On June 26th 1963, the fifteenth anniversary of the Berlin airlift. US president John F. Kennedy was walking the streets of Berlin. Taking in the sight of the newly constructed Berlin Wall. Kennedy who had to give a speech later in the day had a change of heart, he disregarded the milk toast speech given to him about peace with the soviets and decided instead to craft a speech of his own. A speech that would become one of the greatest moments of the Cold War.
On June 26th 1963, the fifteenth anniversary of the Berlin airlift. US president John F. Kennedy was walking the streets of Berlin. Taking in the sight of the newly constructed Berlin Wall. Kennedy who had to give a speech later in the day had a change of heart, he disregarded the milk toast speech given to him about peace with the soviets and decided instead to craft a speech of his own. A speech that would become one of the greatest moments of the Cold War.
Ich Bin Ein Berliner!
A “Wall of Shame” was the term used to describe it, by the, at the time mayor of West Berlin, Willy Brandt. Who was speaking to American President John F Kennedy, as Kennedy rested in mayor Brandts office. Kennedy would soon give a speech to the demoralized citizens of West Berlin, who for the past 18 years had been encircled by the Communist puppet state of the GDP the german democratic republic, and who for the past 18 years had been trying to get the Americans to abandon the infeasible city of West Berlin.
The GDP for the past 22 months had been erecting and adding to that wall of Shame.
It is “an Offence Not only against history but an offence against Humanity” Said Brandt again
(German Accent)
The President had just returned from a visit on foot to one of Berlins most notorious crossing points, Checkpoint Charlie.
He was watched just a couple hundred meters away by a small groups of East Berliners unable even to wave because of the presence of large groups of the East German People's Police.
It touched Kennedy, who had been invited to speak In Berlin by Brandt. Kennedy was given a speech by his speechwriters, who had spent weeks preparing it. They wanted to strike a balance between expressing solidarity with the disheartened citizens of west Berlin without offending the Soviets.
Kennedy upon reviewing the Speech was deeply disappointed in it, The American Commandant in Berlin called the text “terrible” and the president agreed.
So Kennedy, taking inspiration from his walk decided to fashion a new speech on his own.
Kennedy Asked Brandt to translate for him, I am a Berliner
Berlin since the start of the cold war had been divided, The Free Capitalist West and the enslaved Communist East. It was a symbol of the Cold War
IT had not been an easy Century for the German peoples who had been on the losing side of 2 world wars, had been destroyed twice and managed to rebuild themselves to 1st world status again and again.
Hitler preached about a third Reich for the German people, which would be a thousand year reich. However he was a bit off, his 3rd reich only survived about 12 years. And with the 3rd reich coming to an end the German people found themselves occupied and destroyed by the powers they sought to occupy over.
About 20 years before this speech was given the not-yet Adversarial Capitalist West and Communist East were sitting down for a series of meetings
The big 3, Josef Stalin, Franklin Delenor Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill had a series of meetings to decide what the future of not just Germany but the world would look like. They met at Tehran, Casablanca and Yalta to discuss.
Just as the war concluded, the big 3 turned into the big 1 and little 2, Josef Stalin, Harry S Truman, and Clement Atlee.
With FDR passing away less than a month before Germanys unconditional surrender leading to the virtually unknown former senator from Missouri, who had only been vice president for 82 days before this to be In charge of the richest and most industrialized nation on earth.
and with Churchill losing his election to the liberal labour party, which was shocking as well, Churchill was extremely popular as a war time leader, his approval rating never dropped below 78%. The new Atlee wasn’t unknown but he lacked the charm and Charisma of Churchill.
The big 1 and little 2 met at Potsdam, Germany in August to finalize their decisions with what to do with the world. The three powers were kind enough to invite France as well to the big kids table.
France, even though it got knocked out of the war 5 years prior to this in 1940 would be treated as one of the victors. The newly formed provisional government of the French Repulbic, led by Charles De Gaulle accepted the invitation, on one condition!
that it would not accept a priori any commitment to the eventual reconstitution of a central government in L’allemange (GERMANY) (FRENCH ACCENT)
The Big 1, little 2, and the quarrelsome French agreed that
Germany would be blamed for the war and would pay reparations to the victorious powers, specifically the soviets who faced momentous destruction at the hands of the third Reich
Austria and Italy, although AXIS powers, would be spared most of the blame.
