16 August 1961
As so many people have swum to West Berlin over the Teltow Canal, on this Wednesday People's Police set up searchlights and machine guns there. The same happens at Lake Griebnitz. In the evening, West Berlin police notice that hollow concrete blocks have been deposited behind the wall of concrete slabs put up at the Sandkrug Bridge the day before.
The GDR's Free German Federation of Trade Unions signals its agreement with the sealing-off of the border and the "voluntary" commitment of factory collectives to produce more; however, it says that there are a number of "unclear issues" among the workers:
"Will there be a war? Were such severe measures necessary? Did it have to be tanks and barbed wire? Will these measures make it possible to prevent the infiltration by agents, as West Berlin residents can still enter democratic Berlin without special permission? Will the Western Powers accept these measures? Won't the possible economic countermeasures make things difficult for our economy? What will (happen) to make it possible to visit relatives living in West Berlin?"
In Bonn, West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer receives the Soviet ambassador, Smirnov. According to the official communiqué, the Chancellor assures him "that the West German government is not undertaking any steps that make relations between West Germany and the USSR difficult and worsen the international situation."
This sentence meets with incomprehension among the general public. However, Horst Osterheld, an adviser to the Chancellor, later remembers the following conversation. Adenauer to Smirnov: "He (Adenauer) was very concerned that blood could be spilt there or in the Zone. The situation, he said, was truly terrible. He requested the Soviet Union to prevent anything happening and to help improve the situation. Smirnov replied that the measures that had been undertaken were being examined and might only be temporary if a satisfactory solution for Berlin were found." (Osterheld 1986, p. 60)
The newspaper "Bild" has the headline: "The East is taking action - what is the West doing? The West is doing nothing! US President remains silent ..., Macmillan goes hunting ... - ... and Adenauer scolds Brandt."
Spokespeople for the Western Allies deny a report saying that Marshal Koniev had already told the Allies on August 10 about the sealing-off operation planned for August 13. (Headline of the "Kurier am Abend", which comes out in the afternoon: "Marshal Koniev had told the Western Powers!" Such rumours, say the spokespeople, are "irresponsible and totally fictional".
From 4 p.m. to 5.15 p.m., there is a demonstration at the Schöneberg Town Hall, attended by around 300,000 people. Public authorities and large businesses such as Siemens, Osram, AEG, Borsig and many others allow their workers to take part; in some cases, the entire workforces of several factories turn up.
In front of the Schöneberg Town Hall, banners are displayed with the following mottos: 70 hours without action - doesn't the West know what to do? - Paper protests don't stop tanks - We demand an economic boycott - Are we being betrayed by the West? - Munich 1938 = Berlin 1961?
In his speech, Willy Brandt appeals among other things "to all functionaries of the Zone regime, all officers and units: Don't be made fools of! Display humane behaviour whenever possible and above all don't shoot at your own compatriots!"
The Ruling Mayor tells the listeners that he has written a letter to the American president giving his frank opinion: "Berlin expects more than words; Berlin expects political actions." The morale of the West Berliners, the letter says, is dependent on the morale of the rest of the free world.
A planned meeting of the NATO Council in Paris is cancelled. A NATO spokesman says that the NATO Council does not want to take the initiative in the Berlin question as it is up to the member states involved – that is, the three Western Powers and West Germany – to make applications that would then have to be approved by the NATO Council. He says, however, that Berlin is not part of NATO’s area.
The "Fachvereinigung Draht", West Germany’s main trade association of wire manufacturers, says that no barbed wire has been delivered to East Germany from West Germany as part of inter-zonal trade in the past five years. In confirmation of this, the Federal Statistics Office says that no approvals for deliveries of barbed wire to the GDR have been granted for years. It says barbed wire has only been delivered twice in the past twelve years: at the end of 1955 and the beginning of 1956. The two shipments, it says, made up 30 tonnes worth altogether 24,000 marks. (Industriekurier, 17.8.1961)
The German Confederation of Trade Unions calls on the West Berliners to boycott the suburban train system. Within a week, passenger numbers drop by 80 percent.
The authors Günter Grass and Wolfgang Schnurre write an open letter to the members of the East German Writers’ Association. "Barbed wire, submachine guns and tanks" are not the way to make living conditions in the GDR bearable for its citizens, they write. They call on their East German fellow writers to write an open answer to their open letter in which "you either approve the measures taken by your government or condemn this breach of law." Whoever remains silent, the letter concludes, is guilty.
Western press commentaries:
The "Neue Zürcher Zeitung" writes: "So far, Bonn has not given any indications of what kind of reaction there will be to the measures taken by the regime of the Soviet zone in Berlin. (…) From the fanfares that were nonetheless blown on all sides throughout Monday came only words – strong words and even the strongest words of protest, which were doubtless completely appropriate in the face of what happened on Sunday – but only words all the same."
Under the headline "Embarrassments", Benno Reifenberg comments in the "Frankfurter Allgemein": "All eyes are now upon the West. If we see things correctly, the American President does not find himself encouraged to take immediate steps in the limelight by his Western allies. Counter-measures are only hinted at; economic measures are discussed gingerly. (…) Washington could make the start of negotiations (with the Soviet Union; author’s note) dependent on the condition that the first unilateral step undertaken by Khrushchev – the ultimatum contained only the threat of a unilateral step – be undone."
GDR press:
"Neues Deutschland" notes with satisfaction: "Three days after our justified measures, it has become apparent that they have been understood very well. People everywhere are beginning to understand that the balance of power has to be considered and that it is time to agree to negotiations. (…) The peace-monitoring activities of our security forces on the borders of the GDR thus go towards accelerating negotiations. We banked on this effect, and we therefore welcome it now with all our heart."
