Hotel Metropol

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The Hotel Metropol opens in East Berlin. Guests pay in Western currency and enjoy Western comforts in the heart of the GDR.

Helga Lindner works at the hotel, in the team responsible for looking after the (Western) guests.

locations

Berlin-Ost, Hotel Metropol (heute Maritim pro Arte Hotel), Friedrichstraße 150-153, 10117 Berlin

showtime
5

latitude
52.518426

longitude
13.388568

date

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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1976
Wolf Biermann and Lothar Loewe expelled

The GDR does not take kindly to criticism. East Berlin singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann has been banned from appearing in the GDR for the past 11 years. Then, in November 1976, completely out of the blue, he receives permission to perform in the West. But after he gives a concert in Cologne, the GDR authorities announce that he will not be allowed to return home. Lothar Loewe, a reporter for West German broadcaster ARD, is among those to sense that the mood in East Berlin is shifting. When he gives a less-than-rosy report of the situation on a December edition of ARD’s Tagesschaunews show, the GDR authorities waste no time in expelling him. The comments that led to their decision went something like this: “Everyone knows full well that border troops are under strict orders to shoot people as if they were mere rabbits.”

Border, Politics, Opposition, Culture, West, East

03:43
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1976
Gardening in an exclave

It doesn’t matter what side of the Wall they live on, Berliners everywhere love their summerhouses and gardens. The Fichtewiese allotments are unique because they occupy an exclave, which means they’re in West Berlin but surrounded on all sides by East Berlin territory. To reach their gardens, the owners have to walk through the death strip and can only make the trip at certain times of the day. Marianne Schemmel had one of the allotments. She still has vivid memories of the routine, and talks about how it just became a part of normal life.

Border, Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, West

02:00
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1976
Double agent's cover blown

Heinrich Burger’s cover as a double agent is blown. A spokesman for the West Berlin SPD, he was spying for both the Stasi and the West Berlin intelligence services. He is sentenced to seven years in jail, but is released two years later as part of an exchange of spies, and moves to East Berlin. The passing of time has given Heinrich a different perspective on his actions.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

02:18
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May 18, 1976
9th SED conference: cementing the divide

As well as increasing social spending, the 9th SED party conference (18-22 May 1976) also agrees a new manifesto. Designed to cement the GDR’s ideological separation from the West, the document does away with any mention of German unity.

Politics, East

00:37
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1977
The German Autumn

In 1977, during what became known as the German Autumn, the RAF terrorist group plunges West Germany into turmoil. The West Berlin police get involved in helping to hunt down the people who kidnapped Hanns Martin Schleyer, president of an employers’ association. Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin, two RAF terrorists being held in custody, commit suicide when they hear that the hostages on a hijacked Lufthansa plane have been freed in Mogadishu, Somalia. Birgit Roehl from West Berlin was one of the 86 hostages freed that day. On 19 October, the body of Hanns Martin Schleyer is found. He was murdered by the RAF.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West

01:11
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November 01, 1977
Expulsion of Pannach, Kunert and Fuchs

In November 1977 the Free German Youth gathers in East Berlin to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Russian revolution. At the same time, a year since Wolf Biermann’s expulsion from the GDR, East Berlin’s cultural life is losing its lifeblood. Anyone who criticises the state is promptly banished to the West. Singer-songwriters Gerulf Pannach and Christian Kunert, and the author Jürgen Fuchs all suffer this fate.

Politics, Opposition, East

00:47
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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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location

November 02, 1964
Travel permits for East German pensioners

The Wall opens to East Berliners for the first time. The GDR Council of Ministers has decided that pensioners from the GDR will be allowed to travel to the West. The pensioners are allowed to visit relatives in the Federal Republic of Germany or West Berlin once a year for up to four weeks. When they return via border crossings in West Berlin, their bags are packed full of Western goods. The GDR authorities see this as a minimal risk: the economy has little need for elderly East Berliners. As it is, only one in a thousand stay in the West anyway.

