Berlin remembers the air lift that made 'Care Packages' part of the German language
Thursday, June 26, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
NEW YORK — In a world that appears on “fast-forward” and where humanitarian operations seem almost as routine as the tear-jerking tragedies prompting them — Burma, Darfur, Somalia, donor fatigue overwhelms us with the emotions of “what next?” It’s easy to forget the aid efforts of a decade ago, or for that matter a generation ago. “Live Aid” for Ethiopia was back in the 1980’s, Concert for Bangladesh in the 1970’s, and Biafra in the 1960’s. It’s equally easy to overlook the massive post-war aid and reconstruction efforts such as the Marshall Plan for Europe or the Berlin Airlift.
A senior German political figure once told me, “The first word I learned in English was a four-letter word, CARE.” He was evoking the thankful memory of CARE food packages throughout devastated Europe in the post-war period, and also recalling the Cold War era now becoming fast-forgotten.
Three years after WWII and the end of the Nazi regime, Germany’s capital was divided among the victorious Allied powers; the U.S. Britain and France were in the West and the Soviet Union held the East. By June 1948, the war-battered and separated city was about to face another test, this time a supply blockade by the Soviets. Given that Berlin was an isolated island of freedom 110 miles inside the Soviet occupation zone, Stalin calculated that by tightening the transportation noose that two million people, cut off from supplies, could be squeezed and starved into submission.
The Soviet plan was a simple as it was brutal. The Allied currency reform introducing the Deutsch Mark was the pretext. Given that the Russians feared a convertible currency in the West would usher in a thriving market instead of the moribund Marxist economy as in the East, Moscow gambled that cutting the land lines of communication would get Berliners to cower before the communists.
But Berliners were not of that mettle nor were their friends. Standing down Stalin in Berlin was only part of the feisty President Harry Truman’s plan, the bigger picture was to reassure not only Germany but Western Europe as a whole that the USA would be a reliable ally and friend and not back down to the Soviet dictator’s strong-arm tactics. Equally in Berlin itself, a tough uncompromising Social Democratic mayor Ernst Reuter was not going to be bullied by the Soviets.
On 24 June, the Soviets sealed the land borders. Free Berlin with just over two million people, was marooned. Acting with alacrity and vision, the Americans put their cards on the table; an airlift would re-supply the metropolis, one of Europe’s largest. The plan seemed as bold as it did foolhardy—fly a steady stream of transports through three air corridors to the isolated city. The air routes were legally mandated by occupation statues and the Soviets thus had to allow this access across East Germany.
By 26 June, the American plan was to bring 750 tons daily into Berlin—not just food and medicine but coal and fuel too. The twin-engine propeller C-54 and DC-3 transports flew from bases in West Germany, primarily Frankfurt’s Rhein-Main and Wiesbaden in the American Zone, and Celle and Lubeck in the British sector. By the end of July 1948, the Airlift was flying more than 2,000 tons daily into Templehof Airport. At the start of the Airlift, Berlin Mayor Reuter reportedly told an U.S. General, “You handle the Airlift, and I’ll handle the Berliners.”
This steady stream of aircraft represented nothing short of a massive achievement and a commitment to Free Berlin and an investment in Germany’s democratic future. In mid-April 1949, U.S. and British pilots brought 12,800 tons of freight into the beleaguered city, an extraordinary achievement. And a new word CARE Packages, soon became part of the German language.
But beyond the daily necessities, the pilots would airdrop candy and sweets to the children of Berlin who, often standing near the runway approach at Templehof, would wave from the ubiquitous mounds of rubble. Best known of the “Candy Bombers” Col. Gail Halverson (now 88) was recently decorated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
According to Dr. Klaus Scharioth, German Ambassador to the United States, “The Airlift is considered one of the greatest humanitarian actions of all times. It is almost unbelievable that the United States and its allies, were able to sustain the city of Berlin for 322 days from June 26, 1948 to May 12 1949, and break the blockade of the Soviet Union.” Today the Airlift is remembered by a “Friends Always” campaign in the U.S.
The cost was high. Fifteen months saw an amazing 278,000 flights; there were several tragic accidents where 41 British, 31 Americans and 6 Germans died. I recall the sweeping monument commemorating the Air Bridge at Berlin’s historic Templehof Airport. John Kornblum, a former American Ambassador to Germany writes ironically, “The biggest event in this 60th anniversary will be the closing of the very airport which symbolizes the airlift, despite strong public sentiment for its survival.” Still for Berliners there was a happy ending, the city today is united, free and prosperous, thanks in no small part to the grit of Truman and the “Candy Bombers.”