The Berlin Wall (76 page)

27
Einschätzung der Fahnenfluchten im Einsatzraum Berlin in der Zeit vom
13.8-10.9.1961 in BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/12/72 Bl. 156f.

28
See Uhl and Wagner,
Ulbricht, Chruschtschow und die Mauer
as above p. 48

29
See Yuli Kvitsinsky’s memoirs, published in German as
Vor dem Sturm
p. 187.

30
Frank,
Walter Ulbricht
p. 367.

31
Only in 1982 were these regulations to take legal form in the ‘Border Statute’ of that year. Hitherto it was a purely administrative measure, without legislative support.

13 High Noon in the Friedri chstrasse

1
Named after Dr Walter Hallstein, State Secretary at the West German Foreign Office during the 1950s, who originated the idea of isolating the GDR in this way. Hallstein was from 1958 the first president of the European Commission and a prime mover in the creation of the European Economic Community.

2
Merseburger,
Willy Brandt
p. 408.

3
Note from P.F. de Zulueta to Prime Minister Macmillan re. meeting with Barnaby Drayson MP and Robert Jenkins MP 13 September 1961 in BNA Kew PREM 11/3364.

4
Details of the Checkpoint Charlie events on 22 October from Gerd Wilcke, ‘9 American M.P.’s Cross Berlin Line to Free Official’ in
New York Times
23 October 1961.

5
For American commandant General Watson’s letter of protest to the Soviet commandant, Colonel Soloviev, and description of the incident see Lightner’s telegram to the State Department of 23 October 1961 in Kennedy Library, Boston POF/117 SF Ger. See also Eisenfeld and Engelmann,
Mauerbau Fluchtbewegung und Machtsicherung
p. 65.

6
Telegram from Clay in Berlin to Secretary of State 24 October 1961 in Kennedy Library, Boston POF/I17 SF Ger.

7
Stamped ‘Rusk’, State Department to embassies and military including JCS 18 October 1961 in Kennedy Library, Boston POF SF Ger 62.

8
Harrison,
Driving the Soviets up the Wall
pp. 210f., from Professor Harrison’s interview with Yuli Kvitsinsky in 1992.

9
Ibid. p. 217.

10
See the report on this from the Soviet point of view in Colonel General Ivanov’s message to Defence Minister Malinovsky in Moscow 25 October 1961, reprinted in Uhl and Wagner,
Ulbricht, Chruschtschow und die Mauer
Dokument 36 pp. 158f.

11
Transcript of the meeting between Watson and Soloviev ibid, Dokument 37 pp. 160ff.

12
Cate,
The leds of August
pp. 482f. And for the following.

13
Cate, writing in the early 1980s, was not aware that the affable emissary was a CIA man. See David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kondrashev and George Bailey,
Battleground Berlin: CIA vs KGB in the Cold War
p. 391.

14
Details of this confrontation from Sydney Gruson, ‘Soviet Advance: 33 Vehicles Are Mile From Crossing ‘Point Used by Americans’ in
New York Times
27 October 1961.

15
Sydney Gruson, ‘US and Russians Pull Back Tanks from Berlin Line’ in
New York Times
29 October 1961.

16
Reprinted in Uhl and Wagner,
Ulbricht, Chruschtschow und die Mauer
Dokument 38 pp. 164ff.

17
Reprinted ibid. Dokument 39 pp. 166f.

18
Cate,
The Ides of August
p. 486 based on Cate’s interviews with Clay and with the President’s secretary, Evelyn Lincoln.

19
Khrushchev Remembers
as above p. 507.

20
P.F. de Zulueta to Prime Minister n.d. (probably 28 October) but annotated 29 October 1961 by Macmillan in BNA Kew PREM 11/3353.

21
Lord Home to Prime Minister 27 October 1961 in BNA Kew PREM II/3353.

22
Harrison,
Driving the Soviets up the Wall
p. 215.

23
‘Document No. 2. Rough notes from a Conversation (Gromyko, Khrushchev, and Gomulka) on the International Situation, n.d. {October 1961}’ introduced, translated and annotated by Douglas Selvage, CWIHP Bulletin II (Winter 1998) pp. 223f.

