(selected from the random copies in my collection - rwr -)
Main headlines - DER TAGESSPIEGEL
Scheel had been in Paris on Monday morning for consultations with French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann. Following his return, he reported to Brandt and then proceeded to Warsaw. He will meet Polish Foreign Minister Jdrychoswki this morning and subsequently the two delegations will hold a plenary session.
Before leaving Bonn, Scheel said optomistically: "I think that we will reach our goal." He made similar optomistic remarks in an interview granted to Stern magazine.
Schumann Underlines Quadripartite Responsibility for Berlin: Following his consultations with French Foreign Minister Maurice Schumann on Monday and shortly before his departure for Warsaw, Foreign Minister Walter Scheel said he expects a settlement of the Berlin problem by a written agreement of the four powers. He said there was full agreement with Schumann about the necessity of such an arrangement on Berlin.
Schumann underlined the similarity of the FRG and French positions in the Berlin question and explicitly pointed to the responsibility which the four powers bear for Berlin.
Schumann said with his remark that he expects a written agreement; Scheel tried to make it clear that there must be a precise agreement of the four powers, in particular about the freedom of the access routes, rather than a mere general accord. He said the agreement should be formulated in a way that subsequently the representatives of East Germany, West Germany and West Berlin can draw practical conclusions whose implementation would be subject to further Allied consent and control. Schumann said he had no cause for pessimism regarding Berlin.
Scheel said the Berlin arrangement should be a four-power agreement in writing which fixes not only general theses but single questions like the access routes and the grown ties with the FRG. Scheel conceded that the GDR might participate in such an arrangement in the way of being allotted certain functions. In this manner, he said, the West Berlin Senat might participate also.
Asked if Bonn was ready to give up the political presence of the FRG in West Berlin in return for an improvement of access, Scheel said the "Berlin question is a complex matter. Access routes, grown ties with Western Germany, inter-urban problems and many more. All this will be treated in extensive talks of the four Allies. We will know how to protect our interests regarding politial presence in Berlin, and we agree on this point with the Western Allies.
He also said an agreement need not be a treaty. It can also have a loose form, but it must be in writing.
Bonn Will Negotiate Access Only by Instruction of Allies: The Federal government is presently not prepared to take up negotiations on the Berlin access routes with the GDR as suggested by East Berlin last week, papers reported.
They quoted Under Secretary Conrad Ahlers as saying in Bonn yesterday that such talks could not begin until the three Western powers give a green light. Ahlers left no doubt that this is not the case now, but left it open that the situation might change after the next four-power meeting tomorrow, DER TAGESSPIEGEL said.
Despite this temporary rejection of the East Berlin offer, the Federal government hopes that East-West German contacts will be resumed in a foreseeable future. Ahlers stressed that the joint communique released in East Berlin and Bonn last week did not limit the subjects of future talks to the Berlin access routes, nor did either side make the resumption of the talks dependent on prior conditions.
Asked if there is reason to assume that East Berlin might refrain from discussing the Berlin access routes, Ahlers said there is "no absolutely sure assumption." East Berlin, he added, has a "certain tendency" to concentrate itself on Berlin, but the treatment of other problems has not been excluded. [-rwr note: This statement proves that the British do not have a monopoly on irony. One has a difficult time imagining an American Under Secretary making a statement like that, no matter how humorously true. It can be taken as a reminder in this complex process that the East-West German negotiations were carried out within a dysfunctional family, and Ahlers is talking about the still-loved relative who drives everyone nuts with his or her obsession.] He said the twenty points which Chancellor Brandt [FRG] submitted to Stoph [GRD] in Kassel are sufficient material for discussion and are the unchanged basis on which the Federal government will conduct further talks.
DIE WELT said the Federal government deems it possible to enter into access talks with the GDR before the conclusion of the four-power talks on Berlin if it receives corresponding directives from the Western Allies, but such directives are not expected in the next few days. Ahlers did not call it impossible that Bonn and East Berlin might discuss traffic problems at the same time as the four ambassadors [U.S., Britain, France, Soviet Union]. According to DIE WELT, Ahlers said Bonn and East Berlin could not negotiate until the four or three [Western] powers consider negotiations between the FRG and GDR appropriate. The Federal government, he said, will continue to respect the competencies and responsibilities of the protecting powers for Berlin.
