Germany’s reliably left-leaning Der Spiegel ran a rather stunning article back in 1961, describing the sense of betrayal that Berliners felt because the West did nothing as the Berlin Wall was being constructed. It’s a reminder of what appeasement looks like:
“The disappointment of the embittered Berliners over the tepid reaction of their Western protectors grew so great that last Wednesday — 88 hours after the transformation of the Soviet zone into a concentration camp — special security measures were implemented to control the protest rally arranged by West Berliner Senator for the Interior Joachim Lipschitz at the Schöneberg district town hall.
Some 12,000 West Berlin police were ordered to use water cannons and rubber truncheons to stop demonstrations that cropped up at Potsdamer Platz, the Brandenburg Gate and even at the American headquarters in the district of Zehlendorf.
Once again, popular speaker Willy Brandt was unable to conceal his disappointment in the Allies’ complacency in front of the masses. “Today I openly expressed our thoughts in a letter to the President of the United States, John Kennedy,” the mayor said.
But this letter contains such harsh criticism that neither the West Berlin Senate, nor Washington deemed its publication opportune. Instead, U.S. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sent to Berlin for moral support.
Meanwhile, Ulbricht’s functionaries in East Berlin are showing the first symptoms of unbridled arrogance.
“Have you heard that Brandt called for help from the Allies?” East Berlin’s star propagandist and television host Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler recently asked his viewers.
Answering his own question, he said: “Yes, I heard, but the Allies didn’t.”
The full article is here. Be sure to read it.
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