Germany's Cold War: The Global Campaign To Isolate East Germany, 1949-1969

germany’s cold war the new cold war history John Lewis Gaddis, editor germany’s cold war The Global Campaign to Isolate East Germany, ∞Ω∂Ω–∞Ω∏Ω wi l l i am g l e n n gr ay The University of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill & London ∫ 2003 The University of North Carolina Press All rights reserved Set in Charter and Meta types by Keystone Typesetting, Inc. Manufactured in the United States of America The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gray, William Glenn. Germany’s cold war : the global campaign to isolate East Germany, 1949–1969 / by William Glenn Gray. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-8078-2758-4 (alk. paper) 1. Germany (West)—Foreign relations. 2. Germany (West)—Economic policy. 3. Germany (West)—Foreign relations—Germany (East) 4. Germany (East)—Foreign relations—Germany (West) 5. Hallstein, Walter, 1901– 6. Recognition (International law) 7. World politics— 1945– I. Title. dd259.5 .g46 2003 327.430431%09%045—dc21 07 06 05 04 03 2002006444 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Containing East Germany in the Early 1950s 10 Constructing the Diplomatic Blockade 13 East German ‘‘Sovereignty’’ and the Western Response 21 Chapter 2. Staving Off Collapse 30 A Shifting Landscape: Geneva and Moscow 31 The Blockade Slips 39 The Bonn Ambassadors’ Conference 44 ‘‘Managed Relationships’’ and the Isolation Campaign 49 Chapter 3. Yugoslavia Crosses the Line 58 Grasping for Openings 59 Damascus, but Not Warsaw 65 A Failure of Deterrence 74 The Hallstein Doctrine 81 Chapter 4. Scrambling for Africa 87 Otto Grotewohl’s Journey 88 Doubts and Hesitations: The Berlin Crisis 95 Bonn’s Counteroffensive 102 Guinea: The Exception That Proved the Rule 107 Chapter 5. Development Aid and the Hallstein Doctrine: A Trajectory of Disillusionment 116 Bonn’s Billion-Dollar Aid Program 117 The Shock of the Belgrade Conference 123 Experiments in Economic Leverage 131 Chapter 6. The Perils of Détente 140 De Gaulle, Détente, and the ‘‘Policy of Movement’’ 141 Planning the Breakthrough 147 ‘‘New Measures’’ in Ceylon and Zanzibar 155 The Apex of West German Vigilance 162 Chapter 7. The Peculiar Longevity of a Discredited Doctrine 174 The Debacle: West Germany’s Expulsion from the Arab World 174 The Contest Goes On 182 Unification Hysteria and Erhard’s Political Demise 191 Chapter 8. Of Two Minds: The Grand Coalition and the Problem of Recognition 196 The Ulbricht Doctrine 197 The Coalition ‘‘Cambodes’’ 205 A Qualified Breakthrough 212 Conclusion 220 The Halting Progress of a German Sisyphus 221 A War within a War 226 The Hallstein Doctrine and German Unity 229 Notes 235 Bibliography 323 Index 343 Maps 1 West Germany’s Diplomatic Network, December 1955 56 2 East Germany’s Trade, Consular, and Diplomatic Network, December 1955 57 3 West Germany’s Diplomatic Network, December 1963 150 4 East Germany’s Trade, Consular, and Diplomatic Network, December 1963 151 5 East Germany’s Trade, Consular, and Diplomatic Network, December 1969 216 Acknowledgments Specialists in German history will have already flipped to the back; the list of archival sources there will tell them all they need to know about the making of this book. Such readers can probably anticipate many of the names I am about to mention. For all other interested readers—and for the pleasure of my own personal recollection—I shall make an effort to identify here the many individuals who have assisted me in the course of this sixyear endeavor. My first debt is to t