BERLIN - Allied Control Authority - 1970
Site of the Four Power Talks on the Status of Berlin
It was the Prussian State Supreme
Court building before World War II, but after the war, it was
designated
as the Allied Control Authority Building. Just as Berlin was
supposed
to be ruled jointly by the Allied Kommandantura, so ruined Germany was
to be ruled jointly from this site. Of course, by 1969-71, it was
clear that things had not turned out as expected; the building had
become
a sleepy symbol of obsolete policies. Only the air traffic
control center continued to operate from a corner of the
building. It took on new life in 1969
when the four wartime Allies made it the venue for the Four Power
discussions
that led to development of the 1971 treaty establishing the new status
of Berlin, in particular, of West Berlin.
In the early Spring of 1970, I dropped by to take a series of photos
at the gates of the building, as staff prepared for the arrival of ambassadors
of France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States
of America.
Located in the American Sector of Berlin, it was guarded
by Military Police and city police. According to website reader Steve
Combs, himself a former Berlin MP, the MP on the right in the photo on
this page is Kevin Flanigan, 3rd platoon, 287th MP Company, Berlin Brigade - "the Law East of the Elbe" as they were known.
Photo series: Four Power diplomats meet in West
Berlin
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table of contents.
Return to Berlin
1969.