1949. Soviets Mark the Fourth Anniversary of Victory Day

Soviet War Memorial Inaugurated in Treptower Park

The Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park in East Berlin on July 19, 1961 (source)

Bill Downs

CBS Berlin

May 8, 1949

Today is V-E Day plus four years in Germany. Here in Berlin it has meant only that the bloodiest military struggle in history with the Germans has been replaced by history's most exasperating political struggle over the Germans.

The Soviet military government today is dedicating its giant memorial to the Russian soldiers who died in the capture of Berlin. Located in Treptow, it is an impressive affair containing the mass graves of thousands of Soviet soldiers. Atop the main mausoleum is a large statue of a Russian soldier, a child on one arm and with a sword in the other.

The Russian-licensed German press today marks the fourth anniversary of victory in Europe with the usual attacks on Western democracy charging that another war is in the making. They also demand the withdrawal of occupation troops. The Communist press makes no mention of the historic lesson in the presence of the legions of Russian troops in Treptow who will never leave Germany.

The newspapers in blockaded Berlin also comment on this anniversary with a history of disagreements during the past four years that has brought about the present East-West crisis. The interesting thing is that not a single German publication even hints that Germany might have had a part in making this V-E Day an anniversary—an anniversary of the second defeat of German totalitarian expansionism.

In Bonn today the West German parliamentary council is expected to pass the final draft of the Basic Law which will form the foundation of the West German republic. The three Western military governors will approve it on Thursday.

The Communist-led People's Congress has sent a memorandum to the Big Four foreign ministers in Paris asking for the unification of Germany and for a peace treaty.

Britain's foreign minister, Ernest Bevin, has been having a look at the airlift this morning. He is now speaking to the city council of blockaded Berlin, and in a few hours from now will make a statement to correspondents here.

This is Bill Downs in Berlin. Now back to CBS in New York.

1949. The West Prepares for Indefinite Blockade

Decisive Steps in Berlin

Map of the West Berlin air corridors from the American, British, and French sectors of Germany (source)

Bill Downs

CBS Berlin

March 13, 1949

The interlocutory period in Berlin's international separation case, wherein there might have been a reconciliation between East and West in this blockaded city, now appears to be over.

The final divorce decree bisecting the city for an indeterminate time is about to be handed down.

This will be done in two ways. It is reliably reported that the Western Powers will decree that the West mark is the sole legal currency in the American, British, and French sectors of Berlin. At present, factory and city administration workers are paid in both the East and the West mark, a practice that works hardship on West sector residents since the Soviet-sponsored mark is worth about one quarter of the West mark. This is a decisive step. It was over the introduction of the West mark that the Russians slapped on their Berlin blockade last June.

The incompatibility of the East and West, and the determination of the United States and Russia to pursue their present policies, is further demonstrated by the Air Force announcement that present airlift pilots will be assigned to the Berlin supply runs for a period of three years. An airlift village is planned near the base at Wiesbaden to house the families of the men flying over the blockade.

Another decisive step is contemplated. At present, the Soviet-licensed Radio Berlin originates its anti-Western broadcasts from a big modern building in the British sector. It is unlikely that this will be allowed to continue, a move which will undoubtedly be met with long and anguished howls from the Communists when it comes.

In other words, the on-the-spot situation in Berlin as of now is likely to become worse before it becomes better.

The blockade diet has provoked another story among Berliners who are getting a little tired of dehydrated potatoes. A little boy is asked that, if the stork brought another baby to his house, would he prefer a brother or a sister?

The little boy replies, "I prefer the stork. That we can roast and eat."

This is Bill Downs in Berlin. Now back to CBS in New York.

1930. German Leaders Divided on How to Deal with Rising Nazi Party

Moderates Divided on Opposition to Hitler

Campaigners outside of a polling place in Berlin on the day of the 1932 German federal election, July 31, 1932 (source)

This article is part of a series of posts on how newspapers covered the rise of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Italy and Germany prior to World War II.

From The New York Times, December 28, 1930:

GERMAN LEADERS DIVIDED ON NAZIS

Middle Party Leaders Favor Forcing Fascists Into Cabinet as Means of Curbing Them

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

HITLER TO BIDE HIS TIME

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

He Prefers to Play Electorate Till Assured of a Strong Majority In Parliament

By GUIDO ENDERIS

Berlin, Dec. 26 — Whether German Fascism will be actively represented in the government during the coming year now depends largely on the course of Parliamentary developments after the Reichstag resumes its sessions on Feb. 2 and such an eventuality as a new election.

Adolf Hitler is known to be definitely opposed to having his party enter the government so long as it is only second in rank. He prefers to wait until the movement may have so completely captured the electorate as to assure him a strong majority in Parliament. With 107 Deputies, the party is now the second largest group in the Reichstag, but, aside from a consistent record as noisy obstructionists, the Nazis' only outstanding achievement since their whirlwind election success of Sept. 9 appears to have been an ability to browbeat the government into placing a ban on the Remarque film, "All Quiet on the Western Front."

However, an accumulating volume of sentiment among leaders of the middle parties appears to have prompted a desire to take the poison out of the movement by forcing it to assume active responsibility, while other motives may have accounted for the desire to use the Fascists as an antidote to the Socialists.

Views of Von Seeckt and Schacht

General Hans von Seeckt, who is rapidly acquiring an influential role in German politics, believes the Nazis' participation in the government to be both desirable and indispensable. Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, the former head of the Reichsbank, is also not opposed to having them take a hand. He argues that it is just as impossible to govern against the Socialists as against the equally powerful groups of the extreme Right, who, he adds, did not vote for Hitler's economic policies, but primarily desired to let the world know that the German people were determined not to become a perishing nation.

