FREEDOM BRIDGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000200030060-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 1999
• Sequence Number: 60
• Publication Date: February 1, 1962
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

Meeting in the tniddlr: On the (;lierticke bridge
Abel (left) watt exchanged for Pt)."t'itit (right)
FREEDOM BRIDGE.
It is rarely the fate of one' cndiwuy chosen because he could positive y idea-
man I n 1x~come -tile liv rug yth'bpf of both 'tiff' Francis f at'*? PbWets. `Rice of the
an international' crisis and' 'itn "tutern'a- others were bringing'the SiMet spy W.
tional gesture of goodwill. Yet such was Rudolf Abel to Berlin in he same plan '
the clestinvof a chubby ymmg Virginian the-would tilke 'oweif'home.
I ranri:t C.s y Poweor. The rendezvous points .tire Clie i-
1 When 'Pow-em' U-2 plane trashed in; icke bridge which allows,trance into'.
Russia on May 1, 1 , ifbrotW dtwvn , the U.S. soctnr of I#ettjnr directly,'frodi
with it all hopes of a succfssl?in sumttrf'i Sovietioecrtpied , Y. and not
conference between Nikita 3:'"1Kllt[ia ft }n~ E$st lg~rlfrt. It lf .af9c- Ftten steel
ehchev "and President Eisenbe wei. "T;ast shset'tire (rearing a no*"i~~f-f Zorn plaques-:
(week, as Powers crossed the'?vvhifte1irid-i "Bridge of Freedom"-which was placed
ri `M
it the cente of a Berlhbddg'e';''he . t..hl, l ,t"U,.,;j
vetoed it human peace offering from
Khri)sc?hchev to President Kennedy.
For Powers himself, an unsvittfng and
unwilling carrier of old quarrels and new
irnpes, Iasi week's events meant' simply
i tvNlorn after two years of ' fear" and''
-it.ne and imprisonment. The rttome'nt
of freedom taint (luickly-bvit It'had in
,olvi?tl a complex 'operation.
If, the Bonn suburb of Mchlem, one
(TA agent told his secretary to cancel
dl q)pohitments for four days and then
-k ' ifl by plane to Berlin. At almost the
?,.oot? time, orders were being cut' iu the
room at U.S. Air Force hea& u,u'
ter in Wiochaden for two vpbc4al flights,
r iitt? was a Convair flight tit and from
I;e rin,; the other was a return``iransj$d t
iirit! to the US. Also converging on I3er-
Irri ;,rough differtslt routes were at least
.??t? "titer CIA agents from '1Fr:nkfurt
?r,! "A:--Amgton. One of them had been
:ill.trsih to X,
1^ -gir lie
y
tI
i
gr+oeiiuuiforrns. Across tli titter tiff the
bridge $s a 6-inch white st ere tire,
gx The first tti ~' t3 ". at ''
Ai pet sedan, Wfti - rid it iproai'I
thicfulglt mists sI ,tg the Kocm rsirassr 1W.1
: drizzle of rain,, U.S. c#'6 and t w,
twell 'Auierictins at a bridge gill
tIteYA` tvtts'.Cohir'al"' ~i, oiI ,aga'irrtlk',"
chi'' gld. rt~ a
At &3() a`.m tla ttsinea d'ir.e,.,:
up. The Bnssta..liae~rrrtl; 1x n,I!ing
Powers r,?ith theta. ? a,+e CIA roan as-
signed to identify Powers pi(-kot! wit his
trill, at SU vnrdr. Puvvers u.e flank -t! l,v
guards and ?twe)re It 1411 Kit :Uxt etirtV
blue pants'ttndrr his vy svtitter cirtit.
The iexchatige was a nnhediate. For
twenty mtititt'!'s, t F 'o f groups waited
silently wliilc'vne The Anyericans tele-
phoned t&thc'mgfu In Urnssing -point
on the;,.1P fe fdlstrai""Checlpoint
C Iiaflie "te Mire, thG+~East Cermans
were JI a second 'Ame#fcaii in-
cltided ii trap, 28-year-old' Frederic
L. ~'rqi 'bite `scat was f List Brea} ing
t rough tb~` ifilst 'over the Ravel when
'of'?X'ryar's' release. '
gpogps` then walked' from their
retspeCtive' ends of the bridge and met
at the white line in' the midclfe. Tyiere
they paused and one of the Ame?riruns,
glancing 'at levers' trousers, attempted
a wan wisoemek: "Look at those Russian
striped pantk."
The twd priscmers crossed the border
simultaneously. In four crisp steps, .Abel
xtepprd over the line and was promptly
swallowed'up in a group of outsize Sosiet
civilians swathed in box-cut greatcoats.
A 'U.S. civilian reached across the Ii++e.
tc ereht+d Powers on the Shoulder. The
American, seemed nervous but rnlnaget,
a faint grin: Within Minutes he ~? :, .tir--
borne from 'Berlin to Wiersbr?, din. 7 hers'
lie spent Just twelve minutes or, the
ground before his, waiting tran, n)rt
roart'!et off for the U.S.
For the U.S., which felt re~p,atsit+i ,ti
if m A math(' admiration) for its till r-t-d
spy, the, exchange was the tvtltnir,;tt'.n
tit aileApprimmed Far Release 4999109107 - ,,
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