[speaking in foreign language] it is beyond belief now, it was beyond belief then. This monstrous tyranny to enslave mankind. This was hitlers way to unify europe. Under one master race for which the weak must be enslaved. Liberal, socialist, democrats, aryan, or nonaryan, dutch, polish, scandinavian or anglosaxon, this was your end if you did not fit. This was a sewer, and the cleansing of that sewer for which modern europe had to evolve. 1945, the war to end the tyranny was like all wars appallingly destructive. Then, as western and eastern armies neared each other across defeated germany, the field radios crackled in russian, louder, louder until, at last, they met at the banks. There democracy from the west and covered his from the east rejoiced and shook hands. For now, our europe was once again a place fit to live in. Now it was up to us, to ourselves and our leaders, to make that europe not just a place fit to live in, but one to be proud of. So began the first of europes peacetime meetings to put the continent to right. In western europe, where destruction had been comparatively light, life resumed some semblance of normality. There, regimentation had been accepted only for the duration. But now, regimentation was something to be done away with as soon as possible, in the good oldfashioned way. I disagree with every word you say, but i defend to the death your right to say it. Elsewhere, however, much had gone forever with nothing to replace it. In the aftermath, a mere existence, where a damaged roof made a palace, a loaf of bread, a banquet. Degradation. The end of selfrespect. A harkening back to the jungle. Here was only a number. Almost a political vacuum. Yet even amid all the appalling problems in the struggle for a vestige of normality, there were some who could look ahead beyond the immediate, be on the roads, to tangible, practical goals. At the conference at the hague, a united europe movement, symbolized by the letter e, gave expression to aspirations, hopes and possible leads. This is not a movement of parties, but a movement of people. It must be all for all. Europe can only be united by their wish and vehement expression of the great majority of all the people, and all the parties, in all the freedom loving countries no matter where they dwell or how they vote. A united europe. The dream of charlemagne, and still a dream. Everywhere, crumbling monuments of suspicion, jealousy and fear. Even the old rhine herself, her banks filled with dragon teeth. Sometimes it was like the rhine, a natural barrier, an invisible line across streets, an invisible line, and an attitude of mind. How could these europeans be united . Here was the blood of many races, nationalities, each with its own tradition and ways of life, not to mention different tongues. As neighbors, they had seemingly little in common, and now they had not only little in common, but little enough anyway. All very well for Winston Churchill to make speeches on unity in 1947. He had selfrespect, enough to eat, and a place in which to live. Unity was well down on the list of priorities. It was supposed to stem from the United Nations, where delegates from east and west had died together, even they were cynical. Though they talked of a settled world, they were talking of neither the same thing nor the same means of achieving it. Now, there was a new power in the world, that of the soviet union, based upon moscow. After 20 years of communism and the battle against hitlers germany, russia was emerging onto the road stage, employing new and disconcerting techniques on the ideas of men, among them marx and lenin. But when ideas must be imposed, for those who cherish freedom, even the ideas themselves become suspect. Until his death in 1953, soviet policy was made by stalin and dictated by him. The annexation of the baltic states, the huge advances of the red armies, had placed vast areas of Eastern Europe under soviet control. There, in countries such as poland, stalin, in signing the peace treaties, had promised his allies to hold free elections. It a virtual political vacuum, with no other party, with no organization worth considering, they had the full support of the occupying red army, and their pressure was relentless. The aim, to complete the peacemaking and to solve the problem of a divided germany. Smiles, flowers. Very glad to be back in moscow again. We shall spend the days ahead of us to make a sound peace which will prevent any future tension and let the whole world live in security. In her new role as a sophisticated western power, russia laid out all facilities. The world must know that this was to give and take, a hammering out. Satisfaction emerging from around the table. Though difficulties abounded for the diplomats of the west, there was endless hope. Americas mr. Marshall talked long enough. Surely, the answers must come. For frances, representative on and slowly did he realize that there were not going to be any answers. For britains representative, only at long last did he come to see that his dream of a sound peace in europe was to be blocked by russias stonewalling. Meanwhile, soviet pressure continues. Greece was not occupied by the red army, yet the communists were Strong Enough to stage a war, a desperate struggle in which the government only kept control with help from the outside. Warimpoverished people were pushed to the limits of hunger and despair. Looking to the slums of europe, one was forced to realize that the real problems stemmed not only from the ravages of war, or political strife, but also from the neglected countries. To save europe from the nazis, millions had died. To save a europe still plagued by malaria, tuberculosis, and every other disease that comes with bad housing and malnutrition, to save a europe much of it not fit, is this what they had died for in normandy, at allemagne, in stalingrad, in the streets of italy and paris . Was this the aftermath they had envisaged . What a heritage. What a europe. In washington, George Marshall made known the principles of the plan that was to bear his name. The situation is critical. But there is no doubt whatever in my mind that if we decide to do this thing, we can do it successfully. A plan