the Berlin Wall on civilian life during the Cold War. “Entenschnabel” protrudes from Berlin’s Glienicke district (former East Berlin) into the Reinickendorf district (former West Berlin). This roughly 650-yard-long and 100-yard-wide piece of land has a unique history.

1989 aerial photo of Entenschnabel in the upper left corner. www.walled-in-berlin.com

History of Entenschnabel

Berlin’s district of Reinickendorf purchased the land in 1907 and, thirteen years later, incorporated it into its newly established and posh Fronau neighborhood. Until the 1950s, there was nothing unusual about the small community. Residents and visitors came and went freely. After 1952 however, when the Cold War deepened, West Berliner were all of a sudden denied access to the community. After the Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961, Entenschnabel residents were also prevented from gaining access to the surrounding western part of the city.

The Bizarre Course of the Berlin Wall Relative to Duck’s Bill

When the city of Berlin was divided into four Allied occupation sectors in 1945, Entenschnabel became part of the Soviet sector. Of the four sides of the strip of residential land, only one side was open to the Soviet sector. The other three sides abutted the French sector. That posed a grave security problem for East German authorities. When the Berlin Wall was constructed, border fortifications had to be less extensive than usual in this area because the “almost enclave” was so narrow. The wall ended up running directly through the Entenschnabel residents’ gardens for the next 28 years.

Entrance to Entenschnabel on Silvesterweg. – Where the Berlin Wall once ran. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Life for Entenschnabel Residents During the Berlin Wall Years

East German border security classified Entenschnabel as an inhabited special restricted area, which required special observation. Due to its high-risk location, only people who were considered loyal to the regime were allowed to make their home on the small strip of land. Nonetheless, since the risk of fleeing over the wall into the west remained high, residents and visitors alike were subject to special restrictions. All visitors, including doctors, craftsman, repairmen and delivery services were required to obtain a permit before entering the area. In addition, empty buildings were used by the Ministry of State Security (Stasi) to construct radio technology. All contact with their western neighbors was forbidden to Duck’s Bill residents.

Tags: Allied occupation sectors, Berlin Wall, Cold War, Division of Berlin, Duck's Bill, Entenschnabel, Stasi
Posted in J. Elke Ertle, Tête-à-Tête, Walled In Berlin | 2 Comments »

Haus des Rundfunks now houses RBB

Monday, October 28th, 2019

The Haus des Rundfunks (radio broadcasting house) is the world’s oldest independent broadcasting center and Berlin’s oldest radio station. It was designed by German architect and painter, Hans Poelzig, and is located across the street from the trade exhibition grounds in the city of Berlin, Germany. The Haus des Rundfunks was one of the first buildings in Europe dedicated solely to broadcasting. It greatly influenced the development of stereophonic sound and its adoption by radio broadcasting. During the Cold War, the building served as a political football for a number of years.

The Haus des Rundfunks (radio broadcasting house) is the world’s oldest independent broadcasting center and Berlin’s oldest radio station. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

The building survived World War II and the Cold War and is now used by ARD broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB). Despite its age, the building still offers ideal conditions for broadcasting. Immediately adjacent to the Haus des Rundfunks is the new television studio tower of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, formerly called Sender Freies Berlin. It was constructed between 1963 and 1971

Design of the Haus des Rundfunks

Hans Poelzig designed this architectural landmark in 1929. The building forms a triangle with two curved sides and a 500-foot straight façade, clad with ceramic tiles. The gem of the project, the large, central broadcasting studio, was completed in 1933. Poelzig’s design was novel in the broadcasting world because it placed the three transmission studios in the center of the building so that the surrounding office wings would shield them from street noise. Also unique were some of the studios’ acoustic properties. For instance, the chairs in the large broadcasting studio were designed so that the seats had the same sound-absorbing qualities whether or not they were occupied. In the smaller broadcasting studio, the one hundred wall panels could be flipped so that one side of the panels absorbed sound while the other reflected it.

Haus des Rundfunks and the Cold War

After World War II, the Allied occupation forces divided Berlin into four sectors. The Haus des Rundfunks was located in the British Sector of West Berlin. But Soviet forces continued to operate East Berlin’s radio station, Berliner Rundfunk, from the premises. That meant that British soldiers guarded the outside of the building while Soviet soldiers occupied the inside. Since the structure sat entirely in the British sector, the British occupation forces tried to evict the Soviets. They even turned off the water, electricity and heat to the building. To no avail. The Soviets remained put and kept warm by burning the studios’ wood paneling. Not until 1952 did the Soviets move their broadcasting operation to East Berlin. Finally, in 1956, they handed the building over to West Berlin. One year later, after considerable renovation work, the Haus des Rundfunks became home to the West German radio station, Sender Freies Berlin.

