istration in Germany is established at Berlin-Karlshorst. 17
July–2 August: The Allies meet in Potsdam.
1946 June: The Organisation Gehlen is formed under the aegis
of the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps. Schellenberg testifies
against Kaltenbrunner before the International Military Tribu-
nal at Nuremberg. 16 October: Kaltenbrunner is executed.
1947 K-5 functions as an auxiliary purging instrument of the MVD
(Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs) in the Soviet occupation
zone of postwar Germany.
1948 10 April: Otto Ohlendorf of the SD is sentenced to death. 24
June: The Soviet Union imposes a blockade of the western
sectors of Berlin, causing a massive airlift by the United States
and Great Britain.
1949 12 May: The Berlin Airlift ends. 15 September: Konrad Ad-
enauer is elected the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG). 1 December: Fritz Tejessy is appointed direc-
tor of the first domestic intelligence organization in the FRG.
1950 9 February: The Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS) is
officially formed in the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
16 February: Wilhelm Zaisser is named the first head of the
MfS. March: Ursula Kuczynski flees to the GDR from Great
Britain. 7 November: The Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz
(BfV) is established in the FRG under Otto John.
1951 1 March: The central Soviet interrogation and detention
prison at Berlin-Hohenschönhausen is transferred to the con-
trol of the MfS. 16 August: The foreign intelligence service
of the GDR is established as a camouflaged unit.
1952 13 May: The GDR Border Police are subordinated to the
MfS. 20–27 November: The show trial against the so-called
antistate Slansky conspirator center takes place in Prague. 15
December: Markus Wolf is appointed head of GDR foreign
intelligence.
1953 5 March: Joseph Stalin dies. April: The BfV experiences its
first major embarrassment in the vulkan Affair. 18–23 July:
The MfS loses its ministerial status owing to its alleged failure
during the Uprising of 17 June. Zaisser is also dismissed and
replaced by Ernst Wollweber. November: Operation feuer-
werk begins in the GDR.
CHRONOLOGY • xix