A tricky journey to school

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On 13 August 1961 Hildegard Köppel lived in Prenzlauer Berg in East Berlin but went to school in Charlottenburg in the West. As a result, she often turned up at class without her history book after it had been confiscated at the border on her way to school.

In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wall going up, the rbb interviewed Berliners to find out what the division of the city meant to them. The Wall had a profound impact on the way each person went about their daily lives - no matter what side they found themselves on. Overnight people were cut off from their friends and relatives, from their offices, factories and schools, and from places where they enjoyed spending their leisure time. The division of the city tore families apart, ruptured biographies and claimed many lives.

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Berlin-Charlottenburg

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1

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52.518805

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13.303492
Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg

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1

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52.5392

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13.4242

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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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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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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
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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January 01, 1961
Berlin before the Wall

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.

Border, Everyday Life, Politics, West, East

00:35
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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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June 11, 1982
Reagan visits West Berlin

When President Ronald Reagan visits West Berlin in 1982, protestors take to the street to demonstrate for disarmament and peace. But rather than focus on phasing out weapons and bringing East and West closer together, Reagan uses his speech to call for a build-up of military power. Hand-picked Berliners welcome Reagan as he arrives at Tempelhof airport. Another carefully selected crowd wait to greet him at Charlottenburg Palace, where he delivers his now-famous words: “Berlin bleibt doch Berlin. Berlin is still Berlin.” That evening, demonstrations against America’s arms policy tip over into rioting on the streets of West Berlin.

Politics, West

01:58
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1985
Princess Diana visits Berlin

Diana, Princess of Wales, visits West Berlin. She is the honorary colonel-in-chief of the Royal Hampshire Regiment.

Politics, West

00:34
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June 02, 1967
The death of Benno Ohnesorg

The Shah of Persia visits to West Berlin. During a demonstration against the Shah, 26-year-old student Benno Ohnesorg is shot and killed by a policeman in front of the Deutsche Oper on Bismarckstrasse. Later that year, the policeman is tried and acquitted. Ohnesorg's death is viewed as a pivotal moment in West Germany's post-war history. The events of 2 June 1967 radicalise the student movement, leading to the protests of "sixty-eight". Detlef Michel, who was briefly a member of Kommune 1, talks about that fateful day.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, Opposition, West

02:36
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November 04, 1968
The Battle of Tegeler Weg

The Battle of Tegeler Weg breaks out during a court hearing against Horst Mahler, the lawyer of the APO, marking the violent climax of the extraparliamentary opposition movement. Charges have been brought against Mahler for his involvement in the protests at the Springer publishing house on 11 April 1968, the evening of the assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke. The case sparks violent clashes between students and the police on Tegeler Weg, resulting in 130 injured police officers and 22 injured protesters. The incident is viewed as a watershed in the history of the APO – the end of a peaceful movement.

Politics, Opposition, West

00:46
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1982
Smog alert in West Berlin

West Berlin issues several smog alerts in 1982. Citizens are told that, due to high levels of carbon and sulphur dioxide, they should leave their cars at home, keep windows closed and avoid exercising outside. Smog hits Berlin whenever the wind blows from the southeast and brings pollution over from Czechoslovakia and the GDR’s chemical plants located just outside the city. East Berlin, however, acts as if nothing is wrong. As far as the official line is concerned, there is no smog.

Everyday Life, West, East

00:31
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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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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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1968
Introduction of transit visas

In 1968 West Berliners travel on holiday by long-distance coach. But this method of transport is not without its drawbacks: in mid-June 1968 the GDR introduces a mandatory passport and visa fee for transit traffic between Berlin (West) and the Federal Republic. The charge of five West German marks per person will give a significant boost to the GDR's foreign currency reserves.

Border, Politics, West, East

01:13
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April 02, 1979
Congress centre opens

The International Congress Centre (ICC) opens in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, West Berlin. It is one of the biggest congress centres in the world. The building (320 metres long, 80 metres wide and 40 metres high) was designed by Berlin architects Ralf Schüler and Ursulina Schüler-Witte. It cost 924 million Deutsche marks and took just four years to build. With 80 conference halls and rooms for 20 to 9,100 guests, multifunctional facilities, state-of-the-art technology, and a wide range of services, the ICC is ideal for all kinds of conferences and events. Harald Juhnke, a well-known Berlin entertainer, is extremely impressed.

Everyday Life, West

01:25
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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

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