University of Virginia Library

West Berlin; Nixon's First World Crisis

By Rick Pearson

President Nixon has now been in
office over a month, and his first
crisis of world proportions has been
simmering in, of all places, West
Berlin; it is ready to burst into a
full boil. How Mr. Nixon handles
the situation will be the first
indication of American foreign
policy for the next four years.
Judging from events so far, they
will be no different than the last
eight.

The West German government
has declared that it will hold its
national presidential elections this
year in West Berlin. In response to
this action which they believe to be
an unnecessary transgression on
land that is actually theirs, the East
Germans have denounced the
election plans. They have stated
that if such elections are held in
West Berlin, there will be "major
reprisals." Hereupon, President
Nixon, in righteous indignation, has
come to the defense of the West
Germans, stating his country's support
of elections in Berlin, and
announcing that he had altered his
itinerary specifically to make a
symbolic appearance before the
people of West Berlin.

The crisis right now is not yet
much of a crisis. Little action has
taken place so far; there have
simply been threats and counterthreats,
reactions and over-reactions.
But a Berlin situation, a
chronic threat to peace which has
been calm for so long, has again
emerged into a spotlight which the
East Germans enjoy only too much.

The problem began, early last
fall when the West German lower
house was faced with the decision
of where to hold its spring election
for President. The nature of the
German government is such that
most of the legislative power is
centered in the lower house of the
German congress, the Bundestag.
The choice of sites fell on this
house, which was headed by Eugen
Gerstenmaior. He, along with former
Berlin mayor Willy Brandt,
selected Berlin.

This decision bothered many
members of the Bundestag, however,
and a struggle ensued. But the
resistance was doomed to failure,
for Mr. Gerstenmaler made it a
major public issue, and such an
issue could end in only one result.
Berlin has always been the most
delicate of matters to Germans on
both sides of the Wall, and it was
only natural that a people as
insecure as the West Germans would
jump at the chance to hold
elections in Berlin and thus symbolize
the firmness of their hold on
the divided city.

Unfortunately, and ironically,
Mr. Gerstenmaier, the man largely
responsible for this decision, is no
longer in his position as head of the
lower house. For other reasons, he
has been forced to resign and his
position is now open.

Meanwhile, on March 5, scores
of West German diplomats will be
converging on Berlin. They will
choose a new Federal President to
replace Hans Lubke, who resigned
months ago after a series of public
verbal attacks. His office is mainly
that of a figurehead and is constantly
in doubt due to the
instability of the temporary coalitions
necessary to form a government.
Thus, the election is merely
an indirect one, consisting of the
vote of a joint session of the two
houses. It is this large body which
intends to travel hundreds of miles
through communist territory, merely
to elect a nominal successor who
has actually been informally named
already.

To understand just why such a
gathering should create such a stir
in the East German camp, one must
understand the nature of the
German Democratic People's Republic
and its leader. The division
into two Germanys has been in
effect since 1949, in which time
there have been innumerable scores
of crises, major and minor, which
have threatened the stability of
Germany, East and West Europe,
and the whole shaky world situation.
Several times the Cold War,
which began with the initial German
crisis in 1945, has been on the
verge of becoming a very, very Hot
War. Like an old, battered, punch-drunk
boxer, Germany has been
bruised over and over, cut repeatedly,
until layers of scar tissue
have formed. Whenever he fights
again, the boxer cuts more easily,
until he is a bloody mess, knocked
down and out by the flimsiest of
punches.

The leader of East Germany is
Walter Ulbricht. He is a peculiar
man, in the sense that he has been
in power constantly since the
formation of East Germany a
generation ago, amidst a bevy of
other Communist heads of state
who have considered themselves
lucky to remain on top for two
consecutive years. Understandably,
Mr. Ulbricht is a very insecure man.
He has not only to answer to his
own East German Communist
Party, but also to the Soviet
leaders. Whenever Mr. Ulbricht has
reason to feel complacent in his
job, he need only look south to
Czechoslovakia to be jolted back to
reality.

Moreover, Walter Ulbricht has
had his own nasty problems. For
instance, after twenty years his
little nation is officially recognized
by only thirteen other countries.
Everyone of those is in the
Communist camp. Mr. Ulbricht
knows this is no source of pleasure
to his Soviet superiors. Therefore,
he is constantly striving to keep his
country in the world spotlight.
Every time he clashes with the West
Germans, he focuses world attention
on himself and East Germany.
He would be only to glad to
simply take over West Berlin
entirely, for he feels that the West
has no right to any part of Berlin. It
is within the boundaries of East
Berlin, and free transportation and
life-support connections between
West Germany and West Berlin are
merely hindrances to him. It is only
the fact that he is controlled by the
Soviets which prevents him from
taking the steps he considers
necessary for the survival of East
Germany.

All these factors should, and
must; be considered when examining
the present crisis in Berlin.
The logic of Ulbricht and his nation
must be understood in order to
maintain peace in Europe. Whether
he is right or wrong, this is the way
he thinks. When decisions must be
made in Bonn and Washington,
these factors must be weighed.

Therefore, when the West German
leaders, Messrs. Gerstenmaier
and Brandt, were faced with the
decision of selecting a location for
Federal elections, they never should
have chosen Berlin.

It is true that in the past twenty
years there have been four other
such elections in West Germany.
Only the first was held in Bonn; the
others were all held in Berlin. So
there was no precedent being set in
this last decision. It is also true that
the West German government has
every right to hold its election in
Berlin. The western sector is legally
their property, Mr. Ulbricht notwithstanding,
and the East Germans
have no right to carry out any
reprisals whatsoever.

However, mere technicalities
should not be of overriding concern
to policy-makers. Men like Mr.
Gerstenmaler and Mr. Nixon should
know how much of a sore point
this issue is with the East. The
Berlin situation has been quiet now
for at least three years, and it has
been hoped that East-West relations
were improving. Therefore, to go
ahead and challenge East Germany
at this precise time, or any time, is
to plainly ask for trouble.

It cannot be denied that the
East Germans are wrong in
threatening the sovereignty of West
Berlin. But the West Germans were
wrong in challenging their rivals.
The fact that Bonn is technically
justified should be of less concern
than the matter of world stability.