Berlin 1962 Continued

While Ray was in Berlin, he also attended Unity Day, a ceremony in front of Berlin's town hall. The following is the front page article that appeared in the New York Times on June 18, 1962:

Konrad Adenauer greets Willy Brandt, June 17, 1962 - NY Times

• Chancellor Adenauer and Mayor Willy Brandt, bitter political opponents, joined today in an appeal to the Soviet Union to let the German people decide their own fate in freedom. The two men spoke at a rally of an estimated 150,000 West Berliners outside the City Hall. It marked the ninth anniversary of the swiftly quelled uprising in Communist East Germany in 1953.
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• The rally and the day passed peacefully, without any sign of the demonstrations that the Russians feared would take place at the wall the Communists built through Berlin last August. Both sides took precautions against incidents. A few Soviet Army soldiers joined the normal guard of armed East German police atop the Brandenburg Gate just inside East Berlin. Soviet Army patrols were reported to have been seen along the wall.
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• They had previously left the job of patrolling the wall to East Germans. Large detachments of West Berlin police were kept on duty in the City Hall square and along the routes of the march to the rally. United States Army helicopters patrolled overhead.
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• But it was a disciplined, non­ aggressive crowd, apparently intent only on cheering the condemnation of Communist actions by the Chancellor and the Mayor.
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• Some observers though t the Soviet Army patrolling of the border was an acknowledgment of the Soviet Union's continuing responsibility for East Berlin. The Russian profess to have transferred the responsibility to the East Germans.
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• But since the Wall went up the Russians have let their presence in East Berlin be known whenever serious troubles appeared imminent. They brought a tank detachment into the city last August after United States tanks appeared at the East-West dividing line.
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• Dr. Adenauer told the Soviet Union that the methods of the East Germans were not serving the cause of peace.
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• “The spirit is always stronger than brutal force.'' Dr. Adenauer said. "The spirit will win through in the end.”
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• The Chancellor read to the rally a message from Secretary of State Dean Rusk.  It expressed the understanding of the America n people for the suffering that had resulted from the split of Germany and their hope for reunification "in peace and freedom.”
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• Dr. Adenauer' s was a  subdued speech. He recalled for the thousands in the square and a nation-wide radio and television audience that the Poles waited 150 years for unity. He asked the Germans to learn from the Poles' example.
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• Mayor Brandt geared his speech to the sharpening mood of West Berlin over the daily shooting at refugees by the East German police. In recent week the East Germans have killed a twelve-year old boy and wounded a fifteen year old.
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• Saying that he was speaking to both the West and the East, Mayor Brandt declared, “The German people will not put up with the partition. We are not against negotiations nor are we against sensible interim settlements. But we are against doing nothing at all, against resignation and against foul compromises.”
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• To the loudest cheers of the rally, he said West Berlin police would shoot back. “I would rather step down,” he asserted, “than ever give orders to respect that wall.”
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• “The city wants peace,” he went on. “But this city also wants to be free. We have not overcome our brown (Nazi) past to bow our necks once again.”
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• Chancellor Adenauer flew to Berlin in a United States Army plane. The Communists had denounced his visit as illegal and provocative, and after the rally the East German’s press service accused Mayor Brandt of encouraging attacks on the East German police.
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• Six students were detained briefly by West Berlin police during the day for exhibiting anti-Adenauer posters. The posters said, “Long Live Kennedy” and “Berlin Trusts Kennedy Even if Adenauer Obstructs.” The allusion was to the Chancellor’s recent objections to the United States Proposal for a Berlin settlement, particularly one for international authority to regulate access to Berlin.
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• Published: June 18, 1962 Copyright © The New York Times

The way the Town Hall looks today according to Google

Berlin Memorial 

     As referenced in the above New York Times article, on June 11th of 1962, a 12-year old boy was killed by the a 19-year old border guard. The boys and his two friends ran into the two 19-year old border guards on patrol and asked to know how their weapons worked. Finally one of the guards decided to show the boys how his weapon worked and accidentally shot the boy dead. Western officials didn't learn what had really happened until the following year. To read more about the wall and this incident, use the link below.


 Berlin Wall Memorial

Helping me to discover all of this were Steve and Chris. Chris made the identification of Willy Brandt and from there I could find the actual day and what happened in Berlin on June 17, 1962.