24
P.F. de Zulueta to Prime Minister I November 1961 in BNA Kew PREM 11/3353.

25
See Gerhard Wettig, ‘Chruščëvs Berlin-Krise, Ein Forschungsbericht’ in
Mitteilungen der Gemeinsamen Kommission für die Erforschung der jüngeren Geschichte der deutsch-russischen Beziehungen
p. 143.

14 Break-outs

1
Sydney Gruson, ‘US and Russians Pull Back Tanks…’ from
New York Times
29 October 1961.

2
From CIA Dispatch 6 November 1961, ‘Berlin Since 13 August (MORI 14411)’ published as part of
On the Front Lines of the Cold War: Documents on the Intelligence War in Berlin
1945-1961 available from the CIA website on http://www.cia.gov/csi/books/17240/art-9.html. And see David E. Murphy, Sergei A. Kondrashev and George Bailey, `Battleground Berlin: CIA
vs
KGB
in the Cold War
p. 386.

3
Merseburger,
Willy Brandt
pp. 430f. And for the possible involvement of Senator Lipschitz in the bomb plan.

4
See Marion Detjen,
Ein Loch in der Mauer, Die Geschichte der Fluchthilfe im geteilten Deutschland
1961-1989~ pp. 99ff.

5
Details of Burkhart Veigel’s escape activities based on the article ‘Interview mit Fluchthelfer Burkhart Veigel: Ein Koffer voller Blanko-Pässe’ available at http://www.spiegel.de/sptv/
reportage/o,1518,149670,00.html and also Veigel’s own account on his personal website at http://www.fluchthilfe.de in which he also writes in some detail about various other forms of escape, including through the sewers and through one tunnel.

6
The West German news magazine
Der Spiegel
, which interviewed some of the group’s leaders for a 1962 article dubbed the organisation ‘Operation Travel Agency’ (
Unternehmen Reisebüro
), a romantic-thrillerish sort of title which also sought to conceal the identity of its founders, who did not wish to be identified. According to Marion Detjen in her comprehensive study of the escape movement
Ein Loch in der Mauer, Die Geschichte der Fluchthilfe im geteilten Deutschland
1961-1989~ (2005), this student-based organisation was much looser and less coherent than such articles claim, and was known to the initiated as the ‘Girrmann Group’, which is the title that will be used here.

7
Detjen,
Ein Loch in der Mauer
as above p. 103.

8
‘Die Augen feucht vor Wut: DDR-Heldenkult um 25 Soldaten und Polizisten’ in
Der Spiegel
28/1991 8 July 1991. The article erroneously states that Tews was ‘lifeless’ when retrieved. And for the circumstances of Göring’s death and secular canonisation by the East German state. See also the account in Filmer/Schwan,
Opfer der Mauer
as above p. 287. Information on Walter Tews’ appearance and injuries from reports of his appearance at the trial of three former East German border guards for his attempted murder in
Die Welt
29 May, 31 May and 10 June 2002. The accused were eventually found not guilty on grounds that no intent to murder could be established, nor could the identity of the soldier who fired the shots that hit Tews.

9
Free translation by the author of the poem in
Der Kampfruf
(The Call to Battle), weekly newspaper of the Readiness Police 1 June 1961.

10
ZK der SED Abt. Sicherheitsfragen BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/12 75 Bl.264.

11
Filmer/Schwan,
Opfer der Mauer
as above p. 281.

12
Malzahn,
Deutschland, Deutschland
as above pp. 129f.

13
Detjen,
Ein Loch in der Mauer
p. 91.

14
Cf. ‘Anlage zur Abschlußbericht d. Ausb. Rgt.’ in ZK der SED Abt. Sicherheitsfragen BArch Berlin SAPMO 30 IV 2/12 72 Bl. 278f.

15
Report of 3.1.1962 in ZK der SED Abt. Sicherheitsfragen BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/12 75.

16
Report of investigators’ search of a rented room belonging to a deserter in ZK der SED Abt. Sicherheitsfragen BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/12 77 Bl. 60.

17
Report, ‘Bericht über die Fahnenflucht des ehemaligen Oberoffiziers für Kommandantendienst der 2. Grenzbrigade, Major Krajewsky’ in ZK der SED Abt. Sicherheitsfragen BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/12 73 Bl. 106ff.

