1958 helicopter incident
In the 1958 helicopter incident, referred to in English-language publications and contemporary media as a helicopter incident , a Sikorsky S-55 helicopter , also known as the H-19 Chickasaw, flew the US Army stationed in West Germany , which was facing a thunderstorm and also lost radio contact with the ground station on June 7, 1958 in the airspace of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The helicopter had to make an emergency landing near today's federal motorway 72 in a forest clearing near Irfersgrün near Lengenfeld in the Karl-Marx-Stadt district due to a lack of fuel. The helicopter was damaged in the process. The originally planned route of the flight was to lead from Frankfurt am Main to the Grafenwöhr military training area in Upper Palatinate.
The crew, consisting of nine soldiers from the 3rd US Armored Division , including eight officers including the division's artillery chief of staff and a sergeant, was interned by the GDR authorities in a villa in Dresden . The helicopter was confiscated and kept on the grounds of the infantry officers' school of the National People's Army (NVA) in Plauen and later returned without rotor blades and engine. After negotiations conducted by representatives of the German Red Cross of the GDR and the American Red Cross , the soldiers were released around six weeks later on July 19, 1958 at the Töpen-Juchhöh border crossing .
Historical meaning
The incident, which occurred in the early stages of the Cold War , gained political and diplomatic significance as the GDR government attempted to officially negotiate with the United States government about a release and thereby abandoning the policy of non-recognition of the GDR by the US to reach. For this reason, the relevant state institutions of the GDR demanded negotiations at the highest possible level, which the US authorities refused to accept. The principle should be upheld that the GDR was not to be granted any semblance of state existence. On the contrary, the US government, which feared the creation of a precedent in official talks with the GDR leadership, turned to the Soviet authorities repeatedly in order to secure the release of the soldiers through negotiations with the Soviet Union. With reference to the sovereignty of the GDR, this refused to have its own jurisdiction.
The US authorities involved were under pressure in their own country regarding their attitude from the public, who expected an early release and showed little understanding for the diplomatic problems involved. They finally dispatched an army officer to act as negotiator, for whom the GDR authorities demanded diplomatic authorization from the American State Department . The Deputy Foreign Minister Otto Winzer led the negotiations for the GDR . After the American representative had refused to sign a document on the handover, despite subsequent authorization, it was released in July 1958 after talks between representatives of the national Red Cross societies of both countries. The DRK of the GDR was represented by its president Werner Ludwig , the American Red Cross by its European director Robert Wilson. The reference in the corresponding agreement and the handover protocol that Wilson acted “on behalf of the President of the American Red Cross authorized by the government of the United States of America” was a political and diplomatic success for the GDR government, on the other hand but also well below the original demands for negotiations at the highest possible level.
The GDR charged the USA around 7,300 German marks for accommodation, food and transport for the soldiers . The helicopter's engine ended up in the Military History Museum in Dresden , where it was exhibited to the public from 1972 with the incorrect information “Part of a US helicopter shot down over Vietnam”.
literature
- Anjana Buckow: Between Propaganda and Realpolitik: The USA and the Soviet-occupied part of Germany 1945–1955. Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-515-08261-1 , pp. 533-536
- Chris Tudda: The Truth is Our Weapon: The Rhetorical Diplomacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles. LSU Press, Baton Rouge 2006, ISBN 0-8071-3140-7 , pp. 105/106
- Russell D. Buhite: Lives at Risk: Hostages and Victims in American Foreign Policy. Rowman & Littlefield, Wilmington 1995, ISBN 0-8420-2553-7 , p. 210
- Bernd Biedermann, Wolfgang Kerner: War in the sky, air provocations, espionage flights, aircraft hijackings Steffen Verlag, Friedland 2014, ISBN 978-3-942477-80-2 , pp. 22-25
- Hans-Georg Löffler: US Army helicopter in custody of the NVA - an almost forgotten episode from the Cold War era. In: Information booklet of the working group on the history of the NVA and integration of former NVA members in society and the Bundeswehr in the East Regional Executive Committee of the DBwV. No. 20 of November 2007; aggi-info.de (PDF; 76 kB)
Individual evidence
- ^ Statement from the then Capt. Frank Athanason in: The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, COLONEL FRANK ATHANASON, PDF document p. 16, accessed October 6, 2014
- ↑ Review of the source ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Hans-Georg Löffler: US Army helicopter in custody of the NVA, PDF document p. 4, accessed October 6, 2014
