Berlin before the Wall

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Berlin is divided into four sectors: the Americans, Russians, British and French are in charge of the city.

The Cold War has become a part of everyday life – for both East and West.

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Berlin-West

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1

latitude
52.500287

longitude
13.316263
Berlin-Ost

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1

latitude
52.5158874

longitude
13.3999445

date

1961
Commuting between East and West

West Berlin 1961: political freedom, modest prosperity. In East Berlin: SED Socialism is working hand-in-hand with the Soviet occupation. Two systems – two currencies – one city. Wolfgang Hermann commuted from East to West every day.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, Politics, West, East

01:02
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June 15, 1961
"Nobody has any intention of building a wall"

"West Berlin is hosting the first German-American Festival. However, rumours are circulating that East Berlin is planning to close its borders. The Western world watches nervously to see what fate awaits the city. People have been leaving the GDR in their thousands and continue to flee. Cross-border commuters – Berliners who work in the West of the city, but live in the East – are being subjected to ever-tighter controls. At the same time, GDR head of state Walter Ulbricht faces journalists from all over the world asking about the status of West Berlin at an international press conference. Annemarie Doherr from the Frankfurter Rundschau asks Ulbricht if he believes that creating a free city will involve building a state border at the Brandenburg Gate. Ulbricht gives the following reply: ""I understand your question in this way: that there are people in West Germany who want us to mobilise the construction workers of the GDR capital to build a wall. Am I right? I am not aware of any such plans. Most of the capital's construction workers are busy building flats and their manpower is being put to full use in these projects. Nobody has any intention of building a wall." A few weeks later, events in Berlin reveal his statement to be a lie. On 13 August 1961 the GDR starts building a wall that will divide East and West for the next 28 years.

Politics, West, East

01:16
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1961
Marienfelde refugee transit camp

Hundreds of thousands of refugees leave the GDR. By 1960, 2.97 million people have already left East Germany. Marienfelde refugee transit camp in West Berlin is often their first port of call. Ursula Hagemann worked as a nurse at the camp and talks about her experiences there in 1961. She remembers how many a refugee from ""the other side"" was disappointed by the camp's simple facilities and cramped conditions. After the Wall is built, the flood of refugees dries up. There will not be another influx from the East until the mid 1980s.

Border, Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, West

01:26
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1961
House-keeping day and men ironing

Everyday life in divided Berlin: The introduction of housekeeping days and ironing courses for men aims to promote gender equality.

Everyday Life, West, East

00:50
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August 13, 1961
The Wall goes up

On 13 August 1961 work begins to construct the Wall. The division of East and West shocks Berliners and the Western world. They are left stunned as barbed wire and barricades carve the city in half and tear families apart. The mayor of Berlin is also shaken by events and makes the following statement: "The wall to a concentration camp is now cutting through the heart of Berlin." The number of refugees soared in the week before the Wall went up. In July 1961, 30,415 people applied for emergency accommodation. Over Easter alone, 4,000 people entered the transit camp – the first port of call for those who have no relatives in the West. The powers-that-be in the GDR have decided to put a stop to the mass exodus of its citizens. At first, the Western allies do not react to the closing of the border, as the barricades do not infringe their rights.

Border, Escaping, Politics, West, East

01:48
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August 13, 1961
The end of the line at the Wall

On 13 August 1961 S-bahn trains reached the end of the line at the Wall. Manfred Doro worked at Falkensee train station for 47 years and was station master from 1961. He has kept a historic document from that time: the GDR Transport Ministry's order the day the Wall went up to terminate all S-bahn trains heading to Berlin. The border in Berlin ran for a total of 155 kilometres; the section stretching around the outer edge of West Berlin (separating the city from Brandenburg in East Germany) measured 112 kilometres. This film looks at how people living in Brandenburg experienced the Wall going up and what it was like to live in its shadow.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, East

03:04
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August 13, 1961
Farming in the border zone

Uwe Damm and Horst Gäbert used to work on Großbeeren state-owned farm, which owned arable land by the Wall. A quarter of the land belonging to the Agricultural Production Cooperative (LPG) was located in the border zone. As a result, employees required special permits and armed border guards sometimes sat with them on their tractors as they worked. The border in Berlin ran for a total of 155 kilometres; the section stretching around the outer edge of West Berlin (separating the city from Brandenburg in East Germany) measured 112 kilometres. This film looks at how people living in Brandenburg experienced the Wall going up and what it was like to live in its shadow.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, East

03:19
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August 13, 1961
Secret sand

In March 1963, 11-year-old Detlef Aagard, his parents and ten other people flee from Glienicke/Nordbahn in the GDR to West Berlin. They escape through a tunnel that starts in the living room of his parents’ house, which at the time stood right next to the border. As they dug the tunnel, Detlef’s family had to work out how to conceal several tonnes of sand around the house. The border in Berlin ran for a total of 155 kilometres; the section stretching around the outer edge of West Berlin (separating the city from Brandenburg in East Germany) measured 112 kilometres. This film looks at how people living in Brandenburg experienced the Wall going up and what it was like to live in its shadow.