The old Radio Broadcasting House still in use today

In 2003, more than a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Sender Freies Berlin merged into the ARD broadcaster, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, which still uses the building today. Its programming includes Inforadio and Kulturradio. The small broadcasting studios are still occasionally used for concerts and radio recordings. The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin regularly perform in the large studio.

The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin regularly perform in the large studio of the Haus des Rundfunks, Berlin. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Tags: Berlin Wall, Berliner Rundfunk, Cold War, Deutschen Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, East Berlin, Hans Poelzig, Haus des Rundfunks, Inforadio, Kulturradio, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Sender Freier Berlin, West Berlin
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Eiskeller Boy With Chutzpah Adds to Berlin Wall Drama

Monday, August 19th, 2019

Eiskeller is a tiny rural community along the western boundary of Berlin. The area of less than 0.20 square miles was a West Berlin exclave during the Cold War and connected to West Berlin proper by a narrow 13-foot wide road. Of course, both sides of the road were regularly patrolled by East German police to make sure that East German citizens would not defect to the west by way to Eiskeller. Also known as the coldest spot in all of Berlin (hence the name “ice cellar),” this small community added some intrigue to Cold War history. Here is what happened:

Eiskeller Boy is Detained by East German Guards

Erwin Schabe was a twelve-year-old schoolboy in 1961 when the Berlin Wall went up. He lived with his parents in their Eiskeller home and attended school in the West Berlin district of Spandau, just half a mile down the road. Every day, he rode his bike down the only road to Spandau. One day, he told his parents that he did not want to go to school that day because East German police had detained him the day before. Now he was afraid of riding his bike down that lonely stretch of road.

British Occupation Forces Provide Protection

Erwin’s parents immediately reported the incident to the British Occupation Forces since Eiskeller was located in the British Zone. In order to ward off an International incident, British military police quickly came to Erwin’s aid. For the next few days, a British armored reconnaissance vehicle accompanied the boy on his half-mile ride to school.

A British armored reconnaissance vehicle accompanies Erwin Schabe along the half mile from Eiskeller to Spandau in 1961, shortly after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Without delay, the photo went around the world, showing little Erwin on his bike holding a sack lunch and followed by a British military vehicle. Instantly, he became famous and received letters of encouragement and praise from people throughout Germany. A West Germany civil servant even invited him to vacation in West Germany for a week. That’s as much of the story I was familiar with until recently.

My 2019 visit to Eiskeller

Imagine my surprise when I read that Erwin Schabe publicly admitted 33 years later that his story was pure fiction. https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/schulschwaenzer-gesteht-nach-33-jahren-seinen-streich–freiheits-kind–enttarnt-17280662 The Berlin rascal had invented the incident because he needed an excuse that would allow him to skip school that day.

Road from Eiskeller to Spandau in 2019 (now paved). The same road Erwin Schabe took to school in 1961. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Curious about what the half-mile Eiskeller road might look like today, I visited the tiny community, now home to three families, on a recent visit to Berlin. Located on the edge of the Spandau woods, it is just a short walk from the Berlin Wall Trail (Berliner Mauerweg). Along the trail, an info board shows the very photo I remember: A young school boy on his bike with a British military vehicle on his heels. It turns out, Erwin Schabe’s family home is still standing. He hasn’t lived there for many years. The current owner of the home sells beer, soft drinks and ice cream to passer’s by.

Tags: Berlin Wall, Berlin Wall Trail, Berliner Mauerweg, British Occupation Forces, Chutzpah, Cold War, Eiskeller, Erwin Schabe, exclave
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Berlin Wall Trail Retraces Former Wall

Monday, August 5th, 2019

The Berlin Wall Trail (Berliner Mauerweg) is a 100-mile hike and bike trail that retraces the course of the Berlin Wall, which encircled the western half of the city for 28 years. In many places the path makes use of old patrol roads formerly used by East Berlin border guards or West Berlin customs agents.

