B U I L D I N G O F T H E B E R L I N W A L L
a
A C I T Y T O R N A P A R T
b
A CITY TORN APART
BUILDING BERLIN
OF
THE
WALL
in conjunction with a symposium given on
27 OCTOBER 2011
at the
NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND
RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON, DC
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7 OCTOBER 2011
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B U I L D I N G O F T H E B E R L I N W A L L
b r a n d e n b u r g g a t e
Built in 1791, standing 85 feet high, 215 feet
long and 36 feet wide, this former city gate
is one of the most iconic symbols of Berlin
and Germany. Throughout its existence it has
served as a visual representation of various
political ideologies, ranging from Prussia’s
imperialism to East Germany’s communism.
It was closed by the East Germans on 14
August 1961 in a response to West Berliners’
demonstration against the building of the
wall dividing their city into East and West. It
remained closed until 22 December 1989.
Its design is based upon the gate way to the
Propylaea, the entry into the Acropolis in
Athens, Greece. It has 12 Doric columns, six to
a side, forming five passageways. The central
archway is crowned by the Quadriga, a statue
consisting of a four horse chariot driven by
Victoria, the Roman goddess of victory. After
Napoleon’s defeat, the Quadriga was returned
to Berlin and the wreath of oak leaves on
Victoria was replaced with the new symbol of
Prussia, the Iron Cross.
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A C I T Y T O R N A P A R T
a f a m i l y d i v i d e d
A couple from Berlin may never see each
other again because they became separated
by the newly formed Berlin Wall. On August
12th, one day before Ulbricht ordered West
Berlin surrounded by barbed wire, a man
flew into West Berlin. His wife was planning
on following him several days later after
their young son completed his holiday camp.
Several days after the “iron curtain” was
drawn, the couple was able to meet at the
fence. The guard indulgently allowed them
time to talk. When the guard turned away
and was not watching, the mother quickly
hands their son over to his father and to
freedom.
Having made her decision, the mother wipes
away her tears of pain and sorrow, knowing
that she may never see her son grow up.
With a goodbye bouquet and clinging hands,
a man and a women acknowledge that they
might never see each other again and that a
young boy may never really know who his
mother was and the sacrifice she made to
have him live in freedom.
i i
B U I L D I N G O F T H E B E R L I N W A L L
t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s
Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
IMS
NARA/ND
Agenda and Speaker Bios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Overview
CIA
Army
SHAPE
State
Selected Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
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A C I T Y T O R N A P A R T
N a t i o n a l A r c h i v e s a n d R e c o r d s A d m i n i s t r a t i o n As the nation’s record keeper, it is our vision that all Americans will understand the vital role records play in a democracy, and their own personal stake in the National Archives. Our holdings and diverse programs will be available to more people than ever before through modern technology and dynamic partnerships. The stories of our nation and our people are told in the records and artifacts cared for in NARA facilities around the country. We want all Americans to be inspired to explore the records of their country.
The National Archives and Records Administration serves American democracy by safeguarding and preserving the records of our Government, ensuring that the people can discover, use, and learn from this documentary heritage. We ensure continuing access to the essential documentation of the rights of American citizens and the actions of their government. We support democracy, promote civic education, and facilitate historical understanding of our national experience.
The mission of the National Declassification Center (NDC) at the National Archives is to align people, processes, and technologies to advance the declassification and public release of historically valuable permanent records while maintaining national security. Located at the National Archives Building in College Park, MD, the Center was created as part of Executive Order #13526. It aims to be the world’s preeminent declassification organization, responsive to all customers, committed to the free flow of information and the requirements of national security. Its current focus is:
•
timely and appropriate processing of referrals between agencies for
accessioned Federal records and transferred Presidential Records;
•
general interagency declassification activities necessary to fulfill the
requirements of sections 3.3 and 3.4 of the executive order;
•
the exchange among agencies of detailed declassification guidance to
support equity recognition;
•
the development of effective, transparent, and standard declassification
work processes, training, and quality assurance measures;
•
the development of solutions to declassification challenges posed by
electronic records, special media, and emerging technologies;
•
the linkage and effective utilization of existing agency databases and
the use of new technologies to support declassification activities under
the purview of the Center.
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B U I L D I N G O F T H E B E R L I N W A L L
H i s t o r i c a l C o l l e c t i o n s D i v i s i o n
The Historical Collections Division (HCD) of CIA’s Information Management Services is responsible for executing the Agency’s Historical Review Program. This program seeks to identify and declassify collections of documents that detail the Agency’s analysis and activities relating to historically significant topics and events. HCD’s goals include increasing the usability and accessibility of historical collections. HCD also develops release events and partnerships to highlight each collection and make it available to the broadest audience possible.
The mission of HCD is to:
• Promote an accurate, objective understanding of the
information and intelligence that has helped shape major US
foreign policy decisions.
• Broaden access to lessons-learned, presenting historical
material that gives greater understanding to the scope and
context of past actions.
•
Improve current decision-making and analysis by facilitating
reflection on the impacts and effects arising from past foreign
policy decisions.
•
Showcase CIA’s contributions to national security and provide
the American public with valuable insight into the workings of
its government.
•
Demonstrate the CIA’s commitment to the Open Government
Initiative and its three core values: Transparency, Participation,
and Collaboration.