Border, Everyday Life, Politics, East

00:26
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1966
Military parade to mark the 5th anniversary of the Wall

The SED party leaders hold a grand military parade to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the closing of the border. The Western allies view the military parade as a violation of the Four Power agreements. However, head of state and Party leader Walter Ulbricht claims to have secured peace by building the Wall in 1961. West Berlin's mayor, Willy Brandt, declares that the Wall will come down, but only as part of more widespread changes. Manfred Lauchardt witnessed events first-hand back then. He recalls how many of the East Berliners who lined the streets did so more out of duty than conviction.

Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, East

01:06
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1974
Intershops open

In 1974 GDR citizens are allowed to purchase Western goods in foreign-currency shops - known as Intershops - for the first time. The product lines in these stores featured a small selection of high-quality GDR merchandise and a large range of goods produced in the FRG or other countries in the non-Socialist economic area. Shoppers could pay in Deutsche marks (Western marks) or in other currencies, such as the US dollar or the Austrian shilling. Prices were marked in Deutsche marks and set by the GDR authorities. Special conversion tables were provided to convert West German marks into other currencies, but they had little relation to the actual rates. The Intershops, a source of tax-free goods, were very popular among West Berliners. Smuggling goods for personal use virtually became a national sport.

Everyday Life, West, East

01:53
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December 17, 1963
First border pass agreement

For the first time since 1961, small gaps start to appear in the Wall. The border pass agreement is signed on 17 December 1963, 28 months after the Wall goes up, allowing West Berliners to visit their relatives in the other part of the city over Christmas. More than 700,000 West Berliners take advantage of this long-awaited chance to see their loved ones on the other side of the Wall. Some 1.2 million cross over to the East between 19 December and 5 January. GDR post office workers are responsible for processing the permit applications. Although they are state employees, they do not represent East German public authorities like police or customs officials. As a result, the Federal Republic views the border pass agreement as an administrative agreement which does not signify recognition of the GDR. The SED regime, on the other hand, does everything it can to give the agreement the character of an international treaty. A total of four border pass agreements are negotiated up until 1966.

Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, Politics, West, East

02:43
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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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1976
Wolf Biermann and Lothar Loewe expelled

The GDR does not take kindly to criticism. East Berlin singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann has been banned from appearing in the GDR for the past 11 years. Then, in November 1976, completely out of the blue, he receives permission to perform in the West. But after he gives a concert in Cologne, the GDR authorities announce that he will not be allowed to return home. Lothar Loewe, a reporter for West German broadcaster ARD, is among those to sense that the mood in East Berlin is shifting. When he gives a less-than-rosy report of the situation on a December edition of ARD’s Tagesschaunews show, the GDR authorities waste no time in expelling him. The comments that led to their decision went something like this: “Everyone knows full well that border troops are under strict orders to shoot people as if they were mere rabbits.”

Border, Politics, Opposition, Culture, West, East

03:43
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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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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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April 1984
Friedrichstadtpalast opens

The Friedrichstadtpalast opens in East Berlin. It has the largest stage in the world and can seat 2,000 theatregoers. Jürgen Nass, who was the assistant director at the time, talks about how the West actually inspired the performances that were presented as examples of good, socialist entertainment.

Contemporary Witnesses, Culture, East

02:01
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1986
Schiller statue heads East

East and West Berlin sign a cultural agreement in May 1986. It paves the way for the two sides to exchange works of art. A statue of Schiller is returned to its original location on Gendarmenmarkt square in East Berlin. When the Nazis came to power they wanted to use the square as a parade ground, so in 1936 they removed the statue and put it into storage. In 1951, it moved to Lietzensee park in Charlottenburg, which meant Schiller then belonged to West Berlin. Thanks to the cultural agreement, Schiller was returned to his rightful home outside the Konzerthaus (then the Schauspielhaus) in the middle of Gendarmenmarkt square.

Culture, West, East

00:34
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