Berlin 1969-70 - Four Powers Under Sharp Eyes
As the cast of characters assembled for the negotiating sessions in the
former German Supreme Court building, a careful observer would see how
many different interested parties were represented. And one would
see how much care was taken to make sure that no one uninvited crashed
the party.
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While the U.S. Command Berlin (USCOB) photographer readies his classic
4x5 camera, a West Berlin city policeman carries a crowd control barrier
into place. Journalists mill around at the upper right of the photo.
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- Police officer moves the next piece of crowd control barrier into place.
Note how it is designed so that people standing on the crowd side will
help to hold it upright with their weight.
- On this day, it was unnecessary,
as the Four Power Talks did not generate much public attention in comparison
to events related to the anti-Vietnam War movement or protests against
the West German draft. Now, take a close look in the center of the
picture. Until I enlarged this photo, I had not noticed the man watching
me. He is standing apart, partly screened by the socializing journalists. Blue
arrows in the photo here highlight the heavy-set man who watched me as I watched the set-up
activities.
In the outside world these talks drew little attention. Most of the
American public's focus was on talks to try to bring the war in Vietnam
to a close.
Europeans and others were interested in the arms talks that took place in Vienna and Helsinki.
The small group of journalists covering the talks were mainly
Germans. In the photo above, they press the MP on duty at the
gate for admittance.
He had not yet received the order to admit them.
There were other people who took these talks seriously.
Among them were top officials of the Four Powers.
Governments of the two Germanies watched it closely.
Berliners found themselves to be in the position of a hostess who has a party in her home,
but is not invited to it.
While the Berlin police were there because it was their duty, the attitude of many
in West Berlin could be expressed by the photographs below.
In one, journalists are almost relieved by the distraction caused by a group of pre-schoolers
that came walking through the security zone in front of the Allied Control Authority building.
In another, a glance that combines curiousity and skepticism is taken by a hurried passer-by.
His skepticism seemed reasonable. An account of these negotiations may be found
in M. E. Sarotte's Dealing with the Devil: East Germany, Detente, and Ostpolitik,
1969-73 published by the University of North Carolina Press. According to Sarotte,
the negotiations when these photos were taken (November 1969 and April 1970)
had only reached the traditional stage in which historical issues were cited by both sides.
Rather than hold a meeting of foreign ministers or special delegates,
the decision was made to use the existing ambassadors of the Four Powers,
Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States
to conduct these talks. This made the event intentionally low-key,
which even at the time I found inspiring in an age in which diplomacy
was already being conducted as a media event by "star" players,
such as National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger.
Soviet Ambassador to Germany (East Germany) Pyotor Abrasimov
had taken a hard line,
lecturing the Western ambassadors on the great Soviet victory
that had been obtained in the capture of Berlin in 1945.
Kenneth Rush, United States ambassador to Germany (West Germany),
countered with the historical record that Allied troops in the West
had halted short of Berlin in order to yield the right-of-way to the Red Army
and had later withdrawn from areas assigned by treaty for Soviet occupation
forces.
- This led to a lengthy discussion of the historical circumstances
and eventually to a grudging acceptance that the Soviet Union
and the Western Allies had won World War II together.
Happy stories were not coming out of the conference
at this point.
The appearance of the children, those who might benefit most
by an agreement, was a happy moment in serious times.
- Otherwise, the mood was one of watchful waiting.
On
a side street, a police truck is ready. It has grills behind the
windshield, to protect its occupants in a riot. The car in front
of it is a conspicuously unmarked police or intelligence agency car, with
civilian "B" plates. Elaborate though these precautions may have
seemed at the time, they were relatively low-key compared to events featuring
heads of state.
With we edgy pawns in position on the chessboard, it now was time for
the main pieces to be placed. The following pages offer more
detailed photographs that show the context for the stern faces seen
above and for the arrival of the diplomats.
Continue
the photo series.
Chronology of Events: 1969-71
Return to
Photos/Aufnahmen table of contents.
