WHAT DO YOU KNOW! A POSTSCRIPT TO THE BERLIN WALL

The sophisticated readers of my blog are well aware of the fact that I have by now released quite a few “hot potatoes” (about 10% of my book lot, which is quite a few!) from my private collection of historical secrets. They must also be aware that, for several understandable reasons, I have edited a number of my blog posts, as compared to their book versions, leaving certain names and other sources out of the public view, as well as temporarily suppressing the most explosive and controversial details.

Several highly provocative references to “the mystery of the Berlin Wall” were also withheld from my most recently published entry The Mystery Of The Berlin Wall (August 13, 2011). In an earlier (March 1, 2011) blog posting Secret History Of The Iron Curtain, my very brief reference to the Berlin Wall read just this: “Talk about historical misconceptions! Churchill’s Iron Curtain signified the collapse of Stalin’s European dream, just as the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 signified the collapse of Khrushchev’s dream to make West Berlin part of East Germany.”

Now, for copyright purposes and to keep the record straight, I am keeping three archived computer versions of my book drafts, “vintage” 2008, 2009, and 2010 (in addition to the current working version which will be archived at the end of 2011, and so on.) My references to the Berlin Wall, preserved in the 2008 version, included the much revered name of the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967, in office 1949-1963), who was declared the Greatest German in History (ahead of Martin Luther and Karl Marx) in a recent German national poll. I confess that I found it inappropriate to make public the fact that, prior to the 1961 construction of the Berlin Wall, intense negotiations had been underway for a number of years, which directly involved Chancellor Adenauer (sic!) regarding the swapping of West Berlin to East Germany, in exchange for certain parts of the GDR supposedly going to the FRG.

In my treatment of this subject, I made sure to point out that these secret negotiations couldn’t be reduced to some joint personal whim of Herr Adenauer and Comrade Khrushchev. Both their governments necessarily had to be involved. It is obvious that the government of the FRG saw West Berlin as a logistical nightmare and wished to get rid of it for the right price. It is also obvious that in Moscow’s eyes the price wasn’t right. Thus the negotiations failed, and Khrushchev with a heavy heart (he had been all for the deal!) consented to the construction of the Wall, which indeed finalized West Berlin's sovereignty.

…End of story? Not quite! The failure of the negotiations over the fate of West Berlin can also be explained by strategic considerations, insofar as Moscow was concerned. As I mentioned elsewhere, the USSR never wanted Germany to be divided, as a divided Germany invited the United States to stay in Europe, to defend the Western part. Now, the annexation of West Berlin would geographically “normalize” that division into East proper and West proper. However, with West Berlin “independent” of East Germany, a geographical abnormality was perpetuated, creating an “eyesore” for every German soul, and keeping the German dream of reunification, seen as strategically advantageous for the USSR, alive and ever-fresh. Thus, no price for the annexation of West Berlin was probably good enough, in terms of Soviet strategic interests.

…End of story? Not quite! Why am I talking about this now, having withheld this information from my blog only recently, that is only a few days ago? The reason for my present talkativeness is the just released article in the highly prestigious German publication Spiegel under the title: Secret Documents Released: Adenauer Wanted to Swap West Berlin for Parts of GDR. (By Klaus Wiegrefe, 08/15/2011.) To be sure, it tells the story differently from the way I know it and how I am telling it, but it all boils down to the same fact, revealed by the Spiegel title, which I had previously found too explosive to reveal on my own, particularly, having no corroborating hard evidence in my possession.

What do you know! Another great taboo lifted… Perhaps I should be less punctilious about my own rules of publishing etiquette?… Nah!…