Page 311

DOCUMENTS 0O- GERMANY, 19 4 4-5 9         311
tivities from Western Berlin against the German Democratic Repub-
lic, against the Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Treaty countries.
On top of all this, they have the right of unrestricted communication
between Berlin and Western Germany through the air space, by the
railways, highways and waterways of the German Democratic Repub-
liG, a state which they do not even want to recognise.
The question arises: Who stands to benefit from this situation a.nd_
why Qhave the United States, Frano and Britain not violated this-
of the quadripartite agrem aent ,a well? The answer is clear:
have no intention of violating this -part of the Pottsdam Agreement.
On the contrary, they cling to it, for the agreement on Berlin is ad-
vantageous to the western powers and to them alone. The western
powers, naturally, are not averse to perpetuating such privileges of
"allies" for ever, even though they have long demolished the legal
basis
for their presence in Berlin.
Is it not time for us to draw appropriate conclusions from the fact
that the key items of the Potsdam Agreement concerning the mainte-
nance of peace in Europe and, consequently, throughout the world,
have been violated, and that certain forces continue to nurture Ger-
man militarism, prompting it in the direction in which it was pushed
before the Second World War, that is, against the East? Is it not
time for us to reconsider our attitude to this part of the Potsd44
Agreement and to denounce it? The time has obviously arrived f
the signatories of the Potsdam Agreement to renounce the remnants
of the occupation regime in Berlin and thereby make it possible to
create a normal situation in the capital of the German Democratic
Republic. The Soviet Union, for its part, would hand over to the
sovereign German Democratic Republic the functions in Berlin that
are still exercised by Soviet agencies. This, I think, would be the
correct thing to do.
Let the United States, France and Britain themselves build their
relations with the German Democratic Republic, let them reach agree-
ment with it themselves if they are interested in any questions con-
cerning Berlin. As for the Soviet Union, we shall sacredly honour
our obligations as an ally of the German Democratic Republic-
obligations which stem from the Warsaw Treaty and which we have
repeatedly reaffirmed to the German Democratic Republic. If any
forces of aggression attack the German Democratic Republic, which
is a full-fledged member of the Warsaw Treaty we shall regard this
as an attack on the Soviet Union, on all the Warsaw Treaty countries
We shall then rise in defence of the German Democratic Republic,
and this will mean defence of the vital security interests of the Soviet
Union, of the entire socialist camp, and of the cause of world peace.
The western powers which, in their time, signed the Potsdam Agree-
ment are today working to worsen the international situation, to en-
courage the growing militarist tendencies of German revenge-seeker&,
that is, they support all that the Potsdam Agreement denounced.
They have long since been guided by the aggressive North Atlantic
Treaty and not by the Potsdam Agreement.
They have violated the Potsdam Agreement repeatedly and with
impunity, while we remain loyal to it as if nothing had changed.
We have every reason to set ourselves free from obligations under