whereby europe could help itself by using american dollars as a catalyst between its own seriously degraded currency. In europe, the response was immediate. Statesmen met to examine the plan, among them russias mr. Molotov. But when mr. Molotov became aware of the vast scope of the plan, out he stormed. In moscow, mr. Molotovs attitude was fully supported. Russia though powerful was still too warravaged to give help itself. In these postwar conditions, only one country, the United States had the available resources. This scheme was a generous, heartfelt response to crying human need, and in europe, it was welcomed as such. But for the soviets, the creed was revolution first, rehabilitation afterwards. If people were starving it was the fault of capitalism. Turn to communism, and communism would provide the answer. But it western europe, the answer was yes. A few months later, progress. Last year, mr. Marshall gave our government a new stimulus. We in europe repaired a statement of our pledges and our needs. The United States government and Congress Responded to these needs and passed with generous speed legislation designed to meet them. We have now put up pledges in the solemn obligation, and have devised an organization to help, not only to administer american aid, but also to bring about a permanent, sound european economy. The organization for European Economic cooperation. By its agreement, for instance, holland could import threequarters of the cotton needed to keep her textile looms in production. Britain could receive the carbon black she needed to make the tires for her vital automobile industry. Then there was other equipment for countries such as turkey, to bring their agriculture into line with a lot of their more fortunate neighbors. So the car goes began to move across the atlantic. Food, raw materials. It wasnt only a matter of feeding the hungry or a temporary handout. From chicago, illinois to france, a giant press of steel production, not only to put french mills back on your feet, but also to make them more modern. Then, with marshall aid funds and technical assistance, vast areas of italy, whole islands such as sardinia and cyprus became battlegrounds in the fight against the malarial mosquito. Everywhere, health teams went to grapple with the scourge of centuries. A new hope for europe was read in the eyes of children. The opposition, however, did not view it that way. They claimed that the Marshall Plan was but a scheme to get control of europe and feather the nests of capitalists. Stalin realized that communism would lose its first emotional appeal to the hungry and the have nots. Now, time was no longer on his side. It was in czechoslovakia. The founder of the state, back in 1919, had been a veteran. Now his son, yann, carried on his fathers democratic tradition in collaboration with president benes. The intensely active Czech Communist Party naturally did their best to swing their country charger policy toward the soviet union. With their numbers went before and minister to moscow to discuss his countrys acceptance of marshall aid, only to receive a most emphatic, no. And russia was too powerful a neighbor across. To cross. In prague itself, the pressure mounted further. At first the communists had treated the president with the respect he deserved as head of state. But he was held to be too prowestern. Drastic measures were called for. By a coup detat, the communist party took control of the czech state. The new leaders made their debut in parliament. The president was forced to retire and soon died, brokenhearted, in virtual exile. As they were rejoicing their first day in power, the new leaders took their time off to stand in silence, to pay homage to an absent member of the house. For yann now lay in state after a fall to his death from his window. By accident, suicide, or murder, nobody then knew. This was europe after but a few short years of peace. A democratic western state, czechoslovakia, had gone behind the iron curtain. Could any state now consider itself safe . So, alarmed by the general situation, statesmen of western europe had come together to face facts. With memories only too close to that other field of crisis, waterloo. Only five nations signed the brussels treaty. But as a peacetime commitment to resist further encroachment, it was an historic step. The treaty brought tried and tested warriors to france, for meeting force with force. But where was the force . At the end of the war, the western allies had rapidly demobilized. Soviet russia had maintained its forces, practically on a war footing. The power of the red army was formidable indeed. The next point of tension, berlin. The whole of germany and the city of berlin, had after the war been divided into four zones of occupation, british, french, american, and russian. But the soviets soon established, without the consent of their allies, a separate east german state, claiming berlin as its capital. The government and its russian sponsors didnt want just the part of the city they occupied, they wanted all of it, without waiting for the peace treaty. In august, barely five months after the coup detat in prague, the russians unilaterally decided to isolate western berlin and cut its supply routes which crossed the soviet zone in germany trains, barges, and road traffic were stopped. The alternative was for the west to leave berlin ignominiously, or allow the people in the british, french, and american sectors to starve. The only way in, the sky above. Was it conceivable that so large a city be supplied by air . The west were responsible for almost 2. 5 million people. And to supply a city of this size would mean mounting the biggest airlift of all time, bigger even than anything achieved during the war. The three allied governments of the west decided to try. By so doing, they were taking a calculated risk, for if anyone plane had been found, we would almost certainly had been at war again. From bases in england, france, and the american side of germany, the first planes began to arrive. Stalin remained confident. He assumed that within a matter of weeks, and certainly, when winter came, the west would abandon the attempt. His optimism was not unfounded. Snow and fog made flying increasingly dangerous. 