Foreword
List of Abbreviations
Map of Germany, 1949–89
Map of Berlin, 1949–89

Introduction

PART I: THE POLARIZATION OF POSTWAR EUROPE

Chapter 1. The Allied War Conferences and Europe’s Postwar Order

• The United States of America and the Anti-Hitler Coalition’s Goals for Peace: The Atlantic Charter of 1941
• The Soviet Precedent in 1944 Poland and Churchill’s Warning about the Iron Curtain in 1945
• Yalta: Controlling Germany without Dismembering It
• Germany’s Forced Reorientation
  • Liberation and Occupation Rule
  • The Question of Guilt
  • Emerging from Catastrophe: Konrad Adenauer, Kurt Schumacher, and Walter Ulbricht
• Potsdam 1945

Chapter 2. New Borders for Germany

• Poland’s Borders and the Separation of Austria and the Eastern Provinces
• The Demarcation Lines of the Occupation Zones
• Reparations Borders
• Berlin: The Four-Sector City
• Interzonal Trade: An Economic Safety Pin Holding Together the Divided Country
• The Interzonal Pass: First Efforts to Control Travel to and from the East
• The Inter-German Emigration Movement, 1945–1989/90

Chapter 3. Two German States

• Conflicts over the German Party System and the Democratic Elections of 1946
• The Establishment of Communist Party Rule in the Soviet Zone
  • Moscow Plans, 1944
  • The Soviet Military Administration and the Establishment of a Communist Party Dictatorship
  • The German Economic Commission: Preparations to Found the New State
  • The “Party of Power”: Party Cleansing and the Stalinization of the SED
  • The Founding of the GDR
• The Federal Republic of Germany: The West German State
  • Preliminary Decisions at the Conference of Foreign Ministers, Paris, 1946
  • The Bizone: A Decision to Rebuild Germany
• Fundamental Decisions for the West German State
  • Currency Reform and the Social Market Economy
  • A Constituent Assembly for West Germany
  • The Marshall Plan
  • The European Coal and Steel Community
  • The Founding of the Federal Republic and the German Basic Law

Chapter 4. Western Integration and the Establishment of Socialism: Competing Systems in a Divided Germany

• The Federal Republic: Western Integration and the Reclamation of German Sovereignty
• The Federal Republic’s Alignment to the West and Stalin’s Peace Note of 1952
• The GDR in 1952: “Building the Foundations of Socialism”
  • Cementing the Zonal Border and Sealing Off West Berlin from Its Surrounding Area
  • Building Socialism in the GDR and Relations to the Federal Republic

Chapter 6. The End of the Postwar Period: The Geneva Summit and the Transition to “Peaceful Coexistence” in Germany

• The Geneva Summit of 1955
• The Beginning of Diplomatic Relations between the Federal Republic and the Soviet Union, and the “Hallstein Doctrine”
• Peaceful Coexistence in a Divided Germany: The Two-State Doctrine, Plans for a Confederation, and the Rapacki Plan
• Sputnik and the End of America’s “Massive Retaliation” Strategy
• Nuclear Missiles for the Bundeswehr?
• The Founding of the European Economic Community

PART II: THE FIGHT FOR BERLIN

Chapter 6. The First Berlin Crisis, 1948–49

• Berlin’s Historical Significance for the Division of Germany
• Pivotal Conflicts over Berlin’s Political Order after the End of the War
• Berlin as a Soviet Lever to Shift the Zones of Influence in Germany
• The Conflict over Berlin’s Currency Reform, the Blockade, and the Airlift
• The Division of the City
• The Ring around Berlin: A New Border
• Crisis Management as Super-Power Diplomacy

Chapter 7. Stalin’s Death and the First Existential Crisis of the GDR: 17 June 1953

• A “New Course” for the SED
• The SED State’s Crisis of Legitimacy: 17 June 1953
• The Soviet Union Guarantees the Existence of the SED State
• Western Initiatives toward New Negotiations on Germany
• Recognition and Stabilization of the GDR

Chapter 8. A Prelude to the Second Berlin Crisis: The SED Party Congress

• The Fifth Party Congress of the SED, 1958
• The Question of a Peace Treaty with Germany
• Khrushchev Demands a Peace Agreement and a Solution to the “Westberlin Problem”
• SED Propaganda and the West Berlin Elections of 1958

