Armageddon_ A Novel of Berlin - Leon Uris [281]
They converged on the City Hall and the Magistrat buildings armed with clubs, knives, stones, carrying banners and slogans.
This was the tactic that crumbled freedom in Czechoslovakia. This was the replay of the Prague riots. The Action Squads broke into the buildings, smashed up offices, and left the main chambers in a shambles. American, British, and French liaison officers were beaten up and the phone lines to the Western Sectors were cut.
The riot grew! Neither the Russian Sector police or the Red Army were anywhere to be seen, allowing the Action Squads free hand. At the end of the day Oberburgermeister Hanna Kirchner was able to see General Trepovitch to demand protection.
The Russian shrugged. “I cannot keep the workers from staging a democratic demonstration. They hate the imperialist Airlift aggression. It is the free right of the workers to protest.”
The angry little lady came to her feet. “I never believed,” she spat, “there could ever again be anything as loathsome as the Nazis. The Soviet Union has won that honor.”
Trepovitch sprung to his feet.
“Go on, hit me,” she dared.
He dared not She spat on his desk and walked out.
The next day the “riots” continued.
Hanna Kirchner defiantly drove to her office, but the doors were now blocked by Red Army guards and she was not allowed to enter.
People’s Radio announced more Red Army guards were coming, explaining that the anger of the workers compelled the Soviet Union to protect the citizens of Berlin from their corrupt officials.
Andrew Jackson Hansen returned to his old posture as Eric the Red. He spewed a stream of oaths in frustration against the outrage. When Neal Hazzard and Sean were able to calm him down they entered a conference with the British and French to reach a mutual decision.
The third day of riots at the City Hall and Magistrat was allowed to continue. The Western commanders then contacted Hanna Kirchner and told her that the Berlin Assembly and Magistrat could continue operation in the Western Sectors of the city.
On the fourth day of riots, Oberburgermeister Hanna Kirchner called for the Assembly to come into session in the British Sector at the Student’s Haus on Seeinplatz.
People’s Radio retorted that night, “The workers of Berlin have been abandoned by flunkies carrying out the dirty work of the imperialists.”
Armed now with the “fact” that the Democrats, Christians, and Conservatives had “abandoned” their offices, the Soviets swept all non-Communists from borough offices in their sector, including three mayors. The Russians padlocked vital files at the Magistrat.
A massive shift of population and offices followed as members of the free parties fled to the new sanctuary of the West. Each day a new department of the government splintered off and opened new offices there. The climax was an assembly of sixteen hundred Communists at the Admiral Palast.
“The people of Berlin have been left to the mercy of the revenge seekers,” Rudi Wöhlman cried to his audience. “Look at the Magistrat and Assembly. They have been abandoned! This is the time to elect representation for the workers!”
This rump meeting of Communists by hand proclamation declared Heinz Eck as Oberburgermeister of “Free” Berlin. A new Magistrat now to be known as the Berlin Soviet was proclaimed without debate, protest, or formal vote.
In the beginning of September 1949, the Soviet Union had evaded an open election and split the city into two parts.
“My God!” Nelson Goodfellow Bradbury said, “my God!”
From his vantage point high in the shell of the gutted Reichstag he looked down on the Platz der Republik. The people had gathered to protest Russian atrocity.
A mass of humanity jammed the square; they were packed solid in the destroyed Tiergarten. The great Charlottenburger Chaussee was a solid bulk of people backed all the way to the Victory Column restored by the British. Berliners spilled over the area against the Brandenburg Gate where it touched the Russian Sector. There had