Allied troops on parade

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Troops in West Berlin are out on parade for the annual Allied Forces Day.
The allied soldiers have been ensuring the freedom of West Berlin since 1945, but their parade along the Strasse des 17. Juni is also a show of strength directed at the East.

locations

Berlin-West, Straße des 17. Juni

showtime
1

latitude
52.514497

longitude
13.349115

date

May 1978
Elizabeth II and Queen visit Berlin

Queen Elizabeth II graces West Berlin with a visit in May. Her first visit, in 1965, was about reconciliation between the UK and Germany. This time, she is here to show her support for West Berlin’s freedom, which British forces are helping to guarantee. Her Majesty is not the only monarch drawing crowds in West Berlin. Freddy Mercury and his band Queen are here to give what turns out to be a spectacular concert in the Deutschlandhalle arena.

Politics, Culture, West

00:58
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1978
East and West united - in football

East Berlin has two football teams: Eisern Union and BFC Dynamo. With Stasi boss Erich Mielke as its chairman, BFC is very much the team of the state. Eisern Union, on the other hand, is the club for those who oppose the status quo. Unsurprisingly, the Stasi see it as a group of troublemakers. Based in the blue-collar district of Köpenick, Eisern Union is popular with fans over in West Berlin. When the team plays FC Magdeburg, West Berliner Manfred Sangel is in the crowd. He tells us how, after a misunderstanding caused by the blue-and-white Magdeburg strip, a friendship developed between Eastern and Western football fans that proved stronger than the Wall.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, West, East

02:52
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1978
The Wall keeps growing

Work on expanding and improving the Wall continues in 1978. Vast stretches of fencing mean escapees can be spotted long before they reach the border zone, and spring guns are installed to make it impossible to reach the other side.

Border, Escaping, West, East

00:33
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1978
Airplane hijacked

A passenger plane belonging to Poland’s LOT airline lands in Tempelhof, bringing to an end a hijacking that began in Gdansk. Ingrid Maron is on board – not as a passenger but as one of the hijackers. She was planning to use forged papers to flee from Gdansk to the West by ferry. When the plan fell apart, she and an acquaintance, Detlev Tiede, decide to escape by hijacking a Polish plane. In this film, Ingrid talks about how the incredible situation came about.

Border, Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, West, East

03:43
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January 1978
Honecker the estate agent

Work on a huge new housing estate in Marzahn has been underway for a year now. The 11-storey prefab blocks are assembled from large panels and take about 110 days to put up. Housing construction is still a high priority for the GDR, which is why Erich Honecker personally hands over the keys to the family moving into the millionth flat.

Everyday Life, East

00:33
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January 01, 1979
Conscription dodgers move to West Berlin

Under allied law, West Berliners don’t have to do military service. That makes the city attractive to any West Germans who want to escape conscription. In East Berlin, meanwhile, military service is still very much a part of life, despite the city’s demilitarised status. The only way to avoid it is to do non-military building work – but that still means you have to join the army. Anyone who refuses conscription outright has it hard. Nevertheless, Michael Frenzel, a church social worker in East Berlin, decided to take that route. It landed him in jail.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

01:37
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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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April 16, 1979
Forum checks

GDR citizens used to be able to purchase goods with foreign currency (e.g. the Deutsche mark) in a special chain of shops called Intershop. Now they have to exchange the money for “Forumchecks” before they can buy anything there. The government has introduced the rule so that it can quickly siphon off the Western money that its citizens bring into the GDR. Visitors from outside the GDR, however, can still pay with foreign currency as long as they show their passport.

Politics, East

00:49
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June 1979
Free German Youth gathering

The GDR celebrates its 30th anniversary in 1979. The event is the focus of the Whitsun gathering of the Free German Youth. Teachers, who are required to turn their pupils into good socialist citizens, make sure every child is aware that this is a special year. But young people in the GDR don’t toe the line as much as the government would like them to. They idolise Western celebrities, listen to rock music, and wear denim. In fact, they are starting to look more and more like their peers on the other side of the Wall.

Politics, Culture, East

01:16
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June 1979
Authors banned

The East Berlin authors’ association joins forces with the SED leadership, the Stasi and the Ministry of Culture to convene a tribunal against nine problematic authors. Among those on trial are famous names like Stefan Heym, Klaus Schlesinger and Rolf Schneider. The group stands accused of “defaming the GDR, the SED, its cultural policy and its legal system”, and of having “put themselves at the service of anti-communist forces working against the GDR”. Of the 400 authors present, 350 vote in favour of ousting their colleagues from the association. That means the nine can no longer work, because only authors who are members of the association can publish in the GDR. Rolf Schneider talks about what it was like to have his livelihood taken away.