The remaining German navy would be absorbed into the victorious powers navies (Sorry France not into yours)
The French were in fear of a unified German government, Germany which had defeated and humiliated them in 3 major wars in the past 75 years. France made it their goal to make things more difficult for the defeated German nation,
The French being French refused to implement the terms agreed to at Postam Agreement.
De Gaulle having not been invited to the conference was a little salty
most importantly at Potsdam, it was agreed;
Post war Germany would be divided into 4 occupation zones, under the control of Britain, The Soviet Union, The United States, and even the French, until a German Government “acceptable to all parties” could be established
Given that the 4 occupying powers included the mortal enemies, The Capitalist West, and The Communist East, and more importantly that one of the occupying powers was…. French… An Agreement would not be too easy.
In the beginning the Bitter Germans and war ravaged allies were very hostile to each other. As early as June a Skirmish broke out between German police and …. The French.
Stalin installed a puppet communist government under the guise of Free and Fair elections and the Allies did the same, but with elections that were probably actually free and fair.
Another Agreement made at Potsdam was the German capital Berlin would be divided among the 4 occupiers, even though Berlin was deep in the Soviet occupied territory and would be an enclave. (Berlin being located in the far east of Germany)
Even before the Great war was finished both The capitalist West and Communist East could see the cold war forming.
Churchill in early 1946 announced ##
#### INSERT CHRUCHILL IRON CURTAIN SPEECH 3:00 minutes
The next year the British and US occupation zones were combined into what was referred as the Bizone, The problematic French agreed to join; reluctantly, and eventually joined a little over a year later.
Stalin as early as June 1945 in a meeting with German communist leaders told that he expected to slowly undermine the British position within their occupation zone, he predicted that the United States would withdraw within a year or 2. The French being French he saw as no threat.
President Truman was unsure of whether staying in West Berlin was feasible. For years he was unsure of what action he should take with the politically Isolated Berlin
Also Agreed to at Potsdam was West Berlin would be given access to three air corridors to be used at any time. The allies didn’t make a formal agreement related to rail and road access into West Berlin and were relying on soviet goodwill to assure that.
As early as 1946 the cold war heated up a bit as tensions flared between the 2 opposing sides, the Soviets stopped delivering agricultural goods from their zone in Eastern Germany and the American Commander in charge of West Berlin, Lucius D. Clay responded by stopping shipments of dismantled industries from western Germany to the Soviet Union. In response,
The soviets launched a massive propaganda campaign against the capitalist west and began to obstruct administrative work of all four zones of occupation
April Crisis and the Little Air Lift
The Soviets began harassing the western powers, they required all trains could no longer leave berlin without a soviet commanders permission, each train and truck had to be searched by soviet authorities, causing massive delays. The Western powers began building up a stockpile by air force to prevent the potential blockade and starving of west Berlin.
Soviet Aircraft began pestering Western air forces by violating Berlin airspace running in and out of West Berlin airspace in what is called A “buzz”. Until On 5 April, a Soviet Air Force Yakovlev Yak-3 fighter collided with a British European Airways Vickers Viking 1B airliner near RAF Gatow airfield, killing all aboard both aircraft. The Gatow air disaster exacerbated tensions between the Soviets and the other allied powers.
Later in the month the soviets demanded all American Military personel with aircraft communication vacate the eastern zone. Complicating things again.
The capitalist west came together at this time and decided that a strengthened Germany would be beneficial to their side. They reduced the German Reparations payments by 50%. The resentful Soviets did not agree nor want this. The Soviet Union had lost 15% of its population during World War 2, they were out for revenge.
The West also decided to create a new currency, the Deutsche Mark, to replace the massively inflated Reichsmark.
The Reichsmark had already fallen out of use with most Germans using Ciggarets as curreucny at this time.
The Soviets began screwing with the already unstable Reichsmark printing more and debasing it
They were gravely offended that the west decided unilaterally, without consulting them. To create this new currency
On the 18th of June the United States, Britain and France announced that 3 days later the Deutsche Mark would be introduced, but the Soviets refused to permit its use as legal tender in Berlin.[35] The Allies had already transported 250,000,000 Deutsche marks into the city and it quickly became the standard currency in all four sectors. Against the wishes of the Soviets, the new currency, along with the Marshall Plan that backed it, appeared to have the potential to revitalize Germany.