Cobble Stones Mark Former East/West Border

Immediately after the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Berliners wanted to forget that the “Wall of Shame” had ever existed. They could barely wait for it to be torn down. But a few years later they decided that some visual reminders should remain. After all, the 12-foot Berlin Wall is part of the city’s history. Following reunification, when massive new construction projects threatened to commit to oblivion the memory of the Berlin Wall, many Berliners wanted to make its former path more visible again. That is why double rows of cobble stones snake through the city today. The cobbles mark the former East/West border.

Cobble stone border markers showing the course of the former Berlin Wall. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Creation of the Berlin Wall Trail for Hikers and Bikers

In 2002, the city also began work on the 4.4 million Euro Berlin Wall Trail project. It consists of a 100-mile hike and bike trail that is divided into 14 segments, each between 4.5 and 13 miles in length. Along historically significant sections, the city installed information boards with photos, texts and maps. In some areas, remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall are left in place. The Berlin Wall Trail also cuts through forests and long stretches of natural beauty.

Berlin Wall Trail (Berliner Mauerweg) sign near Eiskeller. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Eiskeller – a Community near the Berlin Wall Trail

I was particularly interested in visiting Eiskeller, a tiny rural community and former West Berlin exclave not far off the Berlin Wall Trail. In 1961, a photo from this hamlet had gone around the world, and I will always remember the picture. It was taken the year the Berlin Wall went up when I lived in West Berlin. The black and white photo showed a young Eiskeller boy riding his bike to school along a narrow country road. A British military vehicle followed closely behind. The acompanying narrative became even more incredible decades later. I hoped to find the Eiskeller site by hiking the Berlin Wall Trail, and I was in luck. Get a chuckle when you read the full Eiskeller story in my next blog.

Tags: Berlin Wall Trail, Berliner Mauerweg, Cold War, Eiskeller, fall of the Berlin Wall, Wall of Shame
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Morgenthau Plan for Post-War Germany

Monday, September 24th, 2018

The Morgenthau Plan was a proposal advocated by Henry Morgenthau Jr., U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, toward the end of WWII. The plan’s objective was to keep post-war Germany from regaining its pre-WWII military strength by partitioning the country into several smaller states, destroying its heavy industry and turning the country into an agrarian society. No industry – no war.

While the plan did influence Allied occupation policies, it was never fully implemented. In keeping with the Morgenthau Plan, a large proportion of operational civilian plants were dismantled and transported to the victorious nations, and large quantities of timber were exported from the U.S. occupation zone to reduce German war potential. But during the ensuing Cold War, the Western Allies changed their stance because the extreme poverty in Germany delayed the general European recovery. Besides, the Western Allies did not want to lose Germany to the communists. As General Lucius D. Clay put it, “There is no choice between becoming a communist on 1,500 calories a day and a believer in democracy on 1,000 calories.” The Morgenthau Plan was toned down accordingly.

Former US Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr. (1891-1967), originator of the Morgenthau Plan. photo courtesy of Wikipedia. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Goals of the Morgenthau Plan

In the original plan of 1944, Henry Morgenthau proposed to eliminate Germany’s ability to wage war by eliminating its arms industry and by removing or destroying key industries important to military strength. In particular, the industries in the Ruhr and Saar regions (Germany’s key industrial and coal-producing regions) were to be destroyed. He wanted Germany to keep its rich farmlands in the east and become a pastoral society. However, Stalin insisted on the Oder-Neisse border, which ceded those farmlands to Poland. As a result, the original version of the proposal needed to be modified.

At the Second Quebec Conference on 16 September 1944, President Roosevelt and Secretary Morgenthau met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, The initially reluctant British leader agreed to a narrowed scope of the Morgenthau Plan. Both statesmen signed a memorandum that called for the elimination of the heavy industry in the Ruhr and Saar and conversion of Germany into a country primarily agricultural and pastoral in character. But the memorandum no longer included partitioning the country into several independent states.

Critics of the Morgenthau Plan

U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull argued that the Morgenthau Plan would leave nothing but land to the German population, and since only about 60% of the Germans could live off that land, 40% of the population would perish. Stimson expressed his opposition even more forcefully. Former U.S. President Herbert Hoover opposed the plan and so did British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden. General George Marshall complained that German resistance had strengthened because German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels used the plan as part of his propaganda to convince the German people to persevere in the fighting so that their country would not be turned into a “potato field”.

