Free City
자유도시
In the Cold War Berlin question, a Free City was a proposal to give West Berlin a separate international status after the withdrawal and demilitarization of the Western Allied forces. The Soviet Union linked this proposal to its 1958 and 1961 ultimatums, while the Western powers rejected it because they would not abandon their occupation rights and guaranteed access to West Berlin under the postwar settlement.
In depth
In November 1958, the Soviet Union demanded that the United States, Britain, and France withdraw their forces and turn West Berlin into a demilitarized free city within six months. If they refused, Moscow said it could sign a separate peace treaty with East Germany and transfer control of the land, water, and air routes to Berlin to East German authorities. The proposal would have dismantled the four-power administration and Western access rights while strengthening East German sovereignty, so the Western powers maintained their presence and access. Khrushchev repeated the demand after the 1961 Vienna summit, but no agreement followed; in August, East Germany closed the border and built the Wall. Free City therefore remained an unrealized status proposal and a name for the clash between competing interpretations of the postwar Berlin order.
Related historical events
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) (supports the 1958 proposal, demilitarization, transfer of access control, and Western refusal)
- Wikipedia (EN) (supports the renewed 1961 demand and its connection to the Wall crisis)
- germanhistorydocs.org (published document collection, supports the 27 November 1958 Soviet note and its six-month demand for a demilitarized free city)
- history.state.gov (U.S. State Department historical overview, supports the ultimatum and the ensuing three-year crisis)