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Anglo/GDR Relations and the Role of Christian Idealism in Cold War Politics 1961-1965: a Case Study of the Coventry/Dresden Project

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Anglo/GDR Relations and the Role of Christian Idealism in Cold War Politics 1961-1965: a Case Study of the Coventry/Dresden Project Anglo/GDR Relations and the Role of Christian Idealism in Cold War Politics 1961-1965: A Case Study of the Coventry/Dresden Project Mefrilyg Frances Thomas University College London PhD 2002 ProQuest Number: U642705 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U642705 Published by ProQuest LLC(2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT This study is an examination of the interaction between Anglo/GDR relations and GDR Church/state relations during the first half of the 1960s. Using the Coventry/Dresden project of Christian reconciliation as a case study, it analyses the manner in which the governments of both countries exploited the concept of Christian/Marxist dialogue in order to create a climate of co-operation within the GDR which would, in the short term, ensure the stability of the regime. In particular, this study examines the activities of Christian organisations such as the British Council of Churches and Coventry Cathedral in Britain, Aktion Siihnezeichen (an organisation founded to atone for Nazi war crimes) in the GDR, and the Evangelische Akademie in West Berlin. It sets these activities in the context of Anglo/GDR official bilateral relations, particularly the West's policy of non-recognition of the GDR; GDR Church/state relations; and Ulbrichfs period of domestic liberalisation between 1963 and 1965. In the context of the Coventry/Dresden project of reconciliation, special attention is paid to Church/state relations in the diocese of Saxony, and to Anglo/GDR relations at the regional level of city partnerships. Based on the premise that the Cold War was primarily an intelligence war, the study demonstrates the manner in which the intelligence services of both countries operated within the context of domestic and foreign policy decisions. Two major conclusions are drawn. First, that contrary to official British foreign policy the British sought to prop up the Ulbricht regime in order to preserve peace and stability in Central Europe, and that the Coventry/Dresden project was secretly used for this purpose. Second, that dissident GDR Church leaders were encouraged to find an accommodation with the atheist regime not only by their colleagues in Britain but also by West German Church leaders who were in the vanguard of Ostpolitik. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Very many people have provided invaluable assistance in order to enable me to research and write this thesis. I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to them all. In particular, I would like to thank those who felt able to help me despite the need for discretion in view of the sensitive nature of the subject matter involved. Sometimes this help amounted to no more than a gentle nudge in the right direction but it was sufficient to alter the perspective from which the events in question were viewed. In addition, I would like to thank the many people who agreed to meet me. To describe our meetings as interviews would sometimes be too strong a word but they were no less significant for that. Those who have provided me with such help include Paul Oestreicher, Hans-Joachim Seidowsky, Martin Turner, Horst Dohle and Franz von Hammerstein. Special thanks in relation to the altering of perspective are due to Richard Leachman. This thesis would not have been written without financial support. In this connection I am most grateful to the Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd and its administrator, Eric Adams, and to Michael Butterfield for his unfailing interest. University College London has provided me with the facilities required in order to undertake this research and assistance has also come from the German Historical Institute London. I have spent many hours delving through archives and in this connection would particularly like to thank Ilona Pohl at the Gauck Behorde. Finally I would like to say thank you to my supervisor. Professor Mary Fulbrook, with whom I have enjoyed many lengthy discussions and whose clarity of thought has provided me with a beacon by which to find my way through the maze of Cold War history. TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page 1 Abstract 2 Acknowledgments 3 Table of Contents 4 Abbreviations 7 Chapter 1: Introduction Case Study 9 The Context - Ulbricht, the Liberal? 