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A C I T Y T O R N A P A R T
a g e n d a
9:00 am to 10:00 am
Opening Ceremonies:
Neil C. Carmichael, Jr., National Declassification Center
Mr. David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States
Mr. Joe Lambert, Director Information Management Services, CIA
Guest Speaker:
Dr. William Richard Smyser, Adjunct Professor, BMW Center for
German and European Studies at Georgetown University.
10:00 am to 10:15 am
Break
10:15 am to 12:00 pm
Panel Discussion: Berlin Crisis of 1961, Building the Wall
Historian Panel: From Vienna to Check Point Charlie;
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Private Reception for Panel and Speakers
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B U I L D I N G O F T H E B E R L I N W A L L
s p e a k e r s
David Ferriero
Archivist of the United States
Joseph Lambert
Director, Information Management Services, Central Intelligence Agency
Guest Speaker
Dr. William Richard Smyser
Adjunct Professor, BMW Center for German and European Studies
at Georgetown University
Moderator of the Historian Panel
Dr. Donald P. Steury
Central Intelligence Agency
Members of the Historian Panel
Dr. Donald A. Carter
. Donald A. Carter
U.S. Army Center of Military History
U.S. Army Center of Military History
Dr
Dr. Hope Harrison
. Hope Harrison
Associate Professor of History and International Affairs
Associate Professor of History and International Affairs
at George W
at George Washington University
ashington University
Mr
M . Lou Mehrer
r. Lou Mehrer
Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agenc , Retired
y, Retired
Dr
Dr. Gregory W
. Gregory
.
W Pedlow
Pedlow
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
Supreme Headquarters Allieed Powers Europe
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A C I T Y T O R N A P A R T
s p e a k e r b i o g r a p h i e s
William Richard Smyser is the former Henry Alfred Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Library of Congress; he is currently an adjunct professor at the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University and also teaches at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute. An expert on the politics and economy of Europe, he has worked for the U.S. government, the United Nations, and in foundation management and academia. He served with U.S. forces in Germany in the 1950s, was a special assistant to General Lucius Clay, President Kennedy’s personal representative, during the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and served as a political counselor at the American embassy in Bonn. Since then he has held a number of senior executive positions at the White House and was a senior member of Henry Kissinger’s National Security Council staff. His books include: The Humanitarian Conscience: Caring for Others in the Age of Terror (2003), How Germans Negotiate: Logical Goals, Practical Solutions (2002), and From Yalta to Berlin: the Cold War Struggle over Germany (1999).
Professor Hope M. Harrison conducted extensive research in the archives in Moscow and Berlin on the decision to build the Berlin Wall. She has published books and articles on this in the U.S., Germany and elsewhere. Her 2003 book published by Princeton University Press, Driving the Soviets Up the Wall, Soviet—East German Relations, 1953-1961, won the 2004 Marshall Shulman Prize for the “best book on the international relations of the former Soviet bloc” of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. An updated and expanded version of her book was published this year in Germany in time for the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall: Ulbrichts Mauer, Wie die SED Moskaus Widerstand gegen den Mauerbau Brach (Propyläen Verlag, 2011). She has appeared on CNN, C-SPAN, the History Channel, Deutschlandradio, and Spiegel TV discussing the Berlin Wall. Her current research focuses on German debates about how to commemorate the Berlin Wall as a site of memory since 1989.
Donald P. Steury is a historian currently working in the National Declassification Center at the National Archives. He previously served as a Soviet military analyst and worked on the CIA History Staff from 1992 to 2007. He has written widely on intelligence history in World War II and the Cold War and his publications include two documentary histories, On the Front Lines of the Cold War: the Intelligence War in Berlin, 1946-1961 and Intentions and Capabilities: Estimates on Soviet Strategic Forces. He has taught at the University of Southern California and the George Washington University and presently teaches at the University of Maryland University College.
He also serves on the Wissenschaftlicher Beirat of the Alliierten Museum in Berlin. He has a doctorate in modern European history from the University of California, Irvine.
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B U I L D I N G O F T H E B E R L I N W A L L
Gregory W. Pedlow has been Chief of the Historical Office at NATO’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe since 1989. Previous positions have included Staff Historian for the Central Intelligence Agency and Assistant Professor of History at the University of Nebraska.
He received a Ph.D. in Modern European History from the Johns Hopkins University in 1979
and is the author of a number of books and articles on German history, NATO and the Cold War, and the Waterloo Campaign of 1815.
Donald A. Carter is currently serving as a historian for the U.S. Army Center of Military History. He has been an Assistant Professor and Instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York and the U.S. Army Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He is a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy and holds a doctorate from Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio in Military History. He has written articles for a number of journals and military publications such as the Journal of Military History, Army Review and Field Artillery.
Lou Mehrer is a retired CIA Officer who served in senior assignments in Washington and abroad. Most recently, he was featured in the UK film production, Spies Beneath Berlin, the history of the Berlin Tunnel Operation, which is scheduled for commercial release later this summer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in Modern European History and German Literature and continued his education as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany at the University of Frankfurt. Later as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Rutgers University, he earned a Master of Arts degree in History. He currently is a senior review officer for the CIA Declassification Center.
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A C I T Y T O R N A P A R T
B e r l i n , N o v e m b e r 2 0 , 1 9 6 1
N e w w a l l a t t h e B r a n d e n b u r g G a t e s h o w s t h e o l d b a r b e d w i r e , a s c r e e n o f f i r e b o a r d , a n d t h e n e w w a l l e r e c t e d b y C o m m u n i s t l a b o r b a t t a l i o n s .
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