Ten years of living with the Wall

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On 13 August 1971 Berlin has been divided for ten years. The Wall has become a tourist attraction and popular backdrop for films, with its freshly raked death strip, signal fences, guard dogs, carpets of spikes and watchtowers. Almost 100 people have perished trying to get over to the other side.

East Germans try to adjust to life with the Wall. Gert Roth talks about life in the GDR.

A huge propaganda campaign is launched to mark the Wall's 10th anniversary and justify its existence.

locations

Brandenburger Tor

showtime
5

latitude
52.516074

longitude
13.376857

date

May 03, 1971
Honecker succeeds Ulbricht

The Central Committee has a spring clean: in May 1971 Walter Ulbricht steps down from the post of General Secretary and First Secretary of the SED Central Committee at the age of 77 due to health reasons. He is succeeded by Erich Honecker. Ulbricht has been ousted from power with Moscow's blessing.

Politics, East

00:56
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May 1971
Centrum Warenhaus on Alexanderplatz

The Centrum Warenhaus on Alexanderplatz is the shopping Mecca of East Germany. It opens its doors in 1970. Sales assistant, Gert Roth, is there from day one. He recalls the store's beginnings and special promotional offers. When Erich Honecker enters office, he not only promises flats, stable prices and a better supply of goods. He also "treats" GDR citizens to 150,000 pairs of blue jeans, a product imported from the West. This much-coveted item of clothing is only available at the Centrum Warenhaus on Alexanderplatz.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

01:19
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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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October 07, 1970
Interhotel Stadt Berlin opens

The Interhotel Stadt Berlin opens in East Berlin. A taste of the West in the East. The hotel on Alexanderplatz prepares to welcome guests from around the world. It is spread over 40 floors and boasts the best of the GDR in an attempt to compete with Western standards. Only the crème de la crème has the honour of working in its restaurant. Leonard Czichowitz talks about what it was like to work there.

Contemporary Witnesses, Everyday Life, East

00:59
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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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November 03, 1971
Four Power Agreement

Twenty-five years after the end of the war, talks are launched in an attempt to finally clarify the status of Berlin. After lengthy negotiations, the US, the UK, France and the Soviet Union sign the Four Power Agreement on 3 September 1971. It confirms that Berlin (West) is not a part of the Federal Republic of Germany, but acknowledges the special ties between Berlin (West) and West Germany. It also lays down provisions concerning transit traffic between the FRG and Berlin (West), the rights of West Berlin residents to visit the Eastern part of the city and the GDR and the extent of West German presence in Berlin (West). The agreement brings about noticeable improvements to the lives of Berliners – tensions between East and West are gradually easing.

Politics, West, East

01:20
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1972
The "get trim" campaign

West Berlin has been gripped by a "get trim" craze. Supported by the government, health insurance companies and business, the German Sports Association launches a campaign to combat a rise in circulatory disorders and help people lose weight.

Everyday Life, West

00:20
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January 29, 1972
Premiere of Ein Kessel Buntes

A Kettle of Colour premieres on GDR TV. The "Kessel" was the most glamorous and successful evening show ever broadcast on GDR television, fronted by “the three dialecticians”. Lutz Stückrath was one of the presenters. He recalls the programme's success and the initial freedoms the three satirists enjoyed when the show was launched.

Culture, East

03:13
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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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May 1972
Escaping in a car

The Transit Agreement is signed in East Berlin by State Secretaries Egon Bahr (FRG) and Michael Kohl (GDR). The agreement clarifies practical issues concerning transit and cross-border traffic. It also brings an easing of travel restrictions for West German citizens who want to travel to the GDR and for GDR citizens who wish to visit the Federal Republic to deal with urgent family matters. Up until now, only pensioners have been allowed to do this. Wolfgang Herrmann takes advantage of the relaxed conditions to flee across the border, assisted by escape helpers. Hermann describes his adventurous escape hidden in a car.

Border, Escaping, Contemporary Witnesses, West, East

02:38
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location

1976
The Wall turns white

Work on the Wall never seems to end. Money keeps getting ploughed into what was already a very expensive structure. The fourth-generation Wall, as its latest incarnation is known, is designed to last longer and make it harder for people to escape. But the rows of gleaming white slabs turn out to have an unwanted side effect: they are the perfect blank canvas. Artists from all over the world come to unleash their creativity on the West Berlin side of the Wall.

Border, West, East

00:24
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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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August 13, 1961
Through the eyes of a border guard

From 1959 to 1962 Peter Guba - born in 1940 - was a guard in the People's Police and was stationed at the border in Berlin before and after the Wall went up. He used his nine-millimetre camera to capture intimate glimpses of life at the barracks and at numerous border crossings. He has granted the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse and the German Historical Museum access to his footage. 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, Contemporary Witnesses, East

04:25
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1990
Chipping away at the Wall

The Eastern Block is gradually disintegrating. One of the most obvious signs of the change is the roaring trade going on at the Wall. People are chipping away at the concrete and selling the chunks, often with a certificate of authenticity. The Berlin Wall has become one big souvenir. Alwin Nachtweh was one of the entrepreneurs keeping souvenir hunters supplied with pieces of the Wall. He talks about how illegal traders avoided the authorities, and how East Berliners would try to sell him their old uniforms. Some of them, he says, had their whole lives in a plastic bag.

Everyday Life, West, East

01:52
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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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1980
State visit to the Brandenburg Gate

On a state visit to East Berlin, the leader of Nicaragua is taken to see the “antifascist protection wall”, now a permanent feature of all state visits to the GDR. The ritual involves climbing the platform at the Brandenburg Gate and looking out over the class enemies in the West.

Politics, East

00:23
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August 13, 1961
Dismay as the Wall goes up

Sixteen-year-old Wilfried Mommert has just finished school and is about to start an apprenticeship. He and his friends go to the Brandenburg Gate on 13 August 1961 to express their outrage after the Western part of the city is sealed off. The West Berlin police have blocked access to East Berlin at the Soviet War Memorial and have sent in water cannons. 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, Contemporary Witnesses, West

04:46
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August 13, 1961
A secret mission to guard the border

When the Wall goes up, Heinz Kube is 35 years old and works in foreign trade in the GDR. He is in the workers' militia, known as combat groups, and is called up to report to his company on the morning of Sunday, 13 August 1961. The combat groups are given weapons and uniforms and ordered to guard the border. It is a top secret mission and they must not reveal their whereabouts to their families. 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, Contemporary Witnesses, East

01:50
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May 18, 1965
The Queen visits Berlin

On Ascension Day, Queen Elizabeth II spends a few hours in West Berlin. More than a million people line the streets to cheer on the British monarch. She is greeted with the same enthusisam as US President John F. Kennedy two years previously. Elizabeth II reviews a parade of British troops on the Olympic Stadium's Mayfield and passes by Pariser Platz and the Soviet War Memorial on Strasse des 17. Juni. At the end of her visit she signs the city's Golden Book at Schöneberg Town Hall.

Everyday Life, Politics, West

00:53
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