Nazi sympathizers, however, are convinced that the time has not yet come when the party's leaders can safely accept Cabinet posts, and that their participation in the government in the present Parliamentary situation would measurably weaken the movement. Their contention is that this would force it into a political line-up which would rob it of popularity and definitely prevent the party carrying out its program for revision of the reparations and other treaties.

Increase at Elections Predicted

The movement's momentum, it is argued also in such political and industrial quarters as are not averse to the growth of Fascism, will be greatly enhanced at the next election and any premature attempts to accept portfolios in Chancellor Bruening's Cabinet would decisively paralyze the party's freedom of action.

The Fascists, therefore, are apparently in no immediate hurry and the drift of political and economic events in Germany may be said to be working overtime in their favor.

To General von Seeckt, the militant Nationalist and social spirit which is the propelling force behind the Hitler movement suggests a nucleus for a rallying point of all true Germans. He demands participation of the Nazis in the government in order that it may have the benefit of their youthful reform energies plus the support of those patriotic elements who are actuated by national sentiment, loyal participation in present-day social needs and the will for national defense.

Such a government, says General von Seeckt, would take on the shape of a huge wedge whose point of steel—representing reason—would be driven against the walls of the economic barriers of foreign hostility. The propelling force behind this wedge, the General observes, would recruit itself from all ranks of the German people, and not least from the working masses, who he believes are patriotically German and immune to the "Russian poison."

Continuing, the General says:

"Once this wedge is set in motion it is inevitable that chips will fly in all directions, but they will represent the lukewarm and cowardly formalists and bureaucrats and 'ungermans' and we shall not miss them."

Chancellor Bruening's Attitude

Chancellor Bruening's attitude on the question of official affiliation with the Nazis continues one of several riddles the silent Chancellor has projected into the puzzling currents of German politics. But the situation confronting him when the Reichstag reassembles early in February may bring a swift solution, as the present government's perfunctory relations with the Socialists are gradually reaching the breaking point.

Once they are dissolved it may be safely assumed that the government or that succeeding him is destined to become the active reflection of the recrudescence of Nationalism which set in at the last election.

1949. Unexpected Opposition in the East German Election

Communists Blame "Foreign Imperialism" for Election Results

Socialist Unity Party march in East Berlin, July 1952 (source)

Bill Downs

CBS Berlin

May 15, 1949

Today we have the spectacle of what the Communists mean by what they call a "free democratic election."

Today and tomorrow the German puppet organization, the Socialist Unity Party, is staging an election throughout Soviet-occupied Germany to elect some 1,500 delegates to the People's Congress. The People's Congress will be the basis of an East German government if and when it is needed to counter the German republic we are sponsoring in the West.

This election underlines the basic difference between the East and the West when the word "democracy" arises. For here is how these elections are being conducted. The ballot leads off with this statement: "I am for the unity of Germany and a just peace treaty. Therefore I vote for the following candidates." Then follows the list of names. At the bottom of the ballot there are two circles, one for voting ja and the other for voting nein.

In the eyes of the Communists this is a perfectly fair and free election, and you can bet your boots that Mr. Vyshinsky will so argue at the council of foreign ministers in Paris next week if the question comes up.

However, how much the politically sophisticated German will be fooled by this election is another question. Hitler used the same method in extorting mandates from the people for his government. What is happening today is that the Communists have selected only candidates who support their policy—who can be bought—or who are tame Germans.

Although the candidates claim membership in other parties—Socialists, Christian Democratic, and the rest—the dictatorship of the Socialist Unity front organization makes this a one-party election as complete as the one-party dictatorial system used by the Nazis and now employed by the Soviets.

The other trick is in the wording of the ballot—every German is for the unity of his country and for a just peace treaty. As a matter of fact, so are all the occupation powers.

I can give you the result of this election right now. It will be an overwhelming ja. The figures, when released, won't matter. There will be no way of checking them anyway.

But what I wonder is just who the Communists think they're fooling.

This is Bill Downs in Berlin. Now back to CBS in New York.

__________________________

Bill Downs

CBS Berlin

May 17, 1949

Something appears to have gone wrong with the great elections in Soviet-occupied Germany, and reports and rumors are circulating throughout Berlin today that the great Communist plebiscite laid an egg.

As the Germans of the Soviet zone and of East Berlin went to the polls, all the stops were out on the Communist propaganda machine. The purpose of the election was to select some 1,500 delegates to a People's Congress. But the voters also were told they were voting for peace and unity of Germany. They had no chance to vote for candidates—only ja or nein for the Communist slate.

And the story circulating today is that an embarrassing number of Germans—embarrassing to the Communists, that is—voted nein.

That is the reason, it is said, that no results have been announced, although it has been eighteen hours since the polls closed last night.

The only figures thus far released by the Communist press are that between seventy and eighty percent of the eligible voters cast their ballots. Investigators for the British and American licensed press in Berlin confirm the big turnout, but they give these results:

In four polling places in northeast Berlin, one thousand persons voted yes. 1,167 voted no. In Potsdam, where the Soviet military governor has his residence, one precinct had 317 votes following the Communist party line, but 332 voted no.

If these stories are true, then the Communist policy has taken a severe licking in what was supposed to be a setup of an election.

Tägliche Rundschau, the Red Army newspaper, hinted at the unexpected opposition at the polls in its leading editorial this morning.

"There is no doubt," the newspaper says, "that there are not a few people of undemocratic mind who are under the influence of the false propaganda of the enemies of unity. They voted against the People's Congress because the idea of the formation of a national front is so new."

The Rundschau labels all those who voted nein as agents of "foreign imperialism."

This is Bill Downs in Berlin. Now back to CBS in New York.