Stalin turned his attention to the enclave Berlin, he decided if he can take the largest city and German Capital he can take all of Germany.
The day after the announcement of the Deutsche Mark, Soviet guards halted all passenger trains and traffic on the autobahn to Berlin
The soviets blockaded all entry ports to the enclave of west berlin, held deep within enemy territory. The only option for the citizens of West Berlin was through the Air.
Stalin decided that an airlift to supply the massive 2 million people living in West Berlin would be too expensive to maintain for the Western nations, and that they would pragmatically abandon West Berlin.
The allies had massively scaled back their militaries after the 2nd world war, by February of 1948 the entire US army had been reduced to a little over a half a million. In Berlin they numbered only 21,000 combined American, British and French troops
The Soviet armed forces had 1.5 million just in Berlin and its outlying regions alone
The Soviets were well ware that the Americans didn’t have a stockpile of nuclear weapons and would be unable to use it to threaten them it wasn’t until 1949 that the first Silverplate bombers arrived in Europe.
At the time Lucius D. Clay, was the commander of American-occupied Germany.
Although the task would be an incredible feat of logistics
Clay called Washington and gave the following reasons for not abandoning Berlin
"There is no practicability in maintaining our position in Berlin and it must not be evaluated on that basis… We are convinced that our remaining in Berlin is essential to our prestige in Germany and in Europe. Whether for good or bad, it has become a symbol of the American intent."
On June 26th 1948, two days after the soviets enacted the Berlin Blockade, Clay gave the orders; a defining moment of the Cold War, and a demonstration of American support for the citizens of Berlin.
The Americans tuned to Britain’s Royal Air Force for help, they learned that the RAF was already running an airlift in support of British troops in Berlin. They had calculated the numbers of the amount of resources needed to supply the 2 million population of West Berlin and turned it over to Clay.
In addition Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and South African air crews assisted the RAF during the blockade.[4]:338 The French also supported but only to provide for their military garrison
One remaining concern was the population of Berlin. Clay called in Ernst Reuter, the mayor-elect of Berlin, accompanied by his aide, Willy Brandt. Clay told Reuter:
"Look, I am ready to try an airlift. I can't guarantee it will work. I am sure that even at its best, people are going to be cold and people are going to be hungry. And if the people of Berlin won't stand that, it will fail. And I don't want to go into this unless I have your assurance that the people will be heavily in approval."
Reuter, although skeptical, assured Clay that Berlin would make all the necessary sacrifices and that the Berliners would support his actions.
The Berlin Airlift was a massive success, at the height of the airlift one plane reached West Berlin every thirty seconds. The Western powers were massively overperforming and even creating a surplus.
The airlifts massive successes became a continual embarrassment for the soviets…
The Soviet Blockade of Berlin was lifted at one minute after midnight on May 12 1949. Later in the day an enormous crod celebrated the end of the blockade. General Clay, whose retirement had been announced by US President Truman on 3 May 1949, was saluted by 11,000 US soldiers and dozens of aircraft. Once home, Clay received a ticker tape parade in New York City, was invited to address the US Congress, and was honoured with a medal from President Truman.
after fifteen months. The western nations flew over 92,000,000 miles (148,000,000 km) in the process, almost the distance from Earth to the Sun.
The Berlin Blockade was a massive victory for the capitalist west.
RESULTS OF BERLIN AIRLIFT
animosities created between the West and Germans lifted. Britain, The United States, and even yes the French ceased to be treated like occupiers and were treated like liberators.
with the former enemies recognizing common interests, namely freedom and capitalism, shared values and mutual respect
The Blockade also increased the perception among many Europeans that the soviets posed a danger, helping to prompt the entry into NATO of Portugal, Iceland, Italy, Denmark and Norway
Reasons for great migration
The USSR’s planned economic model was a failure,
West Germany developed into a Western Capitalist country with a social market economy and a democratic parliamentary government.