Bowes-Lyon Bids Farewell to Berlin: Major-General Bowes-Lyon, departing British Commandant in Berlin, yesterday said good-bye to the city at a reception given by the Senat. The General emphasized that together with its other two allies and the FRG, the British government is seeking a satisfactory solution for Berlin. Whatever the result may be, he said, Great Britain will continue to share responsibility for the security of Berlin with its allies and defend the freedom of the West Berliners. Mayor Klaus Schuetz emphasized the good cooperation with the Allies. [-rwr note: As tension over the negotiations reached a peak, every routine action, such as the rotation of military commanders, took on added significance. At another time, Bowes-Lyon's statements might have seemed routine, but the became another form of diplomatic message in this time.]
The third round of SALT opened in Helsinki yesterday. [-rwr note: While we looked on things as all being linked to the Four Power talks on Berlin, much of the rest of the world paid more attention to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. At the same time, Americans were focusing on the war in Vietnam. I include this news headline as a reminder of how many balls were in the air for our leaders to juggle.]
Red cell activities have completely paralyzed work in a section of the English language and literature seminar of the Free University for the past two weeks, Professor Rolf Kaiser confirmed to BERLINER MORGENPOST.
Radical right groups in Wuerzburg last weekend founded Aktion Widerstand (Operation Resistance) as a movement designed to prevent the ratification of the Moscow treaty under all circumstances and force new parliamentary elections. Speakers included NPD Chairman Adolf von Thadden. [-rwr note: Aktion Widerstand continues today, having adjusted its sights for the object of anxiety du jour.]
Propaganda and terror accompany the "elections" in the U.S. There is a flood of anti-democratic excesses carried out by the Nixon administration which now clearly shows its anti-communist, anti-Soviet, and anti-democratic face. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
"The U.S. Before the Elections" was the title of an illustrated article saying that "the terror towards people of another color, or people who think differently is a part of everyday life in the U.S." - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
"The Nixon Regime Threatens Angela Davis with Gas Chamber" was the title of a special article explaining the innocence of this "highly gifted scientist" who was illegally fired from UCLA and is now accused of having supported murder. The article demands that "world-wide solidarity thwart the plans of the hangmen." - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
A white U.S. racist kills Negro Ronald Mitchell. , 21, by firing at him from a driving car in New Castle, Pennsylvania. - BERLINER ZEITUNG [-rwr note: East German media were quick to report real or possible race-related problems in the U.S. This was common in most of Europe. The difference was that they were unwilling to openly recognize such problems in their own population, setting the stage for a resurgence of organized racism in post-GDR Germany.]
At his inauguration, Chilean President Salvador Allende names Chile's independence from the U.S. as his goal. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
The French Communist newspaper Humanite demands the full diplomatic recognition of the GDR by France. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
GDR and Hungarian representatives winding up their meeting sign a protocol about the Ninth Session of the Joint Committee for Economic and Techno-Scientific Cooperation which provides for continuous GDR-Hungarian cooperation and a 60 per cent increase of GDR-Hungarian trade by 1975. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND, BERLINER ZEITUNG
Official talks take place between the delegation of the National Front of the People's Republic of South Yemen and a delegation of the SED Central Committee in East Berlin. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
Walter Ulbricht receives Hungarian Ambassador Dr. Lajos Nagy and Mongolian Ambassador Dr. Dugersurengiyn Erdembileg to bid them farewell. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND [-rwr note: the underlining here comes from the original, reflecting a certain bias toward European affairs being most important.]
