268. Memorandum From the Under Secretary of State (Katzenbach) to President Johnson1
SUBJECT
- Berlin
The Department, upon learning yesterday of East German restrictions on travel by West German citizens to Berlin through East Germany and to East Germany itself, as well as on German freight traffic to West Berlin, convened the Berlin Task Force. The Berlin Task Force was formed in response to President Kennedy’s request in 1961 to meet Soviet threats at that time to sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany. The Berlin Task Force, with representatives of State, DOD, CIA and USIA attending, examined a draft tripartite statement forwarded by Embassy Bonn. The Embassy had met with the British, French and Germans last night to consider how to deal with the situation created by the East German measures. The Task Force agreed to recommend to the Secretary that Bonn be authorized to discuss with the British and French an amended text to be issued after we have received further German plans on how to deal with the situation and you have given your approval to the final draft.
Final agreement on the draft has now been reached and you have given your approval. We expect the Three Embassies in Bonn to issue the statement tonight.2
The USIB Watch Committee this morning considered the Berlin problem and concluded that no Soviet or East German military measures relevant to the Berlin problem have been observed thus far.
The German Cabinet was called into session at 9 O’clock this morning and at the time of writing had met for more than four hours. Foreign Minister Brandt cut short his trip to Vienna and Belgrade to return for the Cabinet session. The Chancellor saw Ambassador Lodge this evening and told him he regards the situation as serious.3 He said that it was important that responsible and realistic steps be taken. The Chancellor feels that the Three Protective Powers should take the matter up with the Soviet Union in the first instance, before the Germans do so, because it is a Quadripartite Agreement (to which the Germans are not a party) that is being violated by the Russians. Further steps that might be taken are under urgent study here and in Bonn. The Germans know we will expect them to do their share.
[Page 679]The German Chancellor has also announced that he plans to go to Berlin tomorrow. While the trip is billed as an “information trip” its purpose is obviously to buck up Berlin morale.
The East German measures, almost certainly undertaken with Soviet agreement, are designed to underscore further East German claims to sovereignty. Soviet agreement for the imposition of visa requirements by the Ulbricht regime probably was obtained late last month, when a high level East German delegation visited there. East German and Soviet thinking may be that the greater flexibility among West Germans on the question of recognition of the GDR, together with assumed difficulties we are having and recent French events, make this an appropriate moment to take this step. While the restrictions will not directly affect Allied access to Berlin, the East Germans can use them in a great many ways to harass traffic and the flow of goods to and from Berlin. West Berlin is almost entirely dependent upon the Federal Republic for its existence, and any impairment of this flow would strangle the city.
- Source: Johnson Library, National Security File, Country File, Germany, Berlin, General, vol. 1. Confidential.↩
- For text, see Documents on Germany, 1944–1985, p. 1009.↩
- See Document 269.↩