Bridging the Gap: Three Airlifts, Two Countries and One Airline

Abstract

For the citizens of a divided Berlin, the end of the Second World War was just the beginning of a period of dashed hopes, relentless tension and recurring hardships. When East German and Soviet authorities shut down the three land corridors between West Berlin and West Germany in 1948, the well-known Berlin Airlift began.  This paper looks at three airlifts that were operated between West Berlin and West Germany: the 1952 “Little Airlift†which thwarted East German attempts to curtail manufacturing in West Berlin; the 1952 Refugee Airlift, which moved East German refugees, seeking asylum in the West, out of West Berlin; and the 1953 Food Airlift, which did for citizens of East German what their own government could not do - feed them. In all three cases, the United States was reluctant to take overt actions on the part of West Berliners. Instead, Washington relied increasingly upon non-state players, including Pan American World Airways, to take covert actions on behalf of its West German allies.