ABSTRACT
Berlin was the flashpoint for superpower conflict throughout the first, volatile years of the Cold War. Not surprisingly, the International Rescue Committee placed an extremely high priority on refugee projects in that divided city, as it deepened its close personal relations with the civilian government of West Berlin. The Committee became intimately involved with clandestine projects in this most sensitive of confrontation zones. Indeed, the West Berlin authorities came to depend on the IRC as a critical link to the United States, both in terms of generating public support and in the cultivation of personal ties to the rich and powerful.
