ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
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The first Soviet Ambassador <strong>for</strong> whom I interpreted was Piotr Abrassimov, who was a<br />
Berlin institution. He was a very senior Soviet Ambassador, an expert on Berlin who had<br />
negotiated the 1971 Quadripartite Agreement. After he departed, he was replaced in East<br />
Berlin by Vyacheslav Kochemasov, a less influential Ambassador <strong>for</strong> whom I also<br />
interpreted at these lunches. The lunches were fun to do, although I learned that<br />
interpreters rarely get a chance to eat <strong>and</strong> should not even try. The amazing thing about<br />
the lunches, however, was how little substance was actually discussed between the two<br />
Ambassadors. To be sure, there were always a few points that we wanted Arthur Burns to<br />
raise, <strong>and</strong> the Soviets would have their counterpoints if we raised our points, but by <strong>and</strong><br />
large the lunches were social events. This was perhaps a reflection of how stable the<br />
situation around Berlin had become.<br />
Q: Were you picking up any feel about East Germany from the place where you sat, any<br />
sense that the East German government was having a hard time trying to control the<br />
internal situation in the GDR?<br />
PERINA: We didn't really sense that <strong>for</strong> the simple reason that we tried to avoid dealing<br />
with the East Germans. That was the job of our Embassy in East Berlin, <strong>and</strong> we tried to<br />
stick to dealing with the Soviets <strong>and</strong> with the West Germans. We dealt with the West<br />
Germans because we recognized that Berlin was a German city <strong>and</strong> the occupation would<br />
someday end, but technically we had sovereignty in West Berlin <strong>and</strong> only delegated the<br />
governing of the city to the Germans. My second job in Berlin, during the last two years<br />
of my tour, was in fact what was called the “Senate Liaison Officer.” This was the liaison<br />
to the West Berlin government. I had an office <strong>and</strong> permanent staff in the West Berlin<br />
city hall, as did my French <strong>and</strong> British counterparts. The German city government had to<br />
regularly in<strong>for</strong>m us of developments, <strong>and</strong> we—that is the Allies—had to concur with<br />
legislation passed by the Berlin senate. Of course, <strong>for</strong> the most part we did, <strong>and</strong> a lot of<br />
this had become routinized but it was still a unique situation <strong>for</strong> a diplomat.<br />
Another example of this was that as Protocol Officer I <strong>and</strong> my French <strong>and</strong> British<br />
counterparts always went to the airport to greet the West German President whenever he<br />
came to Berlin <strong>and</strong> to say good-bye when he was leaving. This was to make the point that<br />
he was visiting somewhere that was not a part of West Germany, <strong>and</strong> that we the Allies<br />
were in fact the hosts in Berlin. The Presidents, who in my time were Richard von<br />
Weizsacker <strong>and</strong> Karl Carstens, were always very polite <strong>and</strong> cordial as we shook h<strong>and</strong>s<br />
but they must have hated this ritualistic reminder that Berlin was not a part of their<br />
country. Actually, the Protocol Officers hated it as well as a real nuisance, but it was a<br />
Berlin tradition.<br />
But the Bonn government of course played a very large role in Berlin <strong>and</strong> was the de<br />
facto government. One interesting aspect of this was the great rivalry in Berlin between<br />
the two Germanys—East <strong>and</strong> West. The West Germans put a huge amount of money into<br />
Berlin to keep the city prosperous, deter people from leaving <strong>and</strong> build this Western<br />
showcase in the middle of the GDR. Much of the city <strong>and</strong> its cultural life were subsidized<br />
by Bonn. This included everything from the universities to the opera, theater <strong>and</strong><br />
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