Manfred Wilke

The Path to the Berlin Wall

Critical Stages in the History of Divided Germany

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The long path to the Berlin Wall began in 1945, when Josef Stalin instructed the Communist Party to take power in the Soviet occupation zone while the three Western allies secured their areas of influence. When Germany was split into separate states in 1949, Berlin remained divided into four sectors, with West Berlin surrounded by the GDR but lingering as a captivating showcase for Western values and goods. Following a failed Soviet attempt to expel the allies from West Berlin with a blockade in 1948-49, a second crisis ensued from 1958-61, during which the Soviet Union demanded once and for all the withdrawal of the Western powers and the transition of West Berlin to a "Free City." Ultimately Nikita Khrushchev decided to close the border in hopes of halting the overwhelming exodus of East Germans into the West. Tracing this path from a German perspective, Manfred Wilke draws on recently published conversations between Khrushchev and Walter Ulbricht, head of the East German state, in order to reconstruct the coordination process between these two leaders and the events that led to building the Berlin Wall.

---

Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Berghahn Books
• Seitenzahl: 386
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. April 2014
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 235mm x 157mm x 25mm
• Gewicht: 708g
• ISBN-13: 9781782382881
• ISBN-10: 1782382887
• Artikelnr.: 41084909

Autorenporträt

Born in 1941 in Kassel, Germany, Manfred Wilke received his PhD in economic and social sciences from the University of Bremen in 1976 and his post-doctoral degree in sociology from Freie Universität Berlin in 1981. From 1985-2006, he was Professor of Sociology at the Berlin School of Economics, during which he participated in both Enquête Commissions of the German Bundestag on the history of the SED dictatorship. He also served as Research Director of the Research Association on the SED State at Freie Universität Berlin from 1992-2006.

Inhaltsangabe

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
1. The United States of America and the Anti-Hitler Coalition's Goals for
Peace: The Atlantic Charter of 1941
2. The Soviet Precedent in 1944 Poland and Churchill's Warning about the Iron
Curtain in 1945
3. Yalta: Controlling Germany without Dismembering It
4. Germany's Forced Reorientation
* Liberation and Occupation Rule
* The Question of Guilt
* Emerging from Catastrophe: Konrad Adenauer, Kurt Schumacher, and
Walter Ulbricht
5. 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
6. Conflicts over the German Party System and the Democratic Elections of 1946
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. The Federal Republic: Western Integration and the Reclamation of German
Sovereignty
11. The Federal Republic's Alignment to the West and Stalin's Peace Note of
1952
12. 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"
13. Moscow Drafts
14. 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
15. 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
16. "They Will Feel Your Power!": Khrushchev and Ulbricht on the Wall's
Construction
17. West Germany Is Superior: The GDR's Economic Crisis
18. Legitimizing the Border Closure through the Warsaw Pact
19. The Operation to Close the Border: Planning and Troop Deployment
20. 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