On May 11, 1959, the foreign ministers of the United States, England, France and Russia met in Geneva for a three-month conference. The contrast could not be greater when the foreign ministers of the four victorious powers of the Second World War met in Geneva for a conference that would last nearly three months.
In one of the most beautiful places in Europe, the idyllic and peaceful city on the shores of Lake Geneva, the solution to one of the biggest crises of the Cold War would be negotiated. The theme of the conference which began on 11 May 1959 was the situation in Berlin and the future of Germany.
Russian pressure
It hadn’t been more than ten years since the mayor of Berlin at the time, Ernst Reuter, had launched a desperate worldwide appeal: “Peoples of the world, watch this city!” Shortly before, the first Berlin crisis had ended without major consequences, thanks to the intervention of the Western powers. The Russians withdrew from their blockade of West Berlin.
However, on November 10, 1958, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, delivered an important speech at the Palace of Sports in Moscow, in which he once again threatened Berlin.
The city was to be unified, demilitarized and declared autonomous. This should take place within six months. Otherwise, East Germany would be granted complete sovereignty. Khrushchev described the possible consequences of such a measure: “… that means that it will have to exercise its sovereignty on land, in territorial waters and in air space! At the same time, all contacts with representatives of the Armed Forces and other US, UK and French authorities on matters relating to Berlin will be suspended!”
Overcome the German divide
Ten years after Ernst Reuter, the mayor of Berlin was called Willy Brandt. His reaction to Khrushchev’s ultimatum: “There is no isolated solution to the Berlin question. If there is to be a contribution to the distension and reunification of Germany, as the Soviet note states, among other things, then it is not a question of Berlin at this moment, but of overcoming the division of Germany. This is what you have to negotiate about and not about a change in the situation in Berlin”.
The victorious powers agreed to hold a conference to deal with the German question, before the ultimatum won. For the first time, the participation of West and East Germans as observers was accepted – a concession made by Moscow. On May 11, 1959, Foreign Ministers Gromyko, Lloyd, de Murville and Herter met at the Palace of Nations in Geneva.
Herter Plan
The then US Secretary of State, Christian Herter, presented a plan that became known by his name, the West’s first constructive response to Khrushchev’s ultimatum. He envisaged a four-phase process for German reunification: the reunification of Berlin under the aegis of the four powers, the creation of an all-Germany commission, free elections for an all-German constituent assembly, and, finally, an agreement of peace, but only with a reunified Germany.
For his part, Andrei Gromyko was initially critical of the fact that peace talks had been put in place at the end of the process. But what bothered Moscow the most was the first point of the plan. The purpose of the November ultimatum and Russian interest was an elimination of four-power tutelage over Berlin. The plan suggested the opposite, the extension of joint control to the entire city – an unacceptable proposal for Moscow.
Khrushchev’s demands
On June 20, the conference decided to suspend work for three weeks, in order to seek consensus through bilateral contacts. Three days later, Khrushchev showed that he was not very willing to reach a consensus, telling the Western emissary Averell Harriman: “Be assured that I will not approve German reunification if a socialist system is not foreseen for Germany”.
Thereafter, Herter rejected all previous Russian offers and proposed that a German draft be accepted as the final resolution of the conference. This proposal suggested that the Geneva conference be transformed into a permanent body, in order to reach a solution to the German question, through continuous negotiations.
When Gromyko also rejected this last proposal, the conference was dismissed as a failure. On 5 August, the four powers left Geneva without any concrete results.
vain promise
The Soviet Union allowed the deadline for the November ultimatum to expire, but Moscow had not yet given up on its attempt, as it turned out just three years later.
“No one intends to build a wall!” said the president of the GDR State Council, Walter Ulbricht. But this was done, cementing the German division. The failed conference of foreign ministers on May 11, 1959, in Geneva, was the last attempt by the former Allied powers, winners of the Second World War, to end the Cold War.
It was only after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the fall of the Berlin Wall, 30 years later, that the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union resumed negotiations on the future of Germany. In the so-called “4 + 2 Conversations”, that is, with the inclusion of representatives from West and East Germany, the German division was suspended and the post-war period in Europe was definitively ended.
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