Blues Masses in East Berlin

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A church in East Berlin starts holding what will become known as Blues Masses. The events attract those who are unhappy with the regime. Dirk Moldt, an 18-year-old watchmaker’s apprentice, is among them. The young people who gather here feel protected by the church and safe from the repression of the state.

Father Rainer Eppelmann and Robert Havemann, a staunch critic of the government, publish their "Berlin Appeal", in which they call for disarmament and freedom of speech.

locations

Samariterkirche, Samariterstraße 27, 10247 Berlin

showtime
1

latitude
52.518726

longitude
13.466046

date

September 22, 1981
Man dies during protests

Heinrich Lummer (CDU), West Berlin’s senator of the interior, arranges for eight squats to be cleared at the same time. He later gives a press conference in one of the buildings. As Lummer speaks to reporters inside, protestors gather outside on the street. Police clash with the squatters, and the situation leads to 18-year-old Klaus-Jürgen Rattay being knocked down and killed by a bus.

Politics, West

02:10
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May 01, 1981
Elections in East and West Berlin

The early parliamentary elections held in West Berlin on 10 May 1981 herald a major turning point in the city’s post-war history. The SPD are forced out of government for the first time, Richard von Weizsäcker of the centre-right CDU becomes Mayor of West Berlin and appoints Heinrich Lummer (CDU) as Senator of the Interior, and the Greens win seats for the first time ever. The GDR is also going to the polls in a general election. Unsurprisingly, the SED led by General Secretary Honecker wins 99.86 percent of the vote.

Politics, West, East

01:07
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March 20, 1981
SEZ complex opens in East Berlin

The SEZ sports and leisure complex opens in Friedrichshain, East Berlin. It attracts 16 million visitors in the first five years alone. The complex, which had swimming pools, sports halls, an ice rink and several restaurants, was designed to welcome up to 22,000 visitors a day. Heide-Maria Heyde used to work there and recalls the long queues that were a daily sight outside the complex.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

01:56
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1981
Squatting in Kreuzberg

Housing in West Berlin is scarce, but whole streets in Kreuzberg and Schöneberg are being cleared of tenants. Once empty, the old buildings are to be torn down and new ones put up in their place. This destructive approach to urban development makes sense because the projects qualify for government subsidies. Young families, unemployed people, non-conformists and students are hit especially hard by the lack of housing. Some decide to fight back by occupying empty buildings. Anette Schill was one of them. In 1981 she and some friends occupy an old chemicals factory in Kreuzberg. She tells us about the early days of what would become known as the Rainbow Factory.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, Politics, West

02:16
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1981
Daily life in the divided city

The Wall has been part of Berlin life for 20 years now. People on both sides have done their best to get used to it, and the death strip and hostile barriers on either side have become almost normal. In fact, a lot of people in the West no longer find the Wall much of a threat.

Border, Everyday Life, West, East

00:53
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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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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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August 1982
AEG goes bankrupt

For many years, subsidies have made the living in West Berlin easy. But now cuts are on the horizon, and in August 1982 electronics giant AEG-Telefunken files for bankruptcy. Some 11,000 jobs hang in the balance. Erhard Bartels was among the AEG employees fearing for their livelihoods. Karl Carstens, then president of West Germany, visits West Berlin as part of a nationwide tour. He comes face-to-face with the AEG employees’ predicament and promises to bring the issue up with the government on his return to Bonn.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, Politics, West

02:05
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1983
Aerobics vs. Popgymnastik

Exercising to music is the latest craze to hit Berlin. In the West they call it aerobics, in the East it’s Popgymnastik. A Kreuzberg factory building becomes home to Europe’s first aerobics studio. Angie Kauss, who soon became an instructor at the studio, remembers the early days of the trend.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, West, East

01:44
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1983
Death at a border crossing

Within the space of just a few weeks, two people die of heart failure during border checks as they drive the road between West Germany and West Berlin. One of them is 45-year-old Rudolf Burkert from Bremen, who is on his way to watch a boxing match in West Berlin with a friend. When he is stopped and questioned at Checkpoint Bravo, Burkert suffers a heart attack and dies.

