Expansion of the border fortifications

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The Wall is refortified. The restricted zone behind the Wall is extended and surrounded by barbed wire and anti-tank trenches. A special permit is now required to enter the border area. The chances of escaping grow ever slimmer in 1963.

Work is also underway on West Berlin’s sector border. The authorities install markers in the Havel Lakes to alert and protect West Berlin's water sports enthusiasts.

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Havel

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25

latitude
52.43556999

longitude
13.11636257
Berlin, Potsdamer Platz

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5

latitude
52.5095255

longitude
13.3755959

date

June 26, 1963
Kennedy and Khrushchev in Berlin

The Cold War is raging. US President John F. Kennedy arrives in West Berlin in the morning of 26 June 1963. As he drives through the walled-in city, excited Berliners line the streets and give him a rapturous welcome. Children are given the day off school and businesses are closed. A reported 1.5 million people have come out to get a glimpse of Kennedy. His visit culminates with a speech in front of Schöneberg Town Hall, at that time the official seat of Berlin's mayor Willy Brandt and his successors. It is here that the young president and bearer of hope for West Berliners utters the legendary words "ich bin ein Berliner" to huge applause and cheers from the crowd. Just two days after Kennedy, the GDR authorities retaliate by inviting Kremlin leader Nikita Khrushchev on a state visit to East Berlin. But the East Berliners' enthusiasm for Khrushchev is muted in comparison...

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

03:59
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1963
Bowling, the new trend

Berliners get on with their day-to-day life in the walled-in city. Despite the gloomy situation, they still find plenty of ways to enjoy their leisure time. A new sport is all the rage in 1963: bowling. Played by both East and West Berliners – albeit using slightly different technology.

Everyday Life, West, East

00:29
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December 27, 1962
An escape fit for the circus

As a fireman in West Berlin, Werner Grützmann is often called out to the border between East and West. These operations generally involve him and his colleagues holding out rescue nets for East Berliners escaping by jumping out of windows. Just before Christmas in 1962, his unit is sent to Teltow Canal to respond to an unusual call for help. 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.

Border, Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, West

04:00
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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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August 17, 1962
Peter Fechter dies trying to escape

Eighteen-year-old Peter Fechter is shot while trying to escape near Checkpoint Charlie. US soldiers, West Berlin police and GDR border guards fail to come to the rescue of the dying man. He bleeds to death in the death strip. Crowds of people gather on both sides, but can do nothing but stand by and watch as he dies. That evening, thousands of West Berliners take to the streets to protest against the Wall. The mayor of Berlin, Willy Brandt, urges calm. By November 1989, at least 136 people will have died at the Wall. Margit Hosseini talks about what she experienced at Checkpoint Charlie on 17 August.

Border, Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, West, East

02:13
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1963
Hertha in the Bundesliga

Berliners on both sides of the Iron Curtain share a passion for football. West Berliners' pride and joy: the club Hertha BSC. The “Champions of the Berlin City League” have been promoted to the new Bundesliga. As manager and vice president of the club, Wolfgang Holst helped Hertha get in the Bundesliga. However, Wolfgang recalls how the Berlin club was not a popular choice for star footballers from the Federal Republic. The situation in the GDR league couldn't be more different: it is home to two East Berlin teams. The army sports club “Vorwärts” is competing for points against the State Security Service's club “Dynamo”. Neither of these clubs has any trouble attracting top players.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, West, East

01:42
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October 15, 1963
The Philharmonic Concert Hall opens

A new landmark emerges in West Berlin. The Philharmonic Concert Hall opens its doors in October 1963. Berliners are soon referring to the tent-like structure as Karajan’s Circus after the much-loved conductor. The hall was designed by architect Hans Scharoun and boasts a unique feature: the audience can see the orchestra from all angles.

Culture, West

00:41
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1963
The new heart of East Berlin at Alexanderplatz

The new heart of East Berlin is taking shape around Alexanderplatz: Kino International and Café Moskau are almost complete. The café will treat its guests to original Russian dishes. Modern residential areas are also under construction in East Berlin, aiming to bring living standards up to the level of the West.

Everyday Life, Culture, East

01:21
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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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December 17, 1963
First border pass agreement

For the first time since 1961, small gaps start to appear in the Wall. The border pass agreement is signed on 17 December 1963, 28 months after the Wall goes up, allowing West Berliners to visit their relatives in the other part of the city over Christmas. More than 700,000 West Berliners take advantage of this long-awaited chance to see their loved ones on the other side of the Wall. Some 1.2 million cross over to the East between 19 December and 5 January. GDR post office workers are responsible for processing the permit applications. Although they are state employees, they do not represent East German public authorities like police or customs officials. As a result, the Federal Republic views the border pass agreement as an administrative agreement which does not signify recognition of the GDR. The SED regime, on the other hand, does everything it can to give the agreement the character of an international treaty. A total of four border pass agreements are negotiated up until 1966.

Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

02:43
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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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February 11, 1986
The Bridge of Spies

The last exchange of spies to take place on Glienicke Bridge is also the first to happen in public. Interpreted as a sign of thawing relations between East and West, the event on what will now forever be known as the Bridge of Spies plays out in front of the world’s press. The most famous name on the list this time is Anatoly Shcharansky, a civil rights activist who was held for years in a gulag. He had campaigned for human rights and had applied for an exit visa to Israel while in the USSR. He is allowed to cross over to West Berlin in exchange for six agents from the East.

Border, Politics, West, East

01:06
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August 13, 1961
Glienicke Bridge Children's Home

Helga Kempa ran the children's home in Villa Schöningen by Glienicke Bridge for 30 years. Before the Wall went up her staff could still swim across to the western banks of the Havel River. On 13 August 1961 she stood at the garret window watching the tanks roll in and people being stopped by the barricades on the cynically named "Bridge of Unity", desperately waving to their relatives and friends on the other side. The home was located in the restricted zone, surrounded by barbed wire and lit up by floodlights at night. 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

03:16
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March 24, 1985
American GI shot dead

Arthur Nicholson, a US soldier, is shot dead by a Soviet guard during a reconnaissance mission in the GDR. Nicholson strayed too close to a Soviet military site near Ludwigslust, and paid for his mistake with his life. His body is returned to the West on Glienicke Bridge, which connects Potsdam (GDR) with West Berlin. The bridge, which the GDR called the Bridge of Unity, was often used for exchanging spies during the Cold War.

Border, Politics, West, East

01:23
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August 13, 1961
The divided village

The village of Groß Glienicke near Potsdam: its residents spent nearly 30 years living in the shadow of the Wall. The East-West border ran through the middle of Lake Glienicke. From 1961 the border was fortified, meaning that bathing was only allowed on the Western side. This film explores how the residents of Groß Glienicke dealt with the situation and tried to make contact with villagers on the other side. 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

02:47
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August 30, 1972
Steinstücken exclave

A few streets, a few houses, a few trees – Steinstücken measured a mere twelve hectares. Between 1945 and 1971, this area belonging to the Western district of Zehlendorf was West Berlin's only permanently inhabited exclave located in the Soviet-occupied zone/the GDR. In 1972 Berlin's mayor Klaus Schütz opens an access road connecting Steinstücken to West Berlin. Gert Knecht talks about living in the exclave.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, West, East

02:49
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December 1969
Christmas in Steinstücken

Santa Claus flies into the exclave of Steinstücken by helicopter. An exclave was a plot of land belonging to West Berlin but surrounded by GDR territory and therefore cut off from the West. During the Cold War, there were ten such exclaves in Berlin (West).

Border, Everyday Life, West

00:24
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