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While the building of the Wall was a horrific event of global significance, it also turned a teenager's everyday life upside down. On 13 August 1961 Monika Flindt was a happy-go-lucky young woman dancing to rock n' roll at a party in the Eastern district of Köpenick. That night she was expected home on time - in Lichtenrade in the Western part of the city.

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.

locations

Berlin, Lehrter Bahnhof (heute HBF)

showtime
100

latitude
52.52515931

longitude
13.3686533
Berlin-Köpenick

showtime
1

latitude
52.445729

longitude
13.578444
Berlin, Friedrichstraße

showtime
66

latitude
52.52034954

longitude
13.38733864
Berlin-Lichtenrade

showtime
162

latitude
52.390129

longitude
13.411164

date

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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location

January 09, 1984
BVG takes over S-Bahn

In January 1984, the senate commissions the BVG transport authority with running the S-Bahn in West Berlin. Because the network has fallen heavily into disrepair over the years, the service initially only covers 21 kilometres of the city. East and West Berlin agree that Reichsbahn staff will continue to drive the trains between Lehrter station in the West and Friedrichstrasse in the East. East Berliner Dieter Müller was one of the drivers to operate that stretch.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

02:38
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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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June 16, 1988
Pink Floyd at the Reichstag

Pink Floyd are performing outside the Reichstag building in West Berlin. Fans also gather on the other side of the Wall, in the hope of hearing some of the concert. But things take a turn for the worse and the East Berlin authorities make a number of arrests.

Culture, West

01:03
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October 03, 1990
Germany reunited

On 3 October 1990, just 329 days after the Wall fell, the GDR officially becomes part of the Federal Republic of Germany. The country has been reunited and Berlin is once again Berlin. The GDR actually began assuming large parts of West Germany’s economic and legal systems on 1 July 1990. When the Deutsche mark became the sole currency in the GDR, East Germany was as good as part of the Federal Republic. On 23 August, a special meeting of the People’s Chamber (the GDR’s parliament) agreed to the GDR joining West Germany under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

Politics, West, East

01:02
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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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June 1987
David Bowie plays Berlin

The Eurythmics, Genesis and David Bowie are all on the line-up for a three-day festival outside the Reichstag building in West Berlin. East Berliners gather close to the Wall to try and hear the performances. Protests break out among the crowd, with people chanting things like “the Wall must go”. David Bowie talks about his visit to East Berlin.

Culture, West

00:49
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August 13, 1961
A career setback at the theatre

In 1961 West Berliner Karola Ebeling is starring in "Love and Intrigue" at the Deutsches Theater in the East of the city. She is in Basel with the ensemble giving a guest performance when news of the Wall going up takes her by surprise on 13 August. Her first question is: how will they return to West Berlin? With some difficulty, she eventually makes it back but her career at the Deutsches Theater is now over. By chance she finds a new role at the Theater des Westens, where she stands in for Karin Hüber in "My Fair Lady" when the lead actress falls ill. The role of Eliza Doolittle helps launch her career on the stage and she finds a new artistic home in West Berlin. 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

04:53
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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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August 13, 1986
25 years of the Wall

East Berlin celebrates the 25th anniversary of the closing of the border. On the Western side, 68-year-old Canadian John Runnings, whose campaigns earned him the nickname “Wall Walker”, climbs onto the Wall and takes a sledgehammer to it. GDR border guards eventually force him down and the authorities sentence him to 18 months in prison. He is released three months later and leaves Berlin.

Border, Everyday Life, West, East

01:15
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June 12, 1987
Reagan visits West Berlin

President Reagan’s visit to West Berlin in June 1987 sparks rioting in the streets and anti-American demonstrations. To mark the 750th anniversary of Berlin, Reagan gives a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Two short sentences will be remembered forever: “General Secretary Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Politics, West

00:57
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