36 allied planes were lost. Shortage of fuel brought berlin factories to a standstill. But there was no stopping now. Week after week, in the winter of 4849, they flew into the city. By april of 1949, it had reached a staggering total of 12,000 tons a day. The life in western berlin was literally maintained by air. In the face of soviet pressure, the security of the west was established. The policy of Standing Firm was vindicated. Was this peace . Was this what they had died for in normandy, alamein, stalingrad, in the hills of italy and the streets of paris . So, in april 1949, with the russians still blockading berlin, 12 nations came together to sign the north atlantic treaty. Thus was born the Atlantic Alliance and n. A. T. O. , its organization for the defense of the west. The beginning of a true system of collective security. Realizing that the treaty brought the United States firmly onto the european scene for the first time in peacetime, the communists reacted to say the least unfavorably. Western europe took this move towards offensive rearmament very soberly. And in spite of communist threats and propaganda, n. A. T. O. s first supreme commander, dwight d. Eisenhower, arrived in paris to take his post. A planned demonstration came to naught. In a temporary headquarters, the military staff of the Alliance Began their task of building the continents defenses. Soldiers of many nations, working together in peace time, because those nations realized that to avert war, the safest thing was to be prepared for it. So, into europes ports came the first weapons to restore the military balance. Along with them, soldiers from across the atlantic, from canada and the United States, here at this time to prevent the governments from falling. And with the airfields mushrooming on the landscape there was much growing on the side, of the nations receiving marshall aid dollars were putting their own currency to good work. Roads, railways, hydroelectric, everywhere, the rattle of chains and concrete. In the factories, there was ever growing roar and bustle. The Marshall Plan was the stimulant, n. A. T. O. Was the shield. In the rhineland city of bonn, workers put finishing touches on a new parliament. To block german reunification, the russians had created an east german state. The west would create a western one. The new administration included many veteran fighters for german freedom. For those of them who had suffered for their beliefs in nazi concentration camps to be members of the first democratic government in their country for over 20 years was reward indeed. Here was the beginning of a new germany. A realization of facts, the fact that several million industrious people, deprived for so long of democratic processes, could not continue without a government of their own choice. Taking the oath, the chancellor of the new west german state. [speaking in foreign language] then, in 1953, Joseph Stalin died. The shock throughout the communist world was profound. The numbed and not a little troubled. Perhaps he had been there so long that the world could never be the same without him. And this was to prove truer than most of them imagined. Now in mot just one face, but many. For those in the west who were not experienced students of russian politics, it was hard to discern who if any held the real reins of power, enough to say that which way it would go was anyones guess. General policy was unchanged. 1955, at a summit Conference Held in geneva to try it again to settle the problems that had divided germany, the results were once again frustration. Faces from the east and west might smile for the cameras, but in truth, this was merely putting a good face on failure. But, though unity between the two house of germany might be a long way off, the rhine was once again a true thoroughfare of europe, europe making its first steps toward unity. By now, in strasbourg, a council of europe was meeting regularly, and at its conferences many european nations, n. A. T. O. Members and others discussed their continents future. The council had no executive powers, and its members could only advise the governments of the general trend of its thinking. A good start, but no solution. Yet, in fact, the solutions were easier than anyone imagined. Time did not wait for a political solution. Political so. It was the needs of trade and a higher standard of living that wall. To destroy the it started with iron and steel. From them, came the 1870, 19 14, 1939. Step by one agreement, all were brought into the European Community of coal and steel. The dream of friendss of foreign minister turned into reality. In 1952 in the city of luxembourg, the Community Set up its headquarters. There, six western european nations cooperated to prevent overlapping wasteful competition to unrealistic prices, establish in this field a common market. A phrase the world was take your more of. Ir reasons were put down were purely economical. A handful of practical men had unityore for european than the blood of centuries. Meanwhile at nato headquarters , in paris, equally significant moves had been made. By general agreement of all the nato nations, the federal republic of germany had been invited to sign the north atlantic treaty and thus become their 15th ally. In 1955, this seemed merely a logical step. But in hindsight, it was a milestone of history. Henceforth in the streets of western german cities, there were still to be seen men and women in alien uniform. But now, they were there not as occupiers in the defeated state, but as allies to help safeguard the peace. A western germany, within nato, made defense along the iron curtain a practical proposition. With growing western strength, the old fears of infiltration and intimidation by the east, were fast waning. Now, millions whose continent had given so much to the world were free to get on with , vanishing needs and wants. To get on with the real business of life. Now it would seem the east was , faced with a civil choice. Risk another world war, or talk across the conference table. So much for the first so went the first 10 years of the post war world. Do you remember when harry lime sidled across vie