Chapter 9. The Soviet Union’s 1958 Berlin Ultimatum

• A Bolt of Lightning: Khrushchev’s Speech on 10 November 1958
• Khrushchev’s Motives
• The Berlin Ultimatum
• Multiple Reactions from the West

Chapter 10. Negotiations over a Peace Treaty and the “Free City of Westberlin”

• Moscow Drafts
• Ulbricht’s Plans: Full Sovereignty and a Solution to the “Westberlin Problem”
  • The Transfer of Soviet Rights in Berlin to the Government of the GDR
  • The “Free City of Westberlin”: The Statute by the SED
• The Geneva Conference of Foreign Ministers, 1959

Chapter 11. The Second Berlin Crisis and a Shift in the Cold War

• The International Character of the Second Berlin Crisis
• The Soviet–Chinese Schism and the Position of the SED
• Khrushchev’s Trip to the United States in 1959
• The Summit that Khrushchev Cut Short: Paris 1960

Chapter 12. Crisis in the GDR, Changes to the Border Regime, and Interzonal Trade

• A Supply Crisis and the Exodus Movement from the GDR
• Border Controls and Special Permits to Enter East Berlin
• The Conflict over Interzonal Trade
• Negotiations on Interzonal Trade

Chapter 13. Ulbricht: Resolve the “Westberlin Question” Now!

• The Status Quo in Berlin before Khrushchev’s Summit with President Kennedy
• Ulbricht Pushes for a Solution to the “Westberlin Question,” 1961
• Khrushchev’s Timeframe in March 1961

Chapter 14. The Vienna Summit, 1961: The Second Soviet Ultimatum

• Moscow’s Expectations before the Summit
• Kennedy: Balancing Détente and an Assertion of the Western Positions
• Confrontation at the Summit: Khrushchev’s “Vienna Ultimatum”
• The Outcome: A Policy of Force
• The SED’s Reaction to Khrushchev’s “Vienna Ultimatum”

Chapter 15. The Decision to Close the Sector Border in Berlin

• “No One Has the Intention of Building a Wall”
• Ulbricht Demands Closing the Sector Border in Berlin
• Secrecy and Conspiratorial Communication
• Kennedy’s Three Essentials and Khrushchev’s Response

Chapter 16. The Construction of the Berlin Wall, 1961: Germany’s Division Gains a Symbol

• “They Will Feel Your Power!”: Khrushchev and Ulbricht on the Wall’s Construction
• West Germany Is Superior: The GDR’s Economic Crisis
• Legitimizing the Border Closure through the Warsaw Pact
• The Operation to Close the Border: Planning and Troop Deployment
• 13 August 1961: The Division of Berlin
  • The SED Mobilizes its Party against “Desertion of the Republic”
  • The Decision by the Council of Ministers on 12 August
  • Barbed Wire through Berlin
  • Regulations at the Border
  • The Border Regime: The Wall and the Command to Shoot

PART III: THE END OF THE SECOND BERLIN CRISIS

Chapter 17. Negotiations, but No War!

• 13 August and the Berlin Crisis: Berlin–Bonn–Washington
• Khrushchev and the German Question after the Construction of the Wall
• Conflicting Positions among the Western Powers, and Kennedy’s Decision to Negotiate

Chapter 18. A Wall in Berlin but No Peace Treaty with the GDR

• The Retraction of Khrushchev’s Ultimatum
• Military Exercises for an Unwanted War over Berlin
• Ulbricht Demands a Peace Treaty
• The Confrontation of Tanks at Checkpoint Charlie in October 1961
• Khrushchev Approves Strengthening the Border
• Exploratory Discussions on a Berlin Settlement
• Khrushchev’s Change of Course: Negotiations, but No Agreement

Chapter 19. Repercussions for Germany and a Shift in Trouble Spots

• Ulbricht and the New Situation
• Adenauer’s Conflict with Kennedy over the Transit Routes to West Berlin
• Germany Policy, or the Importance of Holding On
• From the Berlin Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis

Conclusion: Who Was Responsible for the Berlin Wall?

Bibliography
List of Persons
About the Author