Continual economic growth starting in the 1950s fueled a 20-year "economic miracle" ("Wirtschaftswunder").
not Just Germans but people all over Europe who found themselves under the Iron Curtain, they tried to escape poverty and oppression. The Soviets began strengthening their borders with the west. West Berlin became the easiest place to get to freedom and the west.
As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily improved, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany.[27]
Almost 200,000 East Germans a year escaped to West Germany between the years 1950-1953. There was a sharp increase in the numbers as the years progressed. Stalin who increasingly grew more paranoid as he got older.
This mass migration deprived the Soviet Zone not only of working forces desperately needed for post-war reconstruction but disproportionately highly educated people, which came to be known as the "Brain Drain"
When Josef Stalin had a stroke in 1953 the Soviet Union was in shock. Stalin had not chosen a successor and it led to a power struggle. Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev would end up on top. Khruschev initially saw success in the 1950s thanks to major victories like the Suez Crisis, the launching of Sputnik, the Syrian Crisis of 1957, and the 1960 U-2 incident.
Khrsucehev said of Berlin “Berlin is the testicles of the West,’ said Khrushchev; ‘every time I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin.”
When the Young, Charismatic Handsome Kennedy won his election of 1960, Khruschev thought of him as a weak pragmatist who was too intelligent for his own good, He commented publicly that Kennedy was young and good natured but inexperienced, this led Khruschev to believe he could manipulate Kennedy.
Khruschev upon hearing of Kennedy’s presidential victory congratulated him, He also told Kennedy that the USSR desired to negotiate with the U.S. on issues relating to "disarmament ... a German peace treaty ... and other questions which could bring about an easing and improvement of the entire international situation.
Upon their first face to face meeting in the Vienna Summit, June 4th 1961
Khrushchev was determined to bend Kennedy to his will, his goal was to convince Kennedy into signing a separate peace treaty over Berlin, Thus making invalid the agreements at Potsdam which still prevented German Unification.
As the confrontation over Berlin escalated, Kennedy delivered on July 25 a television speech in Washington on CBS, and broadcast nationwide in the US. Increasing military spending
Kennedy proclaimed: "We seek peace, but we shall not surrender."[4]
Khruschev was furious and proclaimed that Kennedy’s military build-up threatened war
Between 1945 and 1961, 2.7 million East Germans emigrated from East Berlin
GDR leader Walter Ulbricht told Moscow that the large number of emigrants leaving East Berlin threatened the existence of the GDR by diminishing its population,
In the early months of 1961, Ulbricht pressured Khrushchev to close the border between East and West Berlin
Ulbricht began secretly stockpiling building materias for the erection of the Berlin Wall.
The regime managed to avoid suspicion by spreading out the purchases of barbed wire among several East German companies, which in turn spread their orders out among a range of firms in West Germany and the United Kingdom.
two months before the construction of the Berlin Wall started, Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference: "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" ("No one has the intention to erect a wall").
By the morning of August 1961 the border to West Berlin had been shut. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the barrier to make them impassable to most vehicles, and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 156 km around the three western sectors and the 43 km which actually divided West and East Berlin.
Soviet Soldiers were present to prevent any rioting
They erected a barbed-wire Barrier to start, officially called the antifaschistischer Schutzwall (anti-fascist protective barrier). The East German authorities argued that it was meant to prevent spies and agents of West Germany from crossing into the East. However, it was universally known as the Berlin Wall and its real purpose was to keep East German citizens from escaping to the West. Over a period of months the wall was rebuilt using concrete, and buildings were demolished to create a "death zone" in view of East German guards armed with machine guns. The Wall closed the biggest loophole in the Iron Curtain, and Berlin went from being one of the easiest places to cross from East Europe to West Europe to being one of the most difficult.[3]
June 26th 1963
15 years to the day, that general Clay told Washington that protecting the citizens of West Berlin must be an American priority, Kennedy returned to Berlin to remind them of that message. He disregarded the mild speech given to him by his advisors,
He thought about the citizens of Berlin
He exited the mayors office, outside waiting for him was a massive crowd of a half a million, Cheering from the rooftops,
Kennedy using only an index card with some foreign words phonetically written on it spoke from the heart
He reminded the Citizens of West Berlin that the west would not abandon them to their fate.
This moment has become immortalized as one of the greatest of the cold war…