A ceremony marking the 53rd anniversary of the great socialist October revolution will take place at the Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden at 1800 hours, Nov. 5. Speaker at the ceremony will be Politburo member Prof. Albert Norden. The event is arranged by the SED Central Committee, the GDR Council of Ministers, the National Council of the National Front, and the board of the German-Soviet Friendship Society. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
After a friendship meeting in Riga, the GDR Volkskammer delegation headed by its President Gerald Goetting leaves Latvia for Minsk, USSR. - NATIONAL ZEITUNG
The Sixth U.S. Fleet operating in the Mediterranean, was prepared to intervene in Jordan in September, Admiral James Lemuel Holloway confirms in an interview with a Spanish newspaper. - NEUE ZEIT [-rwr note: A good example of how something can be taken two ways. Most of the world would not have been surprised to know that the Sixth Fleet was prepared to assist a small country whose larger neighbor, Syria, was trying to flatten it. The fact is that it never had to, as the Jordanians' British-style military stopped the Syrians' Soviet-style military in their tracks for long enough that diplomatic measures took effect. Maneuvers by the Sixth Fleet, and the very open movement of U.S. Army personnel in West Germany was part of that diplomatic effort that stopped the shooting between neighbors Syria and Jordan. East Germany, on the other hand, tried to maintain close ties with Syria, so NEUE ZEIT's readers were supposed to be shocked at this news.]
A group of the East German CDU goes to the Soviet Union for a one-week study tour. - NEUE ZEIT [-rwr note: One of the many strange aspects of the Cold War was the continued existence of a Conservative party element in the east German Democratic Republic.]
Dwindling U.S. Influence in Latin America: The New York Times has noted with concern that in the past three months alone, the number of the U.S. military "advisors" in 17 Latin American countries decreased from 791 to 548. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
The U.S. Continues Provocations in Korea: ADN [The East German wire service.] said that the U.S. continues its military provocations in the area of the demilitarized zone of Korea. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
Soviets and Americans Meet for SALT: SALT [Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty] meetings were resumed in Helsinki Sunday. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
Fock Receives Schroeder: Hungarian Minister President Jeno Fock received Gerhard Schroeder, Chairman of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee, in Budapest on Monday. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
Neo Nazi Terror in Wuerzburg: ADN said that "the provocative march of some 4,000 right-wing radicals in Wuerzburg on Saturday and their brutal terror against all democratic citizens of the town caused indignation and shock..." ADN said that in spite of the prohibition of the demonstration, the radicals could freely and under the eyes of the police raid the town in the manner of the Nazi storm-troopers. - NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
Rowdyism in E. Berlin Increases: Upon a tour of legal institutions of the city, East Berlin deputies note that rowdyism in East Berlin has increased in the past year. - BERLINER ZEITUNG
[- rwr note: This completes the current events news of the day. Here are some longer news commentaries for this date from East and West.]
The Federal government press spokesman's statement that Bonn will respect the (Allied) competencies and responsibilities and negotiate the Berlin problem on a German level only if the four powers direct it to do so or if the three Western powers should so desire was tactically urgently necessary in view of the Ambassadorial talks tomorrow. Bonn could not afford to give the impression that after receiving the East Berlin proposal to discuss questions of FRG transit traffic across GDR territory, the Federal government would be all too happily ready to enter into parallel talks concerning, in a closer and wiser sense, the Allied responsibility for Berlin. This, for instance, would give the Soviet ambassador an easy opportunity to evade significant items of discussion by referring to the talks between Bonn and East Berlin.
The paper said Foreign Minister Scheel's call on Schumann in Paris has made the problems even more evident. Schumann guardedly noted that Bonn and Paris' attitudes to the Berlin problem are similar, but he stated agreement to the effect that a Berlin arrangement should include a written agreement of the four powers, following which German authorities might be employed for the practical implementation, but first of all agreement between the four powers has to be achieved. This, DER TAGESSPIEGEL said, has clearly outlined the Allied negotiating position.
This can also be formulated as follows. If a Berlin arrangement shall be achieved, there must be a guaranty that all sides will comply with it. This can happen only if in the case of Berlin the GDR, regardless of all its claims of sovereignty, recognizes a four-power responsibility that will continue to have validity and a binding character. Such a four-power competency is also in the interest of the Soviet Union if Moscow not only wants to change the situation in Central Europe for its own benefit, but also wants to stabilize and control it. Of course, formulating such a four-power responsibility for Berlin with a view to the GDR is a delicate problem for the Soviets. If it wants to make progress, the Soviet Union will have to undergo this procedure which the Soviet ambassador to date evaded stubbornly.