The modified Morgenthau Plan

Although U.S. occupation policies aimed at industrial disarmament, they contained a number of deliberate “loopholes”, which in the end prevented large-scale destruction of mines and industrial plants. On 10 May 1945, President Harry S. Truman signed the U.S. occupation directive JCS 1067, which directed U.S. forces not to take any steps toward an economic rehabilitation of Germany. The directive remained in effect for over two years and was replaced in 1947 by JCS 1779. The latter stressed that “an orderly, prosperous Europe requires the economic contributions of a stable and productive Germany.” Soon thereafter, the Marshall Plan went into effect.

Henry Morgenthau’s Background

In 1891, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was born into a prominent Jewish New York City family. In 1913, he befriended Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1933, Roosevelt appointed him governor of the Federal Farm Board. And in 1394, Roosevelt appointed Morgenthau Secretary of the Treasury. Henry Morgenthau was a proponent of balanced budgets, stable currency, reduction of the national debt, and the need for more private investment. Along with the President and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, he kept interest rates low during the depression to finance massive public spending, and later supported rearmament and U.S. participation in WW II.

Tags: British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Cold War, General George Marshall, General Lucius. D. Clay, German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Henry Morgenthau Jr., Marshall Plan, Morgenthau Plan, post-war Germany, Second Quebec Conference, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. President Harry S. Truman, U.S. President Herbert Hoover, U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull
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Berlin Sculpture symbolizes city history

Monday, January 29th, 2018

Berlin is the capital of Germany, a city that was divided into East and West from 1945 to 1989 and brutally severed by the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. But Berlin is also the name of a well-known sculpture, the Berlin Sculpture, located in the median of the Tauentzienstrasse, not far from the famous Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/iconic-kaiser-wilhelm-memorial-church/. If you are positioned just right, the sculpture will frame the church perfectly.

Berlin Sculpture in the median of Tauentzienstrasse with the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedaechtniskirche in the background. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. www.walled-in-berlin.com

How the Berlin Sculpture came about

In 1987, two years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city celebrated its 750^th anniversary http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlins-long-history/ To commemorate the occasion, the city of West Berlin commissioned a group of artists to create artistic sculptures for its main boulevard, the Kurfuerstendamm. The eight winning sculptures went on display. Husband-and-wife team, Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff and Martin Matschinsky, created one of these eight sculptures and placed their creation within close proximity of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, the house of worship that was so heavily damaged during the bombing of Berlin during World War II. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-battle-of-berlin-ended-wwII/

The Berlin sculpture consists of four chromed nickel steel tubes, shooting up into the sky, seemingly courting each other without touching. By placing the cylinders in close proximity, yet inaccessible to one another, the Matschinsky-Denninghoff sculpting team tried to represent Berlin’s situation in a symbolic way. From a certain angle, the Berlin Sculpture looks like a broken chain whose links are severed, which symbolizes the division of East and West.

To everyone’s surprise, only two years after the Berlin sculpture was created, the Berlin Wall fell quite unexpectedly. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-day-the-berlin-wall-fell/ Today, the sculpture is a reminder of Berlin’s history during the Cold War.

Tags: Berlin sculpture, Berlin Wall, Berlin's 750th anniversary, bombing of Berlin during World War II, Brigitte Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Cold War, Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Kurfuerstendamm, Martin Matschinsky
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Hagen Koch marked off the Berlin Wall

Monday, October 30th, 2017

Hagen Koch, just 21 years old at the time, was a little known, yet important, player in the construction of the Berlin Wall. It was Koch who researched the exact location of the boundary between East and West Berlin. And it was Koch who painted the white line that would mark off the border. Hagen Koch walked 30 miles in a single day in August of 1961 of, hunched over to paint that line. Once finished, construction of the Berlin Wall began.

Hagen Koch researched the exact location of the boundary between East and West Berlin and then, in August of 1961, painted the white line that demarcated that border. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015. www.walled-in-berlin.com

How did the Berlin Wall come about?

Since earliest times, man built walls to keep others out. However, the Berlin Wall was a rare example of a wall built to keep people in. It was constructed to keep East Germans from defecting to the West because between 1949 (the creation of East Germany) and 1961 (the construction of the Berlin Wall) over two million East Germans had done just that. They had left East Germany and fled to the West. For years, East German leader Walter Ulbricht http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/image-challenged-walter-ulbricht/ pleaded with the Soviets to let him close the border to put an end to the workforce drain. By August 1961, the Soviets agreed, and Ulbricht proceeded with his plan.

