COLD WAR: BERLIN, 1948-1949 {PART 4 OF 24} (TV)
Summary
The fourth in this twenty-four-part documentary series examining the events of the Cold War, from 1917 to the early 1990s. This series consists of interviews and archival footage, accompanied by historical narration by Kenneth Branagh. This episode focuses on the conflict that took place in Berlin, from 1948 to 1949, between the Soviet Union and the allied nations of France, Britain, and the United States. Germany and Berlin were divided into zones controlled by France, Britain, the U.S., and the Soviet Union. Mikhail Semiryaga of the Soviet military administration states that only on German ground did Soviet and allied forces come into contact through the Allied Control Council. The Soviet government wanted to maintain a divided and weakened Germany, but the allies proposed a plan to rebuild the country for the good of Europe. As Konstantin Koval of the Soviet military administration explains, the Soviets found out through espionage that the allies were meeting secretly in London to form their own plan for Germany. Edloe Donnan, aide to General Lucius Clay, recalls the Council meeting at which Soviet delegates confronted the allies about their secret plans and denounced the Council. Meanwhile, in Berlin's Soviet Zone, celebrations were held for Stalin's newly formed Socialist Unity Party. Stefan Doernberg of that party compares the alliesÕ plan for currency reform to boost the economy with the Soviet plans for nationalization of property previously belonging to pre-World-War-II corporations and Nazi-party members. The Western allies and Soviet Union faced off in Germany in the following ways: the allies and the Soviet Union each issued their own currency; the Soviet Union blocked transportation coming into West Berlin, and the allies formed similar blockades against the Soviet Zone; and the allies organized airlifts to deliver the supplies to West Germany that had been kept out by Soviet blockades. Berlin residents Heinz Weber and Hildegarde Herrberger recall the tension and fear in Germany caused by the Soviet-Western face off, as well as the relief that airlifts brought to Berlin. Civilian charter pilot Freddie Laker and Colonel Gail Halvorsen of the U.S. Air Force describe the airlift programs; and Clark Clifford, special counsel to President Harry Truman, states that the airlifts helped to prevent further armed conflict over the blockades and divisions in Berlin. Demonstrations also took place in East and West Berlin. Berlin Councilor Ella Barowsky remembers the disruption caused by Communist activists during a city-council meeting, and Colonel William Heimlich and his wife Christina Heimlich describe the role of RIAS (Radio in the American Sector) in spreading pro-Western propaganda and in organizing a huge rally in support of a democratic Germany. Edzard Reuter, son of Berlin mayor Ernst Reuter, explains that activists at the rally were particularly adamant that the allies refuse to comply with Soviet proposals to withdraw the new Western currency. Yakov Brabkin of the Soviet military administration explains that Joseph Stalin was eventually pressed to remove his blockades because the airlift program could support West Berlin indefinitely, but Soviet foreign minister Vladimir Yerofeyev concludes that the confrontations between the Soviet Union and the allies had divided Europe irreparably at this point. The program concludes with remarks by British foreign officer Sir Frank Roberts about the North Atlantic Treaty, and with information on the first Soviet atomic bomb, detonated in 1949. Commercials deleted.
Cataloging of this program was possible by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, 1999.
This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.
Details
- NETWORK: CNN
- DATE: October 18, 1998 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:54
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:58482
- GENRE: Public Affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Berlin (Germany) - History - 1945-1990; Berlin (Germany) - History - Blockade, 1948-1949; Cold War; Atomic bomb - U S S R; She Made It Collection (Pat Mitchell)
- SERIES RUN: CNN - TV series, 1998-1999
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Pat Mitchell … Executive Producer
- Jeremy Isaacs … Executive Producer
- Vivian Schiller … Senior Producer
- Martin Smith … Series Producer
- Isobel Hinshelwood … Series Associate Producer
- Alison McAllan … Series Associate Producer
- James Barker … Producer
- Ted Turner … Series Concept by
- Trevor Williamson … Editor
- Gerald Lorenz … Research
- Svetlana Palmer … Research
- Miriam Walsh … Film Research
- Steve Bergson … Film Research
- Jerome Kuehl … Writer
- Carl Davis … Music by
- Kenneth Branagh … Narrator
- Ella Barowsky
- Yakov Brabkin
- Lucius Clay
- Clark Clifford
- Edloe Donnan
- Stefan Doernberg
- Gail Halvorsen
- Christina Heimlich
- William Heimlich
- Hildegarde Herrberger
- Konstantin Koval
- Freddie Laker
- Edzard Reuter
- Ernst Reuter
- Frank Roberts
- Mikhail Semiryaga
- Joseph Stalin
- Harry S. Truman
- Heinz Weber
- Vladimir Yerofeyev