Including such gems as:
Transcript of the Soviet Politburo Meeting on the Crisis in Poland Source: TsKhSD, Fond 89, Opis 42, Delo 6.
http://www.isn.ethz.ch/php/documents/collection_wapa/docs/94_full.pdf
PHP News, 17 May 2005
Dear Madam, dear Sir,
Warsaw Pact Anniversary and Swedish Submarine Question
1) A CARDBOARD CASTLE? AN INSIDE HISTORY OF THE WARSAW PACT, 1955-1991
www.isn.ethz.ch/php/collections/coll_wapa.htm
The PHP is proud to alert you to the recently published comprehensive Warsaw Pact documentary A Cardboard Castle? An Inside History of the Warsaw Pact, 1955- 1991, ed. Vojtech Mastny and Malcolm Byrne (Budapest: CEU Press, 2005). The volume, the product of the PHP's multi-year research effort aimed at bringing together formerly secret records from the archives of the member states of the Soviet-led Cold War alliance, assembles 193 documents in English translation. Top-level communications between the Warsaw Pact leaders, verbatim transcripts of multilateral summit meetings, and lively discussions inside the various party politburos are among the many previously unavailable materials in the collection. Topics covered in depth include:
· The evolution of the pact from stage prop to full-fledged military alliance; · The surprisingly dynamic relations between Moscow and the other capitals of the "fraternal countries," particularly during times of crisis when the Kremlin was pulled in different directions by allies espousing more aggressive or cautious points of view; · The upheavals in Eastern Europe in 1953, 1956, 1968 and 1980-81; · The turmoil - this time induced by the Soviet leadership itself - of the late 1980s, which led to the virtually simultaneous vanishing of the Cold War and the Eastern alliance.
In addition to the CEU Press volume, the PHP offers on its website all documents in their original language and in their entirety. Please navigate the collection, the book preface, and the table of contents at www.isn.ethz.ch/php/collections/coll_wapa.htm.
For additional information, please also visit the website of the National Security Archive at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB154/index.htm.
* * * * *
2) BOOK LAUNCHES A CARDBOARD CASTLE? – VIENNA AND WARSAW, 11 AND 14 MAY 2005
www.isn.ethz.ch/php/conferences/UpcomingEvents/2005_warsaw_vienna.htm
In connection with the international scholarly conference on the Fiftieth anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, held in Vienna on 8-11 May 2005 (), a discussion of A Cardboard Castle marked the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Warsaw Pact, highlighting the immediate historical interrelatedness of the State Treaty and the Warsaw Pact establishment.
A seminar in Warsaw, where the Warsaw Treaty was signed on 14 May 1955, featured a presentation of the book by its two editors, Malcolm Byrne and Vojtech Mastny, followed by reminiscences of the first Polish representative in the Warsaw Pact, General Tadeusz Pióro. Speakers also included: Gen. William E. Odom, former Director, U.S. National Security Agency, Dr. hab. Krzysztof Komorowski, Military Office of Historical Research, Brig. Gen. Leslaw Dudek, Polish representative to the alliance, Prof. dr. hab. Andrzej Paczkowski, Polish Academy of Sciences, Prof. dr. hab. Wojciech Materski, Polish Academy of Sciences.
A third book-launching event will follow on 9 June 2005 in Washington DC. For details, please consult www.isn.ethz.ch/php/conferences/UpcomingEvents/2005_warsaw_vienna.htm.
* * * * *
3) PHP IN THE NEWS – INERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE AND NEUE ZÜRCHER ZEITUNG Two major international newspapers, the International Herald Tribune and the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, on 14 May 2005 ported substantial articles on the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact, authored by Malcolm Byrne and Vojtech Mastny and Anna Locher and Christian Nuenlist respectively. The articles reflect the PHP research focus on the development, characteristics and demise of the Warsaw Pact.
The articles can be found at www.isn.ethz.ch/php/index.htm.
* * * * *
4) SUBMARINES IN SWEDISH WATERS
www.isn.ethz.ch/php/research/AreaStudies/area_studies.htm#1
The PHP is pleased to announce a new round of comments in the debate on the origin and implications of the submarines in Swedish waters during the 1980s. Please read the contributions by Göran R. Wallén and J.J. Widén and Ola Tunander respectively (www.isn.ethz.ch/php/research/AreaStudies/area_studies.htm#1).
* * * * *
5) PREVIEW
In the next few weeks, the PHP intends to go public with
· a revealing military intelligence document, in relation to the Czechoslovak generals oral history collection, · a document collection on Western military liaison missions in Berlin.
Stay tuned!
* * * * *
As ever – we welcome your feedback and hope you enjoy the PHP website!
Sincerely,
Anna Locher and Christian Nuenlist Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich
=30=