Berliners awoke on 13 August 1961, a beautiful Sunday morning, to find Operation Rose (Ulbricht’s code name for the construction of the Berlin Wall) in full swing. By the wee hours of the morning, most of the border between East and West Berlin was already primitively closed. Barbed wire and concrete posts severed streets. The underground and elevated trains terminated at the border. Armed soldiers stood guard. Within a few days, a block-and-mortar wall replaced the barbed wire fence. The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years. It split the city and separated families and friends. It became a symbol of the Cold War.

Hagen Koch’s Rise to Fame

Having graduated a technical draftsman, Hagen Koch joined the Ministerium fuer Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security) – better known as Stasi – as a cartographer. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-stasi-and-how-it-worked/ Upon joining the Stasi in 1960, Koch made a speech, which quickly propelled him up the Stasi ladder. In his speech, Hagen Koch denounced “American imperialism” and emphasized his pride in East German socialism. Upon hearing Koch talk, Erich Mielke, head of the Stasi, remarked, “He’s the man of our future.” http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/erich-mielke-master-of-fear/ Soon thereafter, Hagen Koch was promoted to Head of Cartography.

Hagen Koch’s transformation

One hundred percent committed to East German-style socialism at the beginning of his career, Hagen Koch’s conviction began to fade when the Stasi insisted that he divorce his wife on account of her ties to the West. His commitment to East German ideology took a further plunge when Hagen’s father lost his job for protesting the expulsion of his Dutch father, Hagen’s grandfather.

After having fulfilled his service requirement, Koch left the Stasi in 1985. Four years later, the Berlin Wall fell. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-day-the-berlin-wall-fell/ Thereafter, Hagen Koch began to talk openly about his part in creating the hated barrier. He had had a change of heart in the preceding years relative to East Germany’s political system. In 1990, Koch became Cultural Heritage Officer at East Germany’s Institute for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and was appointed Minister of Culture, responsible for the demolition of the Wall. After German reunification the same year, http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/germanys-unite-through-treuhandanstalt/ Hagen Koch began creating an extensive Wall Archive at his home and welcomed visitors to view his collection. Visiting dignitaries included the Queen of Sweden and the artist Christo. Over time, Koch turned self-styled chronicler of the Wall and became a sought-after speaker. As part of a Historical Witness Project, the Wende Museum in Los Angeles, California, invited Hagen Koch to tell his story. Click http://www.wendemuseum.org/participate/historical-witness-hagen-koch to watch the interview.

Tags: Berlin, Berlin Wall, Cold War, Erich Mielke, German reunification, Hagen Koch, imperialism, Ministerium fuer Staatssicherheit, Ministry for State Security, Operation Rose, socialism, Stasi, Walter Ulbricht, Wende Museum
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Berlin Blockade and the Cold War

Monday, April 25th, 2016

Until the Berlin Blockade began in 1948, the United States had no intention of occupying West Berlin beyond the establishment of a new West German government in 1949. But the subsequent Berlin Blockade and ensuing Cold War kept the U.S. in West Berlin until 1994.

An important omission in the Potsdam Agreement

In the summer of 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, the three victorious powers (the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union) signed the Potsdam Agreement. This document laid down the legal framework for the occupation of Germany and re-affirmed rules previously hammered out at the Yalta Conference. Specifically, the Potsdam Agreement addressed the terms of the military occupation, division, territorial changes, reparations and reconstruction of Germany. Accordingly, Germany was divided into three zones. Berlin, the capital, was also divided into three sectors, despite the fact that the city was located 100 miles inside Soviet occupation territory. Three air corridors from West Germany to West Berlin had been negotiated in the Potsdam Agreement, but rail, road and water access were never discussed. This omission was to be the basis for endless frustration.

Quadripartite administration of Germany and Berlin

The Allies established the Allied Control Council http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/allied-control-council-governs-germany/ to execute resolutions concerning Germany and the Allied Kommandatura http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/allied-kommandatura-governs-berlin/ to implement resolutions concerning Berlin. When France joined the Allies as the fourth occupation power, its territories of Germany and Berlin were carved from the American and British occupation zones and sectors. The four Allies agreed to govern their respective zone and sector as they deemed fit, but unanimous agreement would be required in matters that concerned all of Germany or all of Berlin.

