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.
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"This document collection is invaluable for Cold War scholars and belongs in every academic library. Christian Ostermann, director of the Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) in Washington, DC, has gathered archival documents about a crisis that coincided with the succession crisis in Moscow and shaped post Stalinist Soviet policy toward the east European satellites." * German Studies Review * "Baring presents a first-rate case study in the political sociology of revolution. Analyzing both the background and the actual course of the East German uprising, he pinpoints the particular circumstances that made for a revolutionary situation and depicts the dynamics of an upheaval that required massive Soviet intervention to put down. Baring argues that the uprising was doomed to failure in any event, owing to the absence of effective revolutionary organization and leadership. He concludes by noting that conditions in East Germany have changed since 1953, such that 'the time is ripe for evolution and not revolutions.' " * Slavic Review *
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 Stalins 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 Ilichev to Georgii Malenkov Critically Assessing the Situation in the
GDR, 18 May, 1953
Document No.14: CIA Report Evaluating Vladimir Semyonovs 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 Plze in Connection
with the Events of 1 June 1953, 31 July, 1953
Document No.17: Radio Free Europe Report on the Strikes in Plze 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 Grotewohls Notes of Meetings between East German and
Soviet Leaders in Moscow, 2-4 June, 1953
Document No. 20: SED CC Politburo Minutes Discussing Moscows 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 Berias
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 ....
Christian F. Ostermann is Director of the Woodrow Wilson Centers Cold War International History Project and a Fellow of the National Security Archive.
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