Allied Envoys Defy E. Germans, Won’t Show Passports in Berlin

The allied powers Tuesday sent diplomats from East Berlin to West Berlin in a show of defiance against an East German ruling that they have to present passports to cross the divided former capital of Germany.

The U.S., British and French diplomats presented only their identity cards issued by the East Germans and crossed into West Berlin without incident, they said. Some of the diplomats were told that they would have to present their passports if they were to cross in the future.

The allies object to the passport requirement because it implies that the division between the two sectors of the city is an international border.

Nevertheless, they are trying to keep the new restrictions announced last Thursday by the East German authorities from blowing up into an international incident, sources here said.

One allied source in Berlin indicated Tuesday that the three Western occupying powers might have to break off diplomatic relations with East Germany “as a last resort” if the harassment was kept up. But U.S. Embassy sources in Bonn quickly denied there were any plans or consultations designed to sever relations with the East German regime.

“No consideration is being given to such a step,” a U.S. Embassy statement said.

The allies said diplomatic cars crossed at the Checkpoint Charlie, Invalidenstrasse and Bornholmerstrasse crossings from East to West Berlin, and the officials returned the same way without incident Tuesday.

Allied officials said they are puzzled about the new restrictions but added that they might be a result of the criticism of East Germany for allowing diplomats in some Arab embassies in East Berlin to cross to West Berlin on terrorist missions. The Associated Press quoted an East German Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that “the new regulation is connected to Western requests to (East Germany) to take measures to support the fight against terrorism.”

Other sources said that the East Germans might again be attempting to establish the boundary between East and West Berlin as a recognized international frontier. The United States, Britain and France continue to maintain that, in the absence of an overall post-World War II peace treaty, Berlin remains an international city.

The allies insist on this legal nicety, although the old Soviet zone has been sealed off by the Berlin Wall and that area declared the capital of East Germany.

The allies do not acknowledge that East Berlin is a capital, though they have diplomatic missions based there that are accredited to East Germany.

Thus, the three Western wartime allies insist they have the right to free passage across the city and that this right has been made part of the status quo arrangement, with only identity cards needed for crossing.

The issue of whether allied diplomats should present passports or identity cards may appear minor, but any change in the status quo is regarded by Washington, London and Paris as an infringement of occupation rights guaranteed in the original agreements concerning access to Berlin.