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.