TELEGRAF (pro-SPD)
The politically interested public is viewing the ninth meeting of the four ambassadors with guarded optimism. The paper ascribed this reserve to the East Berlin offer of direct talks with Bonn about the access routes to Berlin. It considered it possible that this offer might be designed to partially undermine the four-power responsibility for Berlin in order to stress the role of the GDR.
The paper said East-West German discussion on elements of a Berlin arrangement would be imaginable only if they were held by instruction of the four powers. The paper saw substantial indications that the Soviet Union without tricks or delays is seeking to arrive at a satisfactory Berlin arrangement as it is understood by the Western powers. Its interest in the Soviet-German treaty and a European security conference seems to be greater than adherence to Berlin positions designed to maintain tension.
There can only be a quadripartite level for talks on Berlin. Whoever tries to construct other levels, will be suspected of trying to disturbe the talks. But that cannot be in the interest of Moscow's present policy... The GDR initiative concerning Berlin is a futile attempt to present itself as an advocate of detente. East Berlin will have ample opportunity for it in other fields.
It noted Foreign Minister Scheel's Warsaw mission and expressed the view that there are only two points to be clarified with regard to the projected Polish-German treaty.
First, can the Brandt-Scheel government conceal the advance favors to Poland, which are fixed in the treaty, by [face-] saving interpretations that will have Poland's consent, or at least will not meet with an abrupt "no" from Warsaw?
Second, which humanitarian counter-concessions can and will Poland make, and when, to give the treaty a chance to be ratified by the Bundestag?
The previous talks, the paper said, have amply documented that Poland is not principally interested in a renunciation of force, in economic or humanitarian cooperation, but primarily in recognition of the Oder-Neisse frontier. The Federal government unfortunately has corresponded to Poland's wish.
The paper said when the Bonn government guaranties the recognition of the Oder-Neisse Line as a final frontier as long as the Federal government exists, this means a perpetual renunciation of the German Eastern areas, because the same Federal government has already written off the reunification of Germany. Where do Brandt and Scheel want to find the imaginary all-German sovereign who would fix the German eastern border through a peace treaty when they keep hammering the existence of two German states into the brains of the international public?
Insincere is the Federal government's procedure with regard to the Western Allies. Article 4 of the draft treaty, which speaks of respecting existing agreements, recognizes the four-power responsibility for all of Germany inadequately and reluctantly. The Treaty on Germany provides for FRG-Allied efforts toward restoring German unity. It can be observed now that the Treaty on Germany which provides for German reunification begins to be inconvenient to the Federal government which realizes the existence of two German states and intends to fix its renunciation of East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia.
Who two years ago would have considered it possible that a freely elected German government might confirm the Goerlitz Agreement of 6 June 1950 by which Poland and the GDR came to terms about the so-called border of peace and friendship along the Oder and Neisse Rivers? That it has become possible does not increase the ratification chance of a renunciation treaty in the Bundestag.
This East Berlin paper attacked the intention of an SPD delegation to visit Israel.
The impression can hardly be avoided that here and at this very time the agressor is to be backed morally, an agressor who is exposed by more and more people and governments. And the Arab people whom the (West) Germans talked with a big smile about their "friendly relations" will find that this was nothing but a phrase which was not meant seriously.
This (trip) is not at all in accordance with the numerous assurances which were to be heard from Bonn of its intention and readiness for detente. He who is truly serious about this, cannot so ostentatiously express solidarity with the enemies of detente in the Middle East.
NEUES DEUTSCHLAND (pro-SED) commentator Rolf Guenther
The Cairo correspondent of this paper explained that the United Arab Republic (UAR, the government of Egypt at this time) consistently strives for a political solution of the Middle East conflict.
###
Go to next available clippings.