https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/118cd16c4d43b9a99d2f482084e06fc8.pdf 6cd47cb68905cc8ca7622cceddd8efbc PDF Text Text Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de lo Loi sur /'occes a /'information RESTRICTED ;.:a~~- ....... ,...,, __.. - !LO..J37-r~ l L___ !f~----1~.~/7-i:, :__ ~l, 1JOf. •6 BONN, k,:'-i~-.'v . (.(t • ~,. ·_, -~ Dear Mr. Heeney~ .!> l 1 0~ •..,,·.. .,, 0.0'v ~· ,.., n•.,, v'"" It is well enough known that the Soviet authorities;~: do not always follow exactly the same procedure at their checkpoints on the boundary between the Eastern Zone and the Wemtern _Zones.. What goes today may not go tomorrow,. and what goes, tomorrow may not necessarily go the day after. Sometimes. ) .:..J greater strictness can be attributed to the arrival of a new Soviet control detachment;, at other times it is known to vary according to the personalities of the individual officers. It is the ordinary traveller who cannot always be sure what to expect. ,3 ,4 :s ~1----l '\\ 7 Durin~ the last few months it has been necessary for Mr. Molson in the course of his duties to make frequent journeys by train between Berlin and Bonn. The best route is via Frankfurt. which means taking the United States military train from Berlin and from Frankfurt to Bollll a German train on which there is a coach for Allied pei:sonn~l• _Last night ~hen Mr. Molson boarded the train in the ,United States Sector of Berlin the train commander• on noting that he was a Canadian. inquired whether he had a valid Canadi,an passport with him. It seemed that the train commander was half expecting the Soviet officials at the Marienborn check-point to ask for the passports of any non-Occupying Power persollllel who were travelling on the train. This was a little surprising since the usual British or United. States travel order had previously been sufficient. In the event the Soviet officials at Marienboril did demand to sea Mr. Molson 1 s passport and also the passports of two Czech nationals who "W0reon the train. The United States train commander complied and details of name,. passport number, etc., were taken down in each case. The train its elf was not·., ·., :however., held up at all. \\ ,, The point of this story doe~ not lie in the fact that for the first time in our experience Soviet officials demanded the passport of a member of the Mission in Berlin (or for that matter this Mission) travelling on a military train. It seems to me that they are.quite justified in doing so. But the story acquires a little colour in the light of the present contention of the Soviet authoritiea that only British~ French, Soviet and United States f8 rsonnel should travel on military trains to and from Berlin. They do not include members of Military Missions who have, of course, been using the trains more or less; ever sinceE:b~ey 'i'if"S;t s,:y~r~.e~:t<;1"operate. Naturally Vfestern officials have ta.ken a differen~ line, and all the while they have been agreeing to differ members of Military Missions have encounter·ed little or no dif'f'ic~l ty on their journeys. ,I / .: A.D.P. :i~eeney. Esq.~ _ Under~Secretary of State \\ for External -Affairs,. OTTAWA. :1 :- 000276 j �Document disclosed under the Access to lnformotion Act Document divulgue en vertu de lo Loi sur /'occes a l'informotion EXrERN~Lft:FP'A)JiR,·g 'R'Ecri ROS-CLf:AR'fr:"{J} ,·.' .- -, -. •' II, r ,... {"\ .,-·: ' f,,. n t; /o'-, • .. I " f.' .. , )" ,, .. ... , ..--... _,...,•,..., ,_·,1·· ,i •• ' '.) • 1 ..,. {' 'f•··· ,. i,jl '"l .,•·· '' .···r-:• ,..,,."· :·. ' r ,·:.· l ,.-. ! >' [ I rt I 1- T • '.' ··:•· I\ ...! _-.. 1 . 1:-:-,· ./fr-.)~ :(%;:,/: _:( •• ., t:..,:i \ • •7,_ t:· .:...; \, 1.-1·.,..:\/' 000277 �{)ocument disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de lq, Loi sur /'occes a /'information .... 2 .. To demand.passports from members o~ Military . Missions for train travel at this stage, when they have not been demanded before• my be merely another pinwprick or possibly just the act of a Soviet official JDQrethan usually zealous. On the other hand it may conceivably signify a little more. One cannot tell• certainly mere the Soviet authoritiea are concerned, but I feel that the incident is _worth reporting even if only for the added local colour which it reflects. Yours sincerely,· I· .I ii It ,, ,, ,, I· Ii I,' ., !I • J 000278 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context CDBC00318 Title A name given to the resource Letter from Maurice Pope to [Arnold] Heeney Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 02-May-50 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived "BERLIN. Political Situation. Relations between West and East Berlin," RG25-A-3-c, Volume 4072, File number: 10937-40, File part: 1, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource LAC ATIP A-2024-01457 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Canadian Crown Subject The topic of the resource Berlin Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Canada Declassified Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource PDF Language A language of the resource English