This is part 2 in an ongoing series that looks at life in West Berlin from 1986-1990.
I was lucky enough to work Checkpoint Charlie for a few months and then get sent out to “The Mission”. The US Mission Berlin was the consulate for the city. Our Embassy to West Germany was in Bonn, and East Berlin had its own Embassy as well. These were staffed with Marine Embassy Security Detachments. The US Government in West Berlin was not allowed to station Marine in West Berlin becasue of the agreement signed at the end of WWII with the Russians. Only Army and Air force were permitted to be assigned to the city as they were the forces used to defeat the Germans. Also, the US State Department did not to formally recognize Berlin as divided. so they chose not to have Marine Guards at US Mission Berlin. Do note, it was not called US Mission West Berlin. More trivia: the US Navy had a Naval Attache office in the Mission, why, I still am not sure.
No USMC Embassy Guards means the the State Department had to find some other soldier to do this work. So, wisely, they chose approximately 20 US Army Military Police from the 287 MP Co. That was the MP company in West Berlin, 287 MP CO was always in the running for the J. P. Holland Award (Best MP Company in the Army, 287th wins it in 1976, 1985, and 1987)
If you were single and selected to work at The Mission, you were moved to a place called the Berlin Air Safety Center. It housed the Mission’s MPs and Officers from the US, Soviet Union, UK, and France who regulated flights in and out of West Berlin along 3 assigned air corridors, over the DDR. The Soviets were in the building to verify flights and to inform East German Anti-aircraft what not to shoot at. Deviation from the corridors could mean a simple protest being lodged or at worst a passenger jet being shot down.
This building was close to the center of the city, far away from the American PX and American hangouts near the barracks.Within a month or two most of the MP’s there started to live more ‘on the economy’, than running back to the PX on the other side of the city every time they needed something. The local bars and restaurants provided great food and drink and the chance to use the German language that some of us picked up. My group of MP’s mainly lived and worked without interference from the MP Company. We could go months without ever setting foot onto a barracks or even into the MP Company Area. We worked rotations of personnel security for visiting VIP’s, BASC Security, Mission Security at the consulate, and we took over security at the Berlin Document Center after the thefts were discovered of WWII documents with high ranking Nazi were found out.
This was the Berlin Air Safety Center.
Only one four-power organisation, the Berlin Air Safety Center (BASC), remained in the building from 1945 until the 31 December 1990. As a symbol of the BASC’s continued presence, the four national flags of the occupying powers still flew over the large front doors every day. The only other signs of occupancy were the few, sparse office lights that emanated from a small corner room of the building—the BASC Operations Room—in the evenings. Of the 550 rooms in the building, the BASC office complex and guards’ quarters occupied fewer than forty.
Because of the BASC’s presence, the building remained closely guarded by United States military guards, with access granted only to select members of the four powers. This led to mysterious legends and ghost stories about the eerie, dark facility with its grand, granite statuary overlooking the beautiful park.
As for hauntings and strange goings on…i did see some strange things occur.
This building was to be the Allied Control Authority for post WWII administration of the city, but the ACA agreement fell through.
Relations between the Western Allies (especially the United States and the United Kingdom) and the Soviet Union quickly deteriorated, and so did their cooperation in the administration of occupied Germany. Already in September 1946, disagreement arose regarding the distribution of coal for industry in the four occupation zones, and the Soviet representative in the council withdrew his support of the plan agreed upon by the governments of the United States, Britain and France.[9] Against Soviet protests, the two English-speaking powers pushed for a heightened economic collaboration between the different zones, and on 1 January 1947 the British and American zones merged to form the Bizone. Over the course of 1947 and early 1948, they began to prepare the currency reform that would introduce the Deutsche Mark, and ultimately the creation of an independent West German state. When the Soviets learnt about this, they claimed that such plans were in violation of the Potsdam Agreement, that obviously the Western powers were not interested in further regular four-power control of Germany, and that under such circumstances the Control Council had no purpose anymore. On 20 March 1948, Marshal Vasily Sokolovsky, the Soviet representative, walked out of the meeting of the Council, never to return.
This was my home, the BASC, from 1987-1990:
This building had formerly been the Kammergericht, the supreme court of Prussia. Many show trials took place here under the Hitler Regime, including the trial for Operation Valkyrie. In the main courtroom, the ceiling had a painting that featured a black-winged angel, as can be seen in this picture:
Every day, the MP on duty would have to walk through the rotunda, pictured below, and into the above pictured courtroom to perform a duty that was seen no where else. raise the Soviet Flag, as well as the US, French and British flag. On the first day of the month the order of the flags was changed so to reflect who was in charge that month of the BASC. The American Flag was not folded into the traditional 3 sided shape here, all flags were folded into simple squares and placed on the mantel near the window. There was no pomp, just an MP raising and lowering flags, this was a tourist attraction as well. The BASC and Spandau Prison were the only two 4-powers organizations in the city where the Soviets had free reign and access.
This month the Americans were in charge:
This is a drawing of the BARTCC/BASC mission:
The BASC was mostly a big and empty building. a few floors to the right of the flags in the picture above were used, the rest were all empty as the Allied Control Authority had collapsed in the 1940’s. The MP’s that lived there had great duty and a great place to live. We had cleaning ladies, state department vehicles at our disposal, a fully stocked bar that yours truly managed :), a complete Nautilus gym with sauna, a full blown gourmet kitchen with all of the goodies, and best of all, if you stayed out of trouble the Army even left you alone.