Border, West, East

01:24
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location

1977
East Berlin struck by coffee crisis

In an effort to save Western currency, the GDR creates a new brand of coffee. Kaffee-MIX is ground coffee combined with roasted peas, rye, barley and sugar beet. It quickly earns itself a nickname: Instant Erich. Peter Pragal, then a correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, was living in East Berlin with his family at the time of the coffee crisis.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

01:42
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January 15, 1990
Dissolving the Stasi

The GDR’s secret service (Stasi) is being dissolved. Protestors storm its headquarters in East Berlin. For decades the Stasi spied on its own citizens and hounded political opponents. Its staff included numerous full-time spies as well as so-called “unofficial collaborators”. After the Wall fell, the GDR government initially had no plans to dissolve the Stasi. It is largely thanks to the Central Round Table and the citizens’ committees that the Stasi (which by then had been renamed the Office for National Security) was eventually abolished. Carlo Jordan represented the Greens at the Round Table.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, Opposition, East

01:44
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March 20, 1981
SEZ complex opens in East Berlin

The SEZ sports and leisure complex opens in Friedrichshain, East Berlin. It attracts 16 million visitors in the first five years alone. The complex, which had swimming pools, sports halls, an ice rink and several restaurants, was designed to welcome up to 22,000 visitors a day. Heide-Maria Heyde used to work there and recalls the long queues that were a daily sight outside the complex.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

01:56
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August 13, 1961
A Sunday outing that was not to be

Each time Ursula Rahn visits the Brandenburg Gate, it brings back memories of her personal story 50 years ago. On 13 August 1961 she has organised a Sunday outing. That morning Ursula and her friend meet in front of the Brandenburg Gate, planning to go for a cycle ride. 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, Contemporary Witnesses, East

04:54
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1969
The women's movement and anti-authoritarian kindergartens

The advancement of women is a growing priority in the GDR. The Action Committee on the Liberation of the Woman and anti-authoritarian kindergartens are founded in West Berlin. Film director Helke Sander recalls how she, too, needed a kindergarten place back then. She was still a student and made use of one of the new childcare facilities set up in empty shops. However, some of the committee's plans to promote women's lib and an anti-authoritarian approach to raising children fall by the wayside.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, West, East

02:40
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October 07, 1974
The GDR's 25th anniversary

The GDR is turning 25. In October 1974, the Republic's birthday is marked in a fitting manner: a military parade through the centre of East Berlin. State-owned enterprises have exceeded their targets.

Politics, East

00:32
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1966
Shopping centre opens in Lichtenberg

In April 1966, the GDR's most modern shopping centre opens in the East Berlin district of Lichtenberg. Manfred Lauchardt recalls how the GDR's popular WM66 washing machine was not only used in East German households, but also came in handy on Berlin's Alexanderplatz to keep sausages warm.

Everyday Life, East

01:08
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August 13, 1961
Cross-border business at the paper stand

Lothar Kensbock ran a newspaper stand on Oberbaum Bridge in Kreuzberg. Up until 13 August 1961 he sold papers and puzzle books to commuters from the East, who smuggled them over the border on their way home after work. 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, Contemporary Witnesses, West

04:48
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May 11, 1975
Boy drowns in the Spree

Cetin Mert was born on 11 May 1970. He lives with his Turkish parents and two brothers in the West Berlin district of Kreuzberg. The day of his fifth birthday is a sunny one. Cetin goes outside to play with a ball, but ends up falling into the river Spree. Rescuers arrive quickly, but they aren’t allowed to intervene because they are from West Berlin and this stretch of the river is under GDR control. All they can do is watch as Cetin drowns. He is the youngest person to die at the Wall.

Border, West, East

01:35
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January 1970
The socialist metropolis of East Berlin

East Berlin is flourishing. The “capital” is evolving into a socialist metropolis. The construction of 14-storey tower blocks next to the Wall aims to send a clear signal to the West. The first foundation stones are laid here in January 1970. In East Berlin city centre, meanwhile, city planners are creating a cult of the personality: a 19-metre-high statue of Lenin forms the centrepiece of the square named after the revolutionary leader. It was inaugurated by head of state, Walter Ulbricht.

Everyday Life, East

00:30
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