Let Me do a Presentation for you!
U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Map of the Occupation Sectors of Berlin, April 1945
For those of you who came straight to this webpage from an external link---hello! My name is Donald (or "Don") Smith, and I am the author of Steinstuecken: A Little Pocket of Freedom. I created this webpage to help market my book. (Please take a moment to go the "Home" tab and read more about it.)
I do presentations on subjects related to Cold War Berlin. (You can see some of my presentations on the "Recorded Interviews" page.) Let me do a presentation for your group! I LOVE doing them, and I charge NO presentation fee!
I mostly do ZOOM presentations, but I can come to your location and do one in person, if we can arrange to cover the travel costs. (I live in Tucson, so I can drive to any location in Arizona or Central/Southern California).
I do presentations on subjects related to Cold War Berlin. (You can see some of my presentations on the "Recorded Interviews" page.) Let me do a presentation for your group! I LOVE doing them, and I charge NO presentation fee!
I mostly do ZOOM presentations, but I can come to your location and do one in person, if we can arrange to cover the travel costs. (I live in Tucson, so I can drive to any location in Arizona or Central/Southern California).
PRESENTATION TOPICS
The Berlin Blockade
- In June of 1948, the Soviet Union blocked rail, road and canal traffic between West Germany and West Berlin. This is widely accepted as the event that kicked off the "hot" phase of the Cold War. I offer presentations on the political and social issues that were part of the "Berlin Crisis."
- - I describe the geopolitical challenges that the U.S. faced, as it weighed whether it was worth the risk to support West Berlin---and potentially antagonize the USSR and risk sparking a third World War.
- - I also discuss the courage West Berliners showed as they dealt with the many challenges the blockade caused---and refused to buckle to Soviet pressure! This made them heroes, in the eyes of many Americans. It helped change Americans' perception of Germans, from wartime foes to peacetime allies.
- I'm sure you'll find these stories inspiring.
The Berlin Airlift
The magnificent effort, by Berliners, Germans, Americans and British that broke the Berlin Blockade! Arguably the West's first major victory of the Cold War. The Airlift created many wonderful stories about the people who organized, flew and supported it. For example:
- The "Candy Bomber"---USAF pilot Gail Halvorsen, who dropped candy in parachutes to West Berlin children.
- Lucius Clay, the American Military Governor of Germany, who convinced President Truman that West Berlin could be kept alive by American and British air supply.
- The West Berliners, who cheered and prayed for the American and British airmen who, just a few years earlier, had been bombing them!
- The West Berlin ground crews at the Berlin airfields, who competed for prizes to see which crews could offload supplies off airlift aircraft the fastest.
- Tonnage Tunner"---USAF general William Tunner, the hero of the Burma Airlift in World War II, who probed every detail of airlift operations to looks for ways to carry more supplies, faster, to Berlin.
My presentation covers these stories, and many more. I do these presentations on behalf of the Berlin Airlift Remembrance Alliance, a group dedicated to ensuring that current and future generations remember, and are inspired by, this historic event.
The 1946 Berlin Elections
In October 1946, Berlin held city-wide elections. The city had been occupied jointly by the Americans, Soviets, British and French for over a year. Berlin citizens had a chance to show their preference for the Soviet approach to the postwar world, or the Western approach, with their votes. The world viewed the election as a referendum on Soviet Communism versus the West. These elections were, arguably, one of the first battles of the Cold War.
The Quadripartite, or "Four Power" Agreement of 1972.
The early 1970s were the time of "detente," a lessening of tensions between East and West. West German chancellor Willy Brandt's "Ostpolitik" had created the opportunity to improve relations between East and West Germany.
The Four Power Agreement, between the WWII Allied powers, allowed East and West Germany to negotiate agreements that made it possible for East and West Germans to vist each other much more freely. It also guaranteed the (relatively) free flow of civilian traffic between West Berlin and West Germany.
Learn about:
- How Eastern and Western diplomats solved seemingly unsolvable political problems. Like, for example, how do you conclude an agreement if neither side can agree on the proper name for the city of Berlin? They figured out a way---and I'll tell it to you!
- The things the West German government did to make it possible for talks to begin in the first place.
- The strains put on the German people by decades of separation, caused by the separation of the eastern (Soviet-controlled) half of the country from the western (U.S./U.K.-aligned) half.
Steinstuecken's Cold War history
(If you're wondering what "Steinstuecken" is, you probably came directly to this page on my website. Please scroll to the top, click on the "Home" tab---and learn more about one of the most interesting and inspiring episodes in America's Cold War history)
Interested? I hope so! E-mail me at steinpocket@gmail.com. (And, I cover all of these subjects in my book!)