Events leading up to the Berlin Blockade

By 1948, the relationship between the four powers had gone sour. The three western powers wanted to help rebuilt Germany to stabilize the European continent, with the hope that it would prevent Communism from spreading. The Soviets preferred a weak Germany and an unstable continent, with the hope that it would provide fertile ground for the spread of Communism. It did not take long before the Soviets regretted having agreed to share the city of Berlin with the Western Allies. Now they wanted nothing more than for the three western powers to get out of West Berlin. Quadripartite control became unworkable. On 20 March 1948, the Allied Control Council met for the last time. On 16 June 1948, the Allied Kommandatura assembled for the last time. The Soviet delegation walked out for good.

After the Soviets had left the table, the three Western Allies made decisions concerning their occupation territories without Soviet input. On 21 June 1948, the Western Allies introduced a new currency in the western zones and sectors. They introduced the Deutsche Mark. The Soviets, who had not been consulted, objected vehemently. On 22 June 1948, the Soviets also introduced their own new currency in the eastern zone.

From Berlin Blockade to Berlin Airlift

On 24 June 1948, The Soviets blocked all rail, road and water connections between West Germany and West Berlin. They offered to lift the blockade only if the Western Allies agreed to withdraw the Deutsche Mark from West Berlin. The Western Allies refused. The Soviets stopped supplying agricultural goods to West Berlin and cut off the electricity generated in the Soviet zone and relied upon by the three western zones of Berlin. There was only enough food to last for 35 days and enough coal to last for 45 days.

With surface traffic between West Germany and West Berlin severed and in the absence of negotiated ground access rights to the city, the only remaining possibility was to try to supply West Berlin from the air. On June 26, 1948, American military commander Lucius D. Clay http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/lucius-d-clay-berlins-defender-of-freedom/ had the first planes in the air. The Berlin Airlift began and the Cold War heated up. The Berlin Blockade lasted from 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949.

Tags: Allied Control Council, Allied Kommandatura, Berlin Blockade, Cold War, Deutsche Mark, Lucius D. Clay, Potsdam Agreement, quadripartite administration
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Cold War Checkpoint Charlie – Part 1

Monday, April 4th, 2016

For almost three decades – from 1961 to 1990 – Checkpoint Charlie was an important border crossing point between East and West Berlin. It was located in the Friedrichstrasse, near Zimmerstrasse, on the western side of the border. Along with Glienicker Bruecke (Glienicke Bridge) Checkpoint Charlie was the most prominent border crossing point during the Cold War.

Checkpoint Charlie’s Function

Checkpoint Charlie was a sentry post of the Western Allies and the main demarcation point between Western-occupied West Berlin and Soviet-occupied East Berlin. Its main function was to register and brief Allied military personnel prior to entering the eastern sector. It was also the only point where diplomats, journalists and foreign tourists could cross into Berlin’s Soviet sector. Germans were prohibited from using this checkpoint. Checkpoint Charlie could be passed by foot or by car. Any visit to the eastern sector required a one-day visa and the exchange of a specified amount of West German Marks for East German Marks. The exchange rate was set at 1:1 even though the official rate of exchange was 4:1.

Warning to anyone about to venture into the eastern sector of Berlin, photo at Checkpoint Charlie © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

Where did Checkpoint Charlie get its name?

The name “Charlie” came from the letter C in the NATO phonetic alphabet. There were two other Allied checkpoints in Germany: Checkpoint Bravo at Drewitz-Dreilinden (the border between East Germany and West Berlin) and Checkpoint Alpha at Helmstedt-Marienborn (the border between West Germany and East Germany).

Checkpoint Charlie operated for 29 years

During most of that time, the western side of Checkpoint Charlie consisted of nothing more than a tiny wooden shack and a few sandbags. In the 1980s, the original guardhouse was replaced by a larger metal structure. But it, too, was modest compared to the East German checkpoint. The unassuming appearance of the western side was intentional. With this simple shack, the Western Allies tried to convey that they did not consider the Berlin Wall to be a legitimate border. The East German side of Checkpoint Charlie, on the other hand, included guard towers, cement barriers and a building where the inspection of vehicles and passengers took place. Searches included heat scans to detect fugitives. To read about Checkpoint Charlie’s role in the East/West showdown in October 1961 and the current location of the old guardhouse, please visit http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/cold-war-checkpoint-charlie-part-2/

Tags: Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie, Cold War, Drewitz-Dreilinden, Glienicke Bridge, Glienicker Bruecke, Helmstedt-Marienborn
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