53 years ago today
GDR border guards shoot man during boat trip in Teltow Canal On 15 June 1965, Hermann Döbler (42) and his companion Elke Märtens (21) are discovered by two border guards during a boat trip on the [...]
Berlin Whitsun Riots 1987
How music overcomes the wall In 1987, on the Whitsun weekend in West Berlin, rock superstars such as David Bowie and Genesis joined hands to celebrate the 750th anniversary when they performed at [...]
Football fever at the Wall Museum
44 years ago: GDR manages to win group against FRG On 22 June 1974, the professional football teams from East and West Germany met for the only time, and that at the World Cup in West Germany. [...]
The Pan-European Picnic
How a feast paved the way to freedom On 19 August 1989, a joint picnic of Austrian and Hungarian citizens was to take place in the Sopron border area. The reason for this joint picnic was the [...]
From the Exit Movement to the Fall of the Wall
The East German opposition was fed by various sources; among the opposition members were also those who wanted to leave the country and no longer considered the GDR capable of reform. They [...]
Berlin crisis 1958 – 1961
Why the nuclear catastrophe failed to materialise Because of the Potsdam Conference, Berlin was divided into four sectors (Soviet Union, France, Great Britain and USA). Thus, as a result of [...]
Animals on the border patrol
From the very beginning, the GDR’s border fortifications on the outskirts of West Berlin had a great influence on the flora and fauna. Due to its large forests, West Berlin, which was [...]
Wall art
The era of wall art began in 1976 when the GDR border troops started to build a new wall of concrete segments on the west side. These were around 3.60 m high and mostly painted white. Of course, [...]
PAN AT FLIGHT 708
During the years of the Berlin Wall, air traffic to West Berlin ran via three fixed air corridors. Hamburg (northwest), Bückeburg (west) and Frankfurt (southwest). German planes were not [...]
A diplomat at the fall of the Wall
For the members of the diplomatic corps in the GDR, life was completely different from that of the citizens of East or West Berlin. Ambassadors, embassy counsellors, embassy secretaries and [...]