Status of Berlin, May-December 1960 557



    In notes to the US, the UK, and France published on July 29,12the
USSR-recalling its note on November 11, 19591t-protested the Bun-
destag passage of a bill establishing a Federal German radio broadcast-
ing council to be situated in West Berlin. The note called the Bundestag's
action "an open encroachment of the Federal Government on West Ber-
lin." In a similar move one month earlier, the Soviet Union on June
30
sent notes to the Allies protesting the alleged recruitment of West Ber-
liners into the West German army and the subordination of West Ber-
lin's economy to West German rearmament. 14 The notes declared that it
was the Allies' responsibility to end the FRG efforts "to utilize West
Ber-
lin for its military preparations," but it contained no warning of possible
consequences for the Allied position in Berlin if the supposed recruiting
were to continue. Both notes were designed to point up alleged FRG vio-
lations of West Berlin's special status, and possibly to serve as the basis
for some future Soviet actions.

Reports of Planned Soviet GDR Moves Against Berlin

    Beginning in early July, there appeared a number of intelligence re-
ports-most, but not all of which emanated from East Berlin-which in-
dicated that Berlin had recently been the subject of bloc-wide
discussions, and that the Soviet timetable for definite action on Berlin
had been projected. Ulbricht reportedly told his staff that at the commu-
nist parties' conference in Bucharest at the end of June it had been
agreed that West Berlin would be incorporated into the GDR "at the
next suitable opportunity," and that the Bundestag meeting would be
sufficient cause for such action. An East German Politburo member was
also reported to have told his associates that West Berlin would defi-
nitely be made a part of the GDR by the spring of 1961, but that annexa-
tion could come sooner. Other reports forecast the imminent con-
vocation of a conference to discuss a peace treaty with the GDR.
    Apart from the public and private threats of future communist
moves on the German and Berlin scene, the most significant recent ac-
tion has been the intermittent East German harassment of Western Mili-
tary Liaison Missions in the GDR. In his July 19 press conference
Ulbricht once again accused members of the US and British Mission of
spying on military objectives in the GDR, and he produced maps and
photographs to "document" his charges. Clear Soviet support for
East
German pressure tactics had been forthcoming earlier, when, in a July 4,


    12For text, see ibid., 113-114.
    13For text, see ibid., Band 3, 1959, pp. 608-609.
    14For text, see Documents on Germany, 1944-1985, pp. 707-708.