18
‘Ein dufter Kerl’, see Detjen,
Ein Loch in der Mauer
. p. 117.

19
See ‘Grabung ins Jahr 1962’ in
Der Tagesspiegel
27 Ocrober 2004.

20
See Filmer/Schwan,
Opfer der Mauer
as above pp. 288f.

21
‘Das falsche Kaliber’ in
Der Spiegel
52/1998 21 December 1998.

22
The legal consequences of this incident constitute one of the stranger controversies of the post-Cold War world. See the ruling of the German Federal Constitutional Court on 30 November 2000 rejecting Müller’s appeal against conviction for murder at http://www.bverfg.de/entscheidungen/rk20001130_2bvr147300.html. Müller had first been convicted of the manslaughter of Private Huhn by a district court in 1999 and sentenced to one year’s imprisonment (suspended), while the following year the German Supreme Court increased the charge to that of murder, though retaining the lenient sentence. Mu¨ller’s arguments of necessity and/or self defence were rejected. The constitutional court also saw no reason ro overturn this latter verdict whereby ‘the federal court…considers the life of the border soldier of greater value…than the right of the plaintiff to protect
himself against the threat of illegal proceedings on the part of the GDR authorities’, The controversy continues.

23
See material in Abt. F¨ur Sicherheitsfragen,
Parteiinformation fu¨r die Zeit der erho¨hten Einsatzbereitschaft von 13.08.1962,08.00 Ihr bis 14.08.1962, 08.00 Uhr in
BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/I2 73.

24
Report of the commander of the First Border Brigade (B) 17 August 1962 reproduced in Filmer/Schwan,
Opfer der Mauer
as above pp. 104ff.

25
Transcripts of Oval Office tapes in ed. Timothy Naftali,
The Presidential Recordings: John F. Kennedy: The Great Crises
Volume I: July 3o-August 1962 pp. 534f.

26
Abt. F¨ur Scherheitsfragen,
Befehl des Kommandeurs der I. Grenzbrigade
(B)
Nr
56/6223 August 1962 in BArch Berlin SAPMO DY 30 IV 2/12 73 B!. 311ff.

27
See ‘Hasso Herschel—Fluchthelfer und Geschäftsmann’ in
Spiegel Online
http://www.Spiegel!.de/sprvlspecial/o, I 5 18, I 13392,oo.htm!.

28
For their first meeting with Herschel see Ellen Sesta,
Der Tunnel in die Freiheit, Berlin. Bernauer Straβe
pp. 57f.

29
Ibid. pp. II 3f.

30
Detjen,
Ein Loch in der Mauer
p. 155.

31
Ibid. p. 158.

32
Ibid. p. 260.

33
Author’s interview with Klaus Schulz-Ladegast as above.

15 ‘Ich Bin ein Berli>ner’

1
Detjen,
Ein Loch in tier Mauer
p. 152.

2
Ibid. pp. 196f.

3
See report from Martin Hildebrandt of the German Section of the State Department (and of the Berlin Steering Group) 24 October 1962 in NARA Washington RG 59 150/68/80/01 Box 3 General Records of the Department of State: Records of Ambassador-at-Large Llewellyn E. Thompson.

4
Walt Rostow to William Tyler (Head of the European Section of the State Department) 22 October 1962 in NARA Washington RG 59 NND 98737 General Records of the Department of State, Records Relating to Berlin and Eastern Affairs.

5
Andreas W. Daum,
Kennedy in Berlin: Politik, Kultur and Emotionen im Kalten Krieg
pp. 72f.

6
‘There are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world.

Let them come to Berlin.

There are some who say—There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future.

Let them come to Berlin.

And there ate some who say, in Europe and elsewhere, we can work with the Communists.

Let them come to Berlin.

And there are even a few who say that it is true that Communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress,

Lass’ sie nach Berlin kommen
. Let them come to Berlin.’

7
Ibid. pp, 124ff. and for Brandt’s and the diplomats’ nervous reaction to President Kennedy’s rhetoric.

8
On the American University Commencement Address and its importance see Dallek,
Kennedy
pp.619ff.

9
Daum,
Kennedy in Berlin
p. 141.