https://declassified.library.utoronto.ca/files/original/6762029748d873676efaf973c5f05c97.pdf dc87aa14e3d0fa1292cefe3ce26da3a3 PDF Text Text Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur l'acces i, /'information DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNALAFFAIRS, CANADA. DESPATCH ' , · ................................ COl'TT<'IDENTIAL Security: To.4'rttE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, OTTAWA, CANADA. No:.. ~!4.~ ............. . ' .........EONN . . .. . . . .GEm. . .... .ANY .. . .. . . . .... . . .. . . ......... . lr1y despatch No. 948 of October 12. , .. , , , , , , , , , , , , , , • • • , • , • , • • , • · • • · · · · · · · · · · · • Reference: ........ J . SubJect: .... Political ,., ... , ........ • • t ~ituation , ........... I I West • in .................. t f o I t I• t I Berlin., .. , I 0 .................. October Date: ................. 13 I •...........•..... 1 953 Enclosures: .. ..... , . . . . . . . . . ........ t t o I I I f t t t • • t • t t I O t • t t • • • f . No; ... ................ 21 - 4 Post File - 2, . . . . . . /Of' , I -J-f 0 ....... . 31 References s 1 I -- 'l : l -- The passing of Ernst Reuter from the German scene has of course hit Berlin hardest of all. His great achievements for his city, his personality and his great oratorical gifts would make him a man difficult to replace in any circumstances, and Berlin today needs a man of this calibre no less than it did during the blockade and the years f'ollowing. 2. As you may recall, the government (Senat) of Berlin has been a coalition of all three parties in the City House of Representatives which, like Hamburg and Bremen, has the status of a provincial legislatuTe. These are -the SPD (Social Democrats) with 61 members, and the two 11bourgeois II parties the CDU (Christian Democrats) with 34 and the FDP (Liberal Democrats) with 32 members. As a single party, the SPD thus have a majority, v.hich could nevertheless at any time be overthrown by the joining together of the two bourgeois parties. The SPD has held six ministerial posts, including that of Governing Mayor, the CDU 4 and the FDP 4. In January 1951, immediately following the 1950 elections, the 128 votes cast were split equally between Ernst Reuter and Walter Schreiber, the CDU nominee. 'Ihrough a subsequent agreement, Reuter became Governing kayor and Schreiber Deputy 11 ayor. Internal Circulation Distribution to Posts London .t:.mbassy Pari NATOParis The Hague Brussels 3. It was obviously a very fragile coalition and was held together only by E.IrBt Reuter's personality and the acknowledgement by the other parties that no one could match him as the leader of free Berlin. One of his great achievements was the preserving of this politic al. truce in the interest of the city and its people in this time of crises. This mariage de convenance, or better mariage de force, despite its beneficial results for Berlin, has been an uneasy one, with the CDU and the FDP separately or together asserting themselves periodically in an attempt to preserve their identity. In the very week before Reuter's death, they were once again engaged in this tactical manoeuvring. With his death, the conflicting elements which Reuter with the co-operation of some of the leading bourgeois politicians had with difficulty succeeded in controlling, are now showing signs of threatening to wreck the coalition. 4. Walter Schreiber is now holding office as Acting 11:ayor and a first proposal was that he should continue with this office until the new elections to the ... •2 ,oscow Vienna Ext. lBOA(Rev. 2/52) . .... , .... . / t . Air or Surface Mail: ... . Ottawa File No- t . 000841 �Document di5cfo5ed under the Acce55 to Information Act Document divu/gue en vertu de la Lai sur l'acces a /'information "' " I 2. legislature, which are due at the end of next year. This suggestion was questioned on constitutional grounds and Schreiber himself has now forced an earlier decision by declining to carry on in this way. As a consequence, the Berlin Senat has decided to remain in office only until the election of a new Governing 1ayor in the near future, in order to permit the new Mayor to form a fresh government. It ls expected that the election of Reuter's successor will take place within the next two or three weeks. By then, the question of whether the present coalitlon can be continued will have to be decided. The CDUhave already announced that their continued participation in such a ''grand coalition" will be conditional on its being led by a C~U member, and the FDP have qualified their co-operation, although less explicitl7t, by saying that they would insist upon a "bourgeois I11ayor1 • The chairman of the Berlin FDP, Carl Scbwennicke, has made his position quite clear by saying that without the personal leadership of Reuter t be SPD v,as no longer entitled to provide the ?.ayor. He added that "while we do not belittle the national service of Reuter, v,e fight against the SPu claim that the late ~ayor and the SPD have been the sole political power in Berli:n 11 • It seems certain that the FDP does not i~tend to put up a candidate of its own, but would be satlsfied to support the CDU candida tc. One of the arguments used by the bourgeois parties is, of course, that a CDU-fl'DP I.ayer or Government could hope to obtain more for Eerlin from the present Federal Government in Bonn. 5. The SPD yesterday nominated as their candidate the President (Speaker) of the House of Representatives, Otto Suhr. This has come as something of a surprise, since , 111 i Kressmann, the rather flamboyant former Lay or of the .unicipality of hreuzberg in Eerlin and now member of the Berlin House of Representatives, aupeared to be leading the rece for the SPD. Of the possible CDU candidates the Eerlin publisher and member oft he Federal Eundestag, b:rnst Ler.nner, and Schreiber himself seem the most likely, although it is possible that an attempt might be made to :r•ecruit fi.ocert Tillmanns, the leading member of the Eerlin cm; rep1•esentation in the Bundestag, or Jakob Kaiser, Federal ?,.inister of till-German Affairs. None of these men would of course fi!l Reuter's shoes, and the problem is to find the best possible man for the job and to prevent party interests bringing into office a passive and colourless figure as, for lnstance, ~chreiber. 6. A man who one would think might be more suitable than many of those above mentioned ls Ferdinand Prledensburg, a former Deputy l ayor of Eerlln and now a Berlin member of the Federal Bundestag. From conversations a member of my staff recently had with Christian Democrats in Berlin, it nevertheless appears that, while he himself would like this, there is no possibility that his party will consider it. One is also tempted by the thought that one of tbe two SPD l ayors of Hamburg or Bremen, Brauer and Kaisen, could be recruited for this post. Both of them are of the cut of Reuter, 000842 �Document disclosed under the Access to Information Act Document divulgue en vertu de la Loi sur /'acces a /'information I "; 3• • bi~ men melloweo by responsibtlity and not too closely shackled to the1r party. lt is n~vertheiess ctouotrul that such a transplantlng of a I,.ayor fr am one city to another is feasible, and there is nothing to indicate that this is being contemplated. 7. We can only hope +-hat moderation and good sense will preserve the coalition and that in any case a Governing ayer ~orthy of his predecessor and of Berlin in its present unique position will be elected. T.C. J.t1.VIS 000843 � 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 CDBC00354 Title A name given to the resource "Political Situation in West Berlin," Bonn to SSEA, despatch no. 949 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 13-Oct-53 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 8506, File number: 10937-40, File part: 2.3, 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