The Man Who Built the Berlin Wall: The Rise and Fall of Erich Honecker by Nathan Morley

Author:Nathan Morley [Morley, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Political, History, Europe, Germany, Modern, 20th Century, General, Political Science, Political Ideologies, Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism
ISBN: 9781399088855
Google: yLfSEAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1399088823
Publisher: Pen and Sword History
Published: 2023-09-28T18:30:00+00:00

1

Eight hours later, the theatricals continued when, squinting against the bright sunlight, the German delegation arrived to a celebrity welcome in Havana, where cheers of ‘Long Live the First Secretary’ could be heard as they disembarked from a gleaming Interflug jetliner. Across the Cuban capital, workers had been given time off in order to line the streets and wave GDR flags. ‘Now,’ Honecker recounted, ‘Castro, together with his vivacious people, welcomed our delegation on the island of freedom.’2 Dressed not in a suit but in a white jacket and a Canotier, Honecker played the part of the exultant guest, smiling deeply before the public and shaking hands. Over the coming days, he held stage centre, during one effusive solidarity demonstration after another. Front page coverage was awarded to his visit to Santiago de Cuba where the uprisings against foreign rule had erupted in the 50s. ‘This is where it began,’ Neues Deutschland noted.3 ‘The armed struggle against Batista’s dictatorship with the attack on Santiago’s Moncada barracks by the daring revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro.’ It was observed by an excitable commentator on Cuban television that a loud chorus could be heard: ‘Long live the friendship between Cuba and the GDR’, and ‘Long live Comrade Erich Honecker.’

Amid the cheers, Honecker avoided outright condemnation of the United States by demanding only that Guantanamo be returned to Cuba; while, for his part, Castro sidestepped any frontal criticism of China. A joint declaration, however, took an indirect swipe at Beijing by condemning ‘anti-Communism, anti-Sovietism, revisionism and chauvinism,’ wherever it occurred.4 Behind closed doors, Honecker held a string of frank and heated discussions with Castro. The Cuban successfully pushed the General Secretary to pay higher prices for Cuban sugar and gave an overview of the recent coup in Chile. ‘There were in our embassy,’ he disclosed, ‘enough weapons for a battalion, automatic weapons, armour-piercing weapons, and there was also a force of special troops.’5 However, despite his offer of practical help, Castro revealed the late President Allende did not want the Cubans to get engaged in fighting.

Once back from Cuba, Honecker made immediate plans to publish a new German volume of Fidel Castro’s speeches in addition to commissioning a film about the ‘friendship visit’.6 Undoubtedly, the success of the trip added to the sense that a renewal was underway, which accrued directly to Honecker’s benefit. Soon after, special praise came when the GDR and FRG happily agreed to establish missions, which although did not have the diplomatic status of embassies, performed similar functions. During May, West Germany’s ‘Permanent Representation’ office opened at Hannoversche Straße 28–30 in East Berlin under the direction of Günter Gaus, while the GDR mission in Bonn was accredited to Willy Brandt’s office, not to the Foreign Ministry. However, at virtually the same moment the new delegations were unpacking, a spy saga in the West German government wiped the good news from the headlines.

Set in the midst of warming relations, authorities in Bonn discovered that Günter Guillaume – one of Willy

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.