Description
Object description
Unpublished memoir (334pp carbon copy ts, undated – 1950s?) titled `Nach Berlin' (To Berlin), giving a detailed account of his activities as a British Military Government / Control Commission Officer in Germany during 1944 – 1951, initially selected as a member of the joint Anglo-American 'Military Government, Greater Berlin Area' (MGGBA) team, proceeding to France in January 1945 to join up with the American element at Barbizon before moving on to Germany via Belgium, first impressions of war devastation and the condition of the populace in Aachen, Cologne and Düsseldorf where his group was temporarily quartered, the many problems arising from the `Displaced Persons' situation (with particular regard to criminality and raids on local farms) and an interview with DPs in a camp near Düsseldorf, impressions gained from an extensive tour of the Ruhr district (notably Essen), a discussion of the `non-fraternisation' policy initially adopted by the Allies in Germany and of the `German psyche', Nazism and de-Nazification (particularly the controversial `Fragebogen' questionnaire), moving on to Berlin in June 1945 and first encounters with Soviet occupation forces en route, the state of the city in the immediate aftermath of the war, with particular regard to the Allied zonal structure and problems posed by the existing Soviet administration, appointment as a British representative to the Allied Kommandatura prior to an enforced leave of absence following a serious traffic accident, returning to work in January 1946 as a member of the newly-created Local Government Committee of the Allied Kommandatura, tasked with drafting a framework for a new municipal administration to replace the Soviet-dominated `Magistrat', with considerable detail on the historical background, inter-Allied discussions etc, subsequent elections to the new authority (October 1946) and resulting dissension amongst the Allies, the protracted debates surrounding the proposed new constitution for Berlin (1948), his highly critical opinions on the British element of the Control Commission for Germany (CCG) and on `Soviet man', the sharp deterioration in relations with the Soviets in Berlin and more generally, culminating in the breakdown of quadripartite control, the Berlin blockade and Allied air-lift operation of 1948-49, and the currency reform of 1949, concluding with his posting as British Observer in the French Zone of Occupation (Württemberg-Hohenzollern), 1950 – 1951, his views on German rearmament, and an overview of the state of the country in the early 1950s; also a small collection of related documents and photographs.
Content description
Unpublished memoir (334pp carbon copy ts, undated – 1950s?) titled `Nach Berlin' (To Berlin), giving a detailed account of his activities as a British Military Government / Control Commission Officer in Germany during 1944 – 1951, initially selected as a member of the joint Anglo-American 'Military Government, Greater Berlin Area' (MGGBA) team, proceeding to France in January 1945 to join up with the American element at Barbizon before moving on to Germany via Belgium, first impressions of war devastation and the condition of the populace in Aachen, Cologne and Düsseldorf where his group was temporarily quartered, the many problems arising from the `Displaced Persons' situation (with particular regard to criminality and raids on local farms) and an interview with DPs in a camp near Düsseldorf, impressions gained from an extensive tour of the Ruhr district (notably Essen), a discussion of the `non-fraternisation' policy initially adopted by the Allies in Germany and of the `German psyche', Nazism and de-Nazification (particularly the controversial `Fragebogen' questionnaire), moving on to Berlin in June 1945 and first encounters with Soviet occupation forces en route, the state of the city in the immediate aftermath of the war, with particular regard to the Allied zonal structure and problems posed by the existing Soviet administration, appointment as a British representative to the Allied Kommandatura prior to an enforced leave of absence following a serious traffic accident, returning to work in January 1946 as a member of the newly-created Local Government Committee of the Allied Kommandatura, tasked with drafting a framework for a new municipal administration to replace the Soviet-dominated `Magistrat', with considerable detail on the historical background, inter-Allied discussions etc, subsequent elections to the new authority (October 1946) and resulting dissension amongst the Allies, the protracted debates surrounding the proposed new constitution for Berlin (1948), his highly critical opinions on the British element of the Control Commission for Germany (CCG) and on `Soviet man', the sharp deterioration in relations with the Soviets in Berlin and more generally, culminating in the breakdown of quadripartite control, the Berlin blockade and Allied air-lift operation of 1948-49, and the currency reform of 1949, concluding with his posting as British Observer in the French Zone of Occupation (Württemberg-Hohenzollern), 1950 – 1951, his views on German rearmament, and an overview of the state of the country in the early 1950s; also a small collection of related documents and photographs.
History note
Cataloguer SWW