2017/09/05

Unit 3: Berlin

2-1

1. Germany & Berlin divided

 Germany was divided into 4 parts & Berlin (situated in the
USSR-part) was also divided into 4 zones

 In 1948 Britain, France and USA decided to combine their 3

zones into one - West Germany & West Berlin
◦ West Berlin was an isolated area of capitalism (with Marshall Aid
money) and democracy, surrounded by communism

 Stalin thought it was against Yalta agreement & that it was a

plot to make East Berliners envious of capitalism.

 Stalin warned Soviets that communism could not coexist

with capitalism
 Feb 9, 1946 Stalin stated “Capitalism is a danger to world peace”
2-2

1
 2017/09/05

Germany Divided

2-3

Germany divided (cont.)

 March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill gave a

speech at Westminster college in Missouri
and he said, “A shadow has fallen… and iron
curtain has descended across the continent.”

 Theresult of this speech was that the

imaginary dividing line between eastern and
western Europe became known as the Iron
Curtain.

2-4

2
 2017/09/05

2. Berlin blockade & Berlin Airlift

 By 1948, U.S., Britain, and France withdraw forces from
West Germany & combine their 3 zones & parts to
form 1 country – West Germany & West Berlin.
◦ June 1948: Introduction of a new currency in the three Western
zones

 Afraid that Germany would grow strong and threaten

the USSR, Stalin planned to seize control of West
Berlin through a blockade.

 24 June 1948: Stalin blocked all 3 routes between West

Allied zone and West Berlin!
◦ 2.5 million residents of West Berlin had only enough food for 5
weeks
2-5

Berlin airlift (cont.)

 To avoid a military war with the Soviets, USA and Britain
started the Berlin airlift - Operation Vittles - to drop supplies
into West Berlin

 For 327 days, 278,000 flights, they brought in 2.3 million tons
of food, fuel and medicine to the West Berliners (~ 4,500
tons of supplies each day
◦ "Easter parade“: April 16, 1949, there were 1,398 flights --
one every minute.

 Nearly a year later = realizing they were beaten Soviets gave

up and lifted their blockade in 12 May 1949

2-6

3
 2017/09/05

3. Birth of East & West Germany

• It was clear that there existed 2 different
versions of Germany – East and West Germany:

• 23 May 1949 – birth of the Federal Republic of

Germany (West-Germany)
• German mayor: Ernst Reuter

• 7 October 1949: The Soviet occupation zones

became the German Democratic Republic (East-
Germany)
• German Communist leader & head of Democratic
Republic: Walter Ulbricht

2-8

4
 2017/09/05

4. The Berlin Crises (1958 – 1961)

 10 November 1958: Nikita Khrushchev’s (USSR

leader) ultimatum
◦ Berlin must be a free city, free from Western occupation
powers
◦ Withdraw troops from West-Berlin
◦ Six-month deadline: came to nothing (the West still in Berlin)

 September 1959: Khrushchev is the first Soviet

leader to visit USA
◦ Negotiations: a deal over Berlin was possible
◦ Khrushchev and Eisenhower made some progress toward
mutual understanding during talks at Camp David in
USA….could this be the end of the cold war?
2-9

Berlin Crises (cont.)

• 1 May 1960:
• U2 (USA) spy-plane shot down over
Soviet territory – became known as the
‘U2–incident’
• Eisenhower: no apology for spying
Dwight D. Eisenhower • Khrushchev: walked out
and Nikita Khrushchev

• Francis Gary Powers (pilot of ‘spy-plane’)

• Convicted of espionage in USSR
• 10 years imprisonment
• 1962: exchanged for a KGB colonel
imprisoned in the USA for espionage

2-10

5
 2017/09/05

5. John F Kennedy & Berlin crises

• Nov 1960: John F Kennedy elected USA president

• June 1961: Khrushchev met Pres. Kennedy at Vienna

• Khrushchev demanded:
• Peace treaty & recognition of East Germany
• Berlin must become strictly neutral
• Western access only with East Germany’s permission
• Violation will be seen as act of aggression against Soviet
Union

• Response from both sides: anger; substantial increase

in military budget
• Kennedy: “We cannot and will not permit the communists to
drive us out of Berlin, either gradually or by force.The
endangered frontier of freedom runs through divided Berlin.”

2-11

6. The Berlin Wall

 Between 1949-1961: 3.5 million East Germans flee to West
◦ Especially younger, highly-skilled workers

 August 1961: Warsaw Pact meeting at Moscow

◦ Ulbricht authorised to seal off border between West & East Berlin
with barbed wire barrier followed by a wall of concrete blocks

 On the night of August 13, 1961, a low, barbed-wire barrier

rose between East and West Berlin.

 2 days later, communist authorities begin construction on

the Berlin Wall to prevent East Germans from fleeing to
West Berlin.

2-12

6
 2017/09/05

Berlin Wall (cont.)

 The West Germans called it Schandmaur, the "Wall of Shame."
◦ Length: 155km zigzag path, but only 43km of the wall divided East and
West Berlin
◦ Height: 3.6 meter of concrete
◦ Over the years, it was rebuilt three times.
◦ Each version of the wall was more higher, stronger, repressive, and
impregnable.
◦ 302 watch towers and guards with machine guns and dogs stood watch
over a barren no man's land.
◦ Forbidden zones were created behind the wall.
◦ Anyone trying to escape was shot on sight.

 For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall stood as
the most tangible symbol of the Cold War – a literal “iron
curtain” dividing Europe.

2-13

7
 2017/09/05

7. Berlin ‘stand-off ’
 Only 1 crossing point where Westerners could cross
into East Berlin = Checkpoint Charlie

 22 October 1961
 US diplomat Allan Lightner refused entry into East
Germany
 Genl. L. Clay (USA) reacted: soldiers & 10 American
tanks at Checkpoint Charlie
 Soviet Union reacted: 10 Soviet tanks at Checkpoint
Charlie

 First time in Cold War that USA & USSR tanks directly
faced each other

 Kennedy & Khrushchev in conversation for 16 hours:

◦ USSR tanks moved 5 meters backwards
◦ Followed by USA tanks
◦ All tanks withdrew
2-15

On 26 June 1963, 22 months after the erection of the 
Berlin Wall, U.S. President John F. Kennedy visited West 
Berlin…he declared “Ich bin ein Berliner”  in the support of 
the US for West Germany and the people of West Berlin in 
particular

8
 2017/09/05

8. Fall of the Berlin Wall

 On the evening of November 9, 1989, an announcement
made by East German government official Günter
Schabowski stated, "Permanent relocations can be done through
all border checkpoints between the GDR (East Germany) into the
FRG (West Germany) or West Berlin."

 People were in shock - were the borders really open?

◦ East Germans tentatively approached border and indeed found that the
border guards were letting people cross.
◦ Very quickly, the Wall was inundated with people from both sides =
some began chipping at the Wall with hammers and chisels.

 After the Berlin Wall came down, East and West Germany
reunified into a single German state on October 3, 1990.
2-17

2-18