Inspecting trees in the border zone

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During the days of the GDR, Georg Heinze was living in Kleinmachnow and working as a nature conservationist. He had a pass that allowed him to enter the border zone and assess the health of the trees there. But it wasn’t until October 1989 that he was allowed to go right up to the border fortifications.

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.

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Kleinmachnow

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1

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52.4079274

longitude
13.2227111

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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

1965
Escaping in a Cadillac

The Wall is becoming harder to cross by the day. Despite all the risks involved, there are still people who are desperate to flee to the West and people willing to help them escape. Burkhart Veigel, a medicine student at the time, has worked as an escape helper since 1961. Together with other helpers, he enables 650 people to get from East to West, making him one of the most successful helpers. As well as digging tunnels, he also converts cars into escape vehicles. The most well-known: the converted Cadillac, which allowed many people to escape, hidden behind the dashboard.

Border, Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, West, East

01:31
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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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1973
Escaping via transit routes

As a result of the 1971 Basic Treaty between the Federal Republic and the GDR, thorough vehicle checks on transit routes are few and far between. This turns the transit motorway into a loophole for would-be escapees. Anyone slipping into a car boot or a truck trailer has a good chance of getting to West Berlin unnoticed.

Border, Escaping, West, East

00:35
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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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1971
Telephone connections between East and West Berlin

Lengthy checks at border crossings are a source of great inconvenience to travellers, but there are also signs of reconciliation. After 19 years of radio silence, East and West Berliners are able to talk on the phone again. The “switchboard girl” manually connects callers, using pre-war technology. The exchange only has access to ten old telephone lines, providing just a tiny fraction of the service required.

Everyday Life, West, East

00:42
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August 1970
Reopening of Dreilinden Customs Checkpoint

The border is being constantly expanded and has long been the most expensive structure in the East. Western border facilities are also no longer merely makeshift solutions: the newly reopened Dreilinden Checkpoint is a sluice gate to and from West Germany.

Border, West, East

00:37
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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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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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February 27, 1975
Peter Lorenz kidnapped

In the run-up to the 1975 West Berlin elections, Peter Lorenz, a CDU politician standing for the second time as the party’s leading candidate for Mayor of Berlin, is kidnapped by a group called Bewegung Zweiter Juni. On 27 February 1975, three days before the election, the terrorists use a truck to block the road. Lorenz’s driver has to stop, and Lorenz is taken. The group say they will release him if six prisoners are freed and allowed to leave the country. The German government decides to agree to the kidnappers’ demands, and Lorenz is released on 4 March.

Politics, West

02:05
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1974
Everyday life for the allies

The families of the allied forces spend their day-to-day lives in their own residential areas in West Berlin, complete with schools and shops. The British even have their own train, which travels from Berlin to Hanover once a week.

Everyday Life, West

00:32
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