Christmas in Steinstücken

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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).

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Steinstücken

showtime
1

latitude
52.3891667

longitude
13.1308333

date

October 21, 1969
Willy Brandt becomes Federal Chancellor

In October 1969, the new Bundestag elects Willy Brandt as Federal Chancellor. His policy of Ostpolitik is based on the principle of "change through rapprochement".

Politics, West

00:43
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1969
The GDR's 20th anniversary

Presents to celebrate the Republic's birthday: the World Time Clock and the TV Tower on Alexanderplatz – at 368 metres, it is still Germany's tallest building today.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

01:36
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March 05, 1969
Election of President of the Federal Republic, Gustav Heinemann

On 5 March 1969, the West German Federal Assembly elects Gustav Heinemann to the post of Federal President in West Berlin. His election is taken as a sign of the political reorientation in Bonn: in autumn 1969 a social-liberal coalition comes to power in the Federal Republic, led by Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt. East Berlin accuses the West Germans of violating the city’s special status by holding the presidential election in West Berlin and seals off transit routes. GDR chief commentator Karl-Eduard von Schnitzler lashes out on East German television, remarking that there is a village in the West German state of Schleswig-Holstein called Berlin. He suggests the Federal Assembly go and elect its Federal President there.

Politics, West

01:04
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1969
GDR dissident Florian Havemann

The GDR is preparing for its 20th birthday. Alexanderplatz is being redeveloped and the new centre is gradually taking shape. Everything must be finished in time for grand celebrations in October. Not all young GDR citizens are in the mood for celebrating. Florian Havemann, the son of dissident Robert Havemann, has just been released from prison, where he was sent for his involvement in protests against the invasion in Prague. Florian Havemann is among a group of dissidents who are fighting for "socialism with a human face".

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, Opposition, East

01:53
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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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1970
Four Power talks begin

Many Berliners have pinned their hopes on Willy Brandt, who has been Federal Chancellor since 1969. Will he help ease tensions between the two Germanies? After a ten-year hiatus, the Western allies and the Soviet Union go back to the negotiating table and begin the Four Power talks on Berlin. They aim to improve conditions for Berliners by securing permanent visiting arrangements and introducing new regulations for transit traffic. Klaus Schütz, SPD, was mayor of Berlin (West) and looks back at this period.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

02:07
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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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1970
Everyday life in East and West

The West Berlin Senate is trying to attract young skilled workers from the Federal Republic to address the rising average age of the city's residents. In 1970 one fifth of West Berliners are already over 65. A Berlin Bonus aims to attract young people to the city. East Berlin, on the other hand, is a popular destination for young people. Those who study here try to stay if they can.

Everyday Life, West, East

02:32
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1970
Freeing of Andreas Baader

Berlin Free University has been badly affected by the student protests of recent years: slogans have been scrawled on the walls and facilities vandalised. The former troublemakers will not be charged – thanks to an amnesty for those who committed offences during the protests. But not everyone is interested in reconciliation. Left-wing radical Andreas Baader has been serving time in West Berlin since April 1970. He receives a high-profile visitor: the journalist Ulrike Meinhof claims to be planning to write a book with Baader. Lawyer Horst Mahler arranges a meeting for them at a location outside the prison to discuss the project. In fact, he and Ulrike are preparing to free Baader. After helping him escape, all three of them go underground, marking the birth of the Red Army Faction (RAF). Andreas Eschen, then a member of the Socialist Lawyer Collective, recalls these dramatic events.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West

03:40
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1970
Leisure time in East and West

They may enjoy similar leisure activities, but everyday life in East and West Berlin is as different as it ever was. In 1970 the average income in the East rises to 762 GDR marks. West Berliners, on the other hand, earn an average of 1,100 Deutsche marks. There is no shortage of goods here. GDR products are also on sale, but many Berliners object to buying them on ideological grounds.

Everyday Life, West, East

00:40
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location

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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June 15, 1965
A boat trip with a fatal outcome

Forty-two-year-old West Berliner Hermann Döbler sets out on a boat trip and is shot when he accidentally crosses into GDR territory. His boat enters GDR waters on Teltow Canal near Dreilinden border crossing point. After firing warning shots from their watchtower, the GDR border guards aim directly at Hermann and his companion – even though they have already turned around their boat. Hermann Döbler dies. Large numbers of Berliners attend his funeral a few days later. In 1993 the guard who fired the fatal shots was convicted of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison. His superior, who had issued the order to fire, was sentenced to two years on probation.

Border, Politics, West, East

01:36
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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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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
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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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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1963
Expansion of the border fortifications

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.

Border, Politics, West, East

00:57
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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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