Uprising in East Germany, 1953 The Cold War, the German Question, and the First Major Upheaval behind the Iron Curtain
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Christian F. Ostermann is Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Cold War International History Project and a Fellow of the National Security Archive."Outstanding volume ... with its multinational and multi-archival collection of documents, it is truly unique in the field of Cold War studies ... This collection should become a model for approaching Cold War flashpoints." - Thomas Alan Schwartz, Vanderbilt University "An original and significant contribution to the study of the Cold War and particularly to the study of the background, process, and effects of the 1953 East German uprising. ... It is an invaluable service to the study of Cold War history to have these documents brought together and translated into English. I also think that more general readers will be fascinated to get a glimpse of the goings-on behind the scenes afforded by these documents." - Hope M. Harrison, George Washington University
This volume is the second in the series Cold War Documentary Readers, a project of the US National Security Archive and the Cold War International History Project.
The volume is the first documented account of this early Cold War crisis from both sides of the Iron Curtain. Based on the recent unprecedented access to the once-closed archives of several member states of the Warsaw Pact, this collection of primary-source documents presents one of the most notorious events of post-war European history in a highly readable format.
Previously unreleased Kremlin records, once highly classified American documents, materials from the Soviet Foreign Ministry, and transcripts of internal East German Communist Party Politburo meetings in the days leading to the uprising in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) are among the highlights of this sensational documentary.
In this volume, as in the previous one in the series, each part is preceded by a detailed introductory essay to provide the necessary historical and political context. The individual documents are introduced by short headnotes summarizing the contents and orienting the reader. A chronology, glossary and bibliography offer further background information.
Preface
Charles Maier, Harvard University
Introduction and Acknowledgements
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Chronology of Events
PART ONE
THE ORIGINS OF THE CRISIS
Introduction
Document No. 1: Soviet and East German Minutes of Conversations between Josef Stalin and SED Leaders, 1 April and 7 April, 1952.
Document No. 2: CPSU CC Resolution Approving the Deployment of Border Guards along the Eastern Border of the GDR, 2 January, 1953
Document No. 3: Memorandum of Discussion at the 136th Meeting of the National Security Council, 11 March, 1953
Document No. 4: Draft Instructions for General Vasilii Chuikov and Vladimir Semyonov regarding GDR Control of Borders, 18 March, 1953
Document No. 5: Memorandum by Ivan Tugarinov, “On the Western Powers’ Policy regarding the German Question,” 18 April, 1953
Document No. 6: Memorandum on the German Question, from Georgii Pushkin and Mikhail Gribanov to Vyacheslav Molotov, 18 April, 1953
Document No.7: Soviet Foreign Ministry Memorandum, “Regarding Further Measures of the Soviet Government on the German Question,” 28 April, 1953
Document No. 8: Cable from N. Spencer Barnes to U.S. Department of State Reviewing Developments in the GDR since Stalin’s Death, 30 April, 1953
Document No. 9: Memorandum from Vladimir Semyonov to Vyacheslav Molotov Evaluating the Prospects for a Successful Resolution of the German Question, 2 May, 1953
Document No. 10: Report on 4 May Disturbances at the Tobacco Depot in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, 7 May, 1953
Document No. 11: USSR Foreign Ministry Draft Memorandum, “On Further Soviet Government Measures Pertaining to the German Question,” 8 May, 1953
Document No.12: Memorandum from the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs, to Vladimir Semyonov, “On the Question of Preventing the Defection of Inhabitants from the GDR to West Germany,” 15 May, 1953
Document No. 13: Memorandum from General Vasilii Chuikov, Pavel Yudin, and Ivan Il’ichev to Georgii Malenkov Critically Assessing the Situation in the GDR, 18 May, 1953
Document No.14: CIA Report Evaluating Vladimir Semyonov’s Appointment as Soviet High Commissioner for Germany, 29 May, 1953
Document No. 15: Cable from Ambassador Charles Bohlen to John Foster Dulles regarding the Transfer of Soviet Control in East Germany to Soviet High Commissioner Vladimir Semyonov, 29 May, 1953
Document No.16: Materials for a Meeting of the Organizational Secretariat of the CPCz CC, with Attached Report on Party Activities in Plzeň in Connection with the Events of 1 June 1953, 31 July, 1953
Document No.17: Radio Free Europe Report on the Strikes in Plzeň during Early June 1953, 8 September, 1953
Document No.18: USSR Council of Ministers Order “On Measures to Improve the Health of the Political Situation in the GDR,” 2 June, 1953
Document No.19: Otto Grotewohl’s Notes of Meetings between East German and Soviet Leaders in Moscow, 2-4 June, 1953
Document No. 20: SED CC Politburo Minutes Discussing Moscow’s Directives for the New Course, 6 June, 1953
Document No.21: Cable from Samuel Reber to U.S. Department of State Outlining U.S. Perspectives on Four-Power Talks, 13 June, 1953
Document No.22: Transcript of Conversations between the Soviet Leadership and a Hungarian Workers’ Party Delegation in Moscow, 13 and 16 June, 1953
Document No. 23: Letter from Lavrentii Beria to Georgii Malenkov Reflecting on the Events of Spring 1953, 1 July, 1953
Document No. 24: Transcript of the CPSU CC Plenum Meetings Regarding Beria’s Views on the German Question in Spring 1953, 2-3 July, 1953 (Excerpts)
PART TWO
THE UPRISING
Introduction
Document No.25: Situation Report from Vladimir Semyonov and Andrei Grechko to Vyacheslav Molotov ....