Border, Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, East

03:37
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August 13, 1961
The church in the border zone

Norbert Greger was just a boy when he attended his first service at the Church of the Redeemer in Sacrow, Potsdam, in the 1950s. He is overjoyed when, after years of being inaccessible because of the Wall, the church reopens on Christmas Eve 1989. The border in Berlin ran for a total of 155 kilometres; the section stretching around the outer edge of West Berlin (separating the city from Brandenburg in East Germany) measured 112 kilometres. This film looks at how people living in Brandenburg experienced the Wall going up and what it was like to live in its shadow.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, East

03:27
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August 13, 1961
Inspecting trees in the border zone

During the days of the GDR, Georg Heinze was living in Kleinmachnow and working as a nature conservationist. He had a pass that allowed him to enter the border zone and assess the health of the trees there. But it wasn’t until October 1989 that he was allowed to go right up to the border fortifications. The border in Berlin ran for a total of 155 kilometres; the section stretching around the outer edge of West Berlin (separating the city from Brandenburg in East Germany) measured 112 kilometres. This film looks at how people living in Brandenburg experienced the Wall going up and what it was like to live in its shadow.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, East

02:52
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1967
Haute couture and miniskirts

Fourteen Berlin fashion houses showcase their collections in Paris, Tel Aviv, Moscow and at the World Fair in Montreal. The miniskirt is all the rage in Berlin.

Everyday Life, Culture, West

00:50
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1964
Driving in East and West

Coin-operated petrol pumps go into operation in the West and driving schools are equipped with car simulators. The Trabant 601 hits the road in East Berlin.

Everyday Life, West, East

01:06
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1962
Supply of goods in East and West

Everyday life for Berliners in the divided city: customers in the West are flocking to self-service stores. In East Berlin, however, shoppers are often met with empty shelves in 1962.

Everyday Life, West, East

01:02
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1964
Beat music and baby classes

Gender roles are changing. In West Berlin, women are dancing on their own to beat music and fathers-to-be are taking baby courses organised by the Red Cross.

Everyday Life, Culture, West

01:02
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1961
House-keeping day and men ironing

Everyday life in divided Berlin: The introduction of housekeeping days and ironing courses for men aims to promote gender equality.

Everyday Life, West, East

00:50
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1977
The German Autumn

In 1977, during what became known as the German Autumn, the RAF terrorist group plunges West Germany into turmoil. The West Berlin police get involved in helping to hunt down the people who kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer, president of an employers’ association. Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin, two RAF terrorists being held in custody, commit suicide when they hear that the hostages on a hijacked Lufthansa plane have been freed in Mogadishu, Somalia. Birgit Roehl from West Berlin was one of the 86 hostages freed that day. On 19 October, the body of Hanns Martin Schleyer is found. He was murdered by the RAF.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West

01:11
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1963
Food from vending machines

Modernisation continues unabated. The latest trend in West Berlin: the "silent vendor". Staff canteens are selling food in vending machines and business is booming...

Everyday Life, West

00:41
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August 13, 1962
First anniversary of the Wall

In the year since the Wall went up, 20 people have died trying to escape to the West. West Berliners fall silent for three minutes at midday on 13 August 1962 to commemorate the Wall’s victims. Afterwards they protest by honking their horns. Horst Materna describes how many Berliners had accepted the Wall and already saw it as a part of everyday life.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West

00:55
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1967
Kommune 1 and the extraparliamentary opposition

In January 1967 Fritz Teufel and almost a dozen other students found the living community Kommune Eins in West Berlin. It has emerged from the APO, the student movement's extraparliamentary opposition. The students aim for nothing less than revolutionising the way they live and love. How they'll achieve this is still unclear. Their attempts to explore an alternative model to the conservative society of the day shock ordinary citizens. "Kommune 1" hits the headlines with its plans to carry out a "pudding assassination" on US Vice-President Humphrey, who visits West Berlin in April 1967. German student Detlef Michel was one of the original communards.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, Politics, Opposition, West

02:37
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October 1973
The oil crisis hits Berlin

The oil embargo of 1973 was a politically motivated crisis. OPEC decided to cut oil production by approximately five percent. The aim was to put pressure on Western nations who were supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War in October 1973. On 17 October 1973 the price of oil rose from around three US dollars per barrel (159 litres) to over five dollars, equivalent to an increase of approximately 70 percent. The oil crisis also had an impact on West Berlin, causing petrol shortages and rationing. The Federal Government even introduced car-free Sundays.

Politics, Culture

03:01
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