Five Months in Berlin

Edgar N. Johnson, Professor of European History at the University of Nebraska, came to the four-power city of Berlin at the beginning of March 1946 to take on important assignments for the American military government. Appointed as Special Assistant by General Lucius D. Clay, Deputy Military Governor, he was simultaneously assigned to act as Political Adviser to the American Commandant of Berlin. Johnson’s letters to his wife, Emily, along with a report written after his stay in Germany, give a detailed account of his five months in the former Reich capital, his encounters with political actors of the occupation and German political and cultural figures, as well as his observations, thoughts, and insights. These records open up a multifaceted panorama of everyday life during occupation and the political reconstruction of Berlin in 1946. In 1946, Edgar N. Johnson, later Professor of European History at the University of Nebraska, served as a political advisor for the American military government in Berlin. In diary-like letters, he described his meetings with important actors in American occupation politics such as General Lucius D. Clay, many representatives of the other occupying powers, and leading German political and cultural figures.