14 Evidence and Sources 20 Presenting the Jigsaw 26 Chapter 2: The Intelligence War: The Missing Dimension Introduction 35 Hans-Joachim Seidowsky 42 Erich Müller-Gangloff 52 Conclusion 60 Chapter 3: Christian Networks in the GDR: Aktion Siihnezeichen and the Seeds of Ostpolitik Introduction 66 Aktion Siihnezeichen 69 The Khrushchev Connection 78 Aktion Siihnezeichen and the Prague Spring 83 Conclusion 84 Chapter 4: Christian/Marxist Dialogue in Britain and the GDR: High Ideal or Political Ploy? Introduction 91 The Church in the GDR 96 Western Support for Christian/Marxist Dialogue 107 Conclusion 111 Chapter 5: GDR Church/state relations 1963-1964: Bishop Noth and the Power of Silence Introduction 116 The Church in Saxony 120 The Ten Articles and the Wartburg-Gesprach 127 Conclusion 133 Chapter 6: The Cold War World of Non-Governmental Diplomacy: Anglo/GDR Relations and the Crossman Connection Introduction 138 Official Foreign Policy - Recognition and the Hallstein Doctrine 140 Unofficial Foreign Policy - Richard Crossman 147 Conclusion 160 Chapter 7 - The Cold War World of Non-Governmental Diplomacy: Grass Roots and the Schill Affair Introduction 167 Kommunale A uslandsverb indungen 169 Tourism 174 The Allied Travel Office 176 The Schill Affair 179 Conclusion 186 Chapter 8 - The Coventry/Dresden Project: Healing the Wounds of History Introduction 192 The Legacy of the Second World War 195 The Negotiations 198 The Williams/Seigewasser Meeting, January 1964 203 Chapter 9 - The Coventry/Dresden Project: Separating Fact from Fiction Church/State Co-operation and the Role of the Stasi 214 The Coventry/Dresden Project and Publicity 228 Conclusion 234 Chapter 10 - Conclusion 239 Bibliography 251 ABBREVIATIONS and GERMAN TERMS ADN Allgemeine Deutsche Nachrichtenagentur (GDR news agency) ATO Allied Travel Office BCC British Council of Churches Bezirk Regional administrative area in the GDR BfV Bundesamt fiir Verfassungsschutz (West German internal security service) BND Bundesnachrichtendienst (West German foreign intelligence service) CCIU Coventry Committee for International Understanding CDU Christlich-Demokratische Union (Christian Democrat Party) CIA Central Intelligence Agency (US foreign intelligence service) CND Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament CPC Christian Peace Conference DNB Deutsche Notenbank (GDR currency before 1964) EKD Evangelische Kirche Deutschland (Protestant Church of Germany) EKU Evangelische Kirche der Union (administrative body of some GDR diocese) epd Evangelische Pressedienst (Protestant Press Agency) EWRAC EastAVest Relations Advisory Committee of the BCC GESW Gesamteuropaischen Studienwerk (West German European study centre) GI Geheimer Informator (pre-1960s term for a Stasi informer) Hauskreis Name given to small underground groups connected to the Evangelische Akademie in West Berlin HVA Hauptverwaltung Aufklarung (foreign intelligence department of the Stasi) 8 EM Inoffizieile Mitarbeiter {Stasi term for an informer) Kirchenfragen Church affairs kommunale Auslandsverbindungen International contacts at local government level KPD Kommunistischer Partei Deutschlands (German Communist Party) Landeskirche Diocese Legende Stasi cover story MDN Mark der Deutschen Notenbank (GDR currency after 1964) MfAA Ministerium fur Auswartige Angelegenheiten (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) MfS Ministerium fur Staatssicherheit (Stasi) MI6 British foreign intelligence service NSDAP Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nazi Party) Oberbürgermeister Lord Mayor OKR Oberkirchenrat (German Protestant Church title) SD Sicherheitsdienst (Nazi security service) SED Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschland (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) SfK Staatssekretariat fur Kirchenfragen (Department of State for Church Affairs) SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (West German Social Democrat Party) TTD Temporary Travel Document CHAPTER 1 Introduction Case Study On 16 March 1965, a group of young British volunteers and their leaders crossed through the Berlin Wall on their way to Dresden in the German Democratic Republic to take part in a project of international reconciliation. The project had been organised in Britain by Coventry Cathedral and, in particular, by its Provost, the Very Reverend H C N Williams (universally known as Bill). The aim was to help with the rebuilding of a wing of the Dresden Diakonissenkrankenhaus, a hospital which had been badly damaged during the British and US bombing raid of February 1945. The hospital was run by an order of sisters belonging to the Evangelische Kirche, the German Protestant Church.^ The organisation which acted in partnership with Coventry Cathedral in helping to bring the project to fruition was called Aktion Siihnezeichen^ This was an all-German Christian organisation which had been founded to enable
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