SUl' t.RI'OWUl
AirlifttoBerlin
By 1948 th e Wes ternAllieswere eagertorebu ild
th eGermanecono m y .WithoutG ermanindust rial
productionandCorm ancus tomers fo rtheir go ods
ot he r Euro pean nat io ns were fin d ing it very
d ifficult to revi ve their o w n economics. But
before this problemcouldbe solved, something
h adtobedone abo u tGerma nmoney.In 1 9-18th is
w asalm o st worth less.Anordinaryfactory w o rker
thenearnedbet ween 75 and 100 m ar ksa week .One
cignrcncwouldhan 'cost twenty-fivemarks.
In J u nc 1948, th e Western Alliesan no un cedthat
in their ZOIlL' S th ey werecalling III all the o ld
m o ney and m aki nga fres h sta rr with IlL'Wcu r-
rt'n cy .T he Ru ssian sw ere fur io us.Stalin's Foreign
M ini ster .Molo to v, had alr eady attacked the
Weste rn plansto rebuildGermany's in d ust ries.
N o whecomplainedthatth e cu rrencysc hemewas
a plan"toconvertwesternG ermanyint o a base
fo r exten di ngth einfluenceofAmericanimperial-
isminEurope. "O n jun e24,19-1H,a fewdaysafte rth e n ewmo ney
came into u se , theR u ssians sto p pe d alltraffic
betweenw estGer man y and w es t Berlin. T o sta rt
w it h theym ayhave in tended sim pl y to persua de
the West ern Alli esto ch ange their econ o mic
policies. Bu tsoonthey becam emore ambitio u s.
They b locked all th e TOads, railway lines and
canals betw een Berlinandth e w estern zoneso f
Germany. T heiraimnow was tom akeitimposs-
ible fo r the West ern Allies to sup ply the two
m illio n peo plelivin ginth ei r secre ts ofllerl in w ith
sufficient food and fuel. They hoped t hat th is
would fo rceth e Weste rn tro o psandofficialsto
go, leaving thecitytotheRussians.
The lead ersofrhc U ni ted Stat esand Britain felt
th at th eycould not accep td efeat in this manor.In 1948 th eoccupationofKoreaended.T heSoviet
army left behind acommun istgovernmentinthe
n or thand theA m ericanssetupagovernment
fricndl ytothemselv es in thesouth.Both these
government s claim edtherig h t toruleallofth e
coun try. In J une1950.th eNort hKo reansdecid ed to
settlethem atter.Theirso ld ierscrossed th e 3Hth
p arallelIIIa fu ll- scaleinvasionofSouthKo rea.
118
Hrrli'lmgruti",~ 01 l'.5.pLmeJllringIheBerlinoIirlili,
':(WIX-49.
T hey d ecid edto se ndinevery thingBerlinn eeded
by air. Fleets ofAmeri can and Brit ish pla nes
b egantofly insupp lies.This "airlift"wentonfo r
almost a year. 011 itsbusiestd ay nearly 1 -1,000
aircraftland ed on thecity 's airfield s.Over two
m ill io n to ns of sup pliesweredelivered .including
a daily aver ag eof5.000to nsofcoal.
B y the en dof 19 ~Hthe Russian skne wthey were
beat en. In Februar y1949,secrettalks began and
in M ayStalin stopped theblockade.
T he B erlin blockadefinishedallhopeofuniting
G er ma ny under one government. In 194 1) the
West ern Po wersjoined th ei rzones to gether to
form the Federal G erman Rep ubli c. or West
G erman y. Stalin repliedby tu rningthe R u ssian
zonemro the Ger man D emocr aticRepublic, or
East German y.Pr esident TrumanscmAmericansoldiersand
war pla nes fro mJ apan tofightfortheSouthKorean s.
Thenhe per su aded theUnitedNatio ns
O rgan izat ion.whichhadtakentheplace of the
p re- w arLeagueofNati o ns. tosuppo rthis actio n.
Sixteenn ati ons even tu allyse nttroopstofigh t in the
U nitedN atio ns 'fo rces in Ko rea. Hurth e war was
reallyallAmericanaffair.Nineoutofeveryten