Konrad Adenauer's visit to Moscow: The return of German POWs
West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer negotiating the release of 10,000 German POWs from the Soviet Union, 1955.
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Transcript
NARRATOR: September 1955 - Chancellor Adenauer is on the way to Moscow. It's a visit to the lion's den for the government in Bonn. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union is the most formidable adversary of the West. But both sides are willing to negotiate. The Soviets want diplomatic relations. Adenauer demands the return of the last German POW's 10 years after the war.
SERGEJ CHRUSCHTSCHOW: "If you only read Soviet newspapers, Adenauer was a war criminal. For us there was hardly any difference between him and Hitler or the devil."
NARRATOR: Ten thousand former German soldiers are still doing forced labor in Soviet camps. Many died of cold, illness and exhaustion.
SIEGFRIED SUDA: "Your mind kept saying, you're not going to survive this, you're never going home. But still there had to be a little hope that saw to it that you made it anyway."
NARRATOR: Adenauer wants to bring them home. But who will make the first move? The Chancellor sees himself as an equal partner. At first negotiations stall, and threaten to disolve. The atmosphere is icy, according to one transcript, until a joint visit to the Bolshoi Theater. Romeo and Juliet is on the program.
GERD RUGE: "Towards the end, the fathers embrace each other over the bodies of Romeo and Juliet, and at the same time Adenauer and Bulganin stand up and make the same gesture. That was really moving."
NARRATOR: Subsequent discussions are fruitful, agreements reached. Diplomatic relations in exchange for the release of the last German POWs.
CHRUSCHTSCHOW: "We were waiting until Adenauer came. We could have kept them even longer, until the day that he came."
NARRATOR: Many families had been waiting and hoping for 10 long years.
WALTRAUD NICKLAUS: "We saw so much misery, women and mothers carrying signs with the names of their relatives, who weren't amongst those who returned. Or those who did return - those were gripping scenes of homecoming."
NARRATOR: It is the Homecoming of the Ten Thousand.
EBERHARD BECKER: "It's really impossible to describe, when you suddenly see your parents after 12 years and they take you in their arms."
NARRATOR: For many, it is only then that peace could began.
SERGEJ CHRUSCHTSCHOW: "If you only read Soviet newspapers, Adenauer was a war criminal. For us there was hardly any difference between him and Hitler or the devil."
NARRATOR: Ten thousand former German soldiers are still doing forced labor in Soviet camps. Many died of cold, illness and exhaustion.
SIEGFRIED SUDA: "Your mind kept saying, you're not going to survive this, you're never going home. But still there had to be a little hope that saw to it that you made it anyway."
NARRATOR: Adenauer wants to bring them home. But who will make the first move? The Chancellor sees himself as an equal partner. At first negotiations stall, and threaten to disolve. The atmosphere is icy, according to one transcript, until a joint visit to the Bolshoi Theater. Romeo and Juliet is on the program.
GERD RUGE: "Towards the end, the fathers embrace each other over the bodies of Romeo and Juliet, and at the same time Adenauer and Bulganin stand up and make the same gesture. That was really moving."
NARRATOR: Subsequent discussions are fruitful, agreements reached. Diplomatic relations in exchange for the release of the last German POWs.
CHRUSCHTSCHOW: "We were waiting until Adenauer came. We could have kept them even longer, until the day that he came."
NARRATOR: Many families had been waiting and hoping for 10 long years.
WALTRAUD NICKLAUS: "We saw so much misery, women and mothers carrying signs with the names of their relatives, who weren't amongst those who returned. Or those who did return - those were gripping scenes of homecoming."
NARRATOR: It is the Homecoming of the Ten Thousand.
EBERHARD BECKER: "It's really impossible to describe, when you suddenly see your parents after 12 years and they take you in their arms."
NARRATOR: For many, it is only then that peace could began.