Contemporary Witnesses, Opposition, Culture, East

02:06
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location

April 30, 1986
Linie 1 premieres in Berlin

A musical about the U1 U-Bahn line, which would go on to become world famous, premieres in the Grips Theatre in 1986. The play is all about life in West Berlin. At the time, the U1 line ran from Ruhleben in Spandau to Schlesisches Tor in Kreuzberg. That meant it traversed the whole of West Berlin and cut a cross-section through the many layers of the city’s society. The show turned out to be a huge success for the Grips Theatre.

Culture, West

00:38
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April 07, 1965
Controversial session of the Bundestag in West Berlin

The Bundestag holds session in West Berlin, causing huge disruptions to transit traffic and threatening gestures from the Soviets. They do not view West Berlin as part of the Federal Republic. Soviet jets fly low over the city, disturbing the session. The GDR prohibits the members of the Bundestag from passing through its territory and temporarily suspends all transit traffic, claiming the autobahn is needed for military manoeuvres. Drivers are forced to wait in queues for 20 hours. The members of the Bundestag travel to West Berlin by plane and the session is held in the Kongresshalle conference venue in Tiergarten, which today houses the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. The Western allies lodge an objection with the West German Federal Government and veto future sessions of the Bundestag in West Berlin. In the 1971 Berlin Four Power Agreement, the Western allies pledge to allow no further plenary sessions of the Bundestag in Berlin. It will be another 25 years before German MPs hold session there again – after the fall of the Wall.

Politics, West, East

00:56
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May 21, 1980
Congress Hall collapses

The roof of the Congress Hall in West Berlin collapses. Faulty construction work is to blame. The accident leaves one person dead and a number of others injured.

Everyday Life, West

00:31
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October 1980
Cost of visiting the East rises

The GDR raises the amount of money that Westerners have to change when they visit East Berlin. It now stands at 25 Deutsche marks per day. That makes the trip too expensive for many West Berliners who, until now, have regularly visited friends and relatives in the East.

Border, Politics, West, East

01:08
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November 1980
New pandas for the zoo

The Chinese government gives the West German Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt, two pandas. Bao-Bao and Tien-Tien take up residence in the zoo in West Berlin, and soon win hearts throughout the city.

Everyday Life, West

00:28
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April 1972
Entry permits over Easter

For the first time since 1966, West Berliners will be allowed to travel to East Berlin over Easter. Applying for a visitor's permit is a complicated process. Nevertheless, over three days nearly 60,000 people submit travel applications at five specially set-up offices. The applications are processed by undercover Stasi agents from East Berlin. Gert Knecht remembers the situation in the offices only too well, but also recalls the joy of seeing friends and relatives again for the first time in six long years.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

02:48
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April 02, 1965
The Europa-Center opens

The grand opening of the Europa-Center on Breitscheidplatz. A new landmark for West Berlin, located next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. Towering 86 metres, the "showcase of the golden West" was the tallest building in the city back then. Today it is a listed building. Karl Heinz Pepper oversaw construction of the complex. Before the Second World War, the site was home to the Romanische Café, a legendary meeting place for writers, painters and theatre actors.

Everyday Life, West

00:25
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1975
Jacob the Liar competes at the Berlinale

This is the first year that filmmakers from East Berlin have participated in the Berlinale, West Berlin’s international film festival. Director Frank Beyer and writer Jurek Becker enter their film, Jacob the Liar, in the competition section.

Culture, West, East

00:44
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February 1980
Solo Sunny

East and West both participate in the Berlin International Film Festival. The GDR has entered the DEFA film Solo Sunny in the competition section. East Berlin actress Renate Krössner surprises everyone by winning the Silver Bear for her performance in the title role. Renate has director Konrad Wolff to thank for being able to collect her award in person. She talks about the trip and how she never expected to be able to travel to West Berlin.

Contemporary Witnesses, Culture, West, East

02:06
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1981
Christiane F.

The film Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo tells the story of Christiane Felscherinow from Gropiusstadt in Berlin. Christiane became addicted to heroin after coming into contact with drugs for the first time through friends in 1974. The film is based on the book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, and features harrowing scenes of life as a young drug addict in West Berlin.

Culture, West

00:54
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