Berlin History 1945-1958 "Journey Across Berliin" 1961 US Information Service; Cold War
more at
http://news.quickfound.net/intl/berlin_news
.html
"DOCUMENTS THE
WEST'S POSITION ON DEFENSE OF BERLIN, BEGINNING WITH THE DESTRUCTION AND ECONOMIC BREAKDOWN OF THE
CITY AT
END OF
WORLD WAR II, AND PRESENTS SIGNIFICANT HISTORICAL EVENTS, SUCH AS ESTABLISHMENT OF OCCUPATION ZONES, THE AIRLIFT,
1953 RIOTS, ELECTIONS IN
FREE BERLIN AND THE WEST'S DETERMINED ACTIONS TO MAINTAIN THE
FREEDOM OF WEST BERLIN."
Public domain film from the
US National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied.
The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/
3.0/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Berlin
Berlin is the capital of
Germany, and one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of
3.5 million people,
Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the
European Union. Located in northeastern Germany on the banks of
River Spree, it is the center of the
Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, which has about
4.5 million residents from over
180 nations. Due to its location in the
European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate.
Around one third of the city's area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.
First documented in the
13th century, Berlin became the capital of the
Margraviate of Brandenburg (1417), the
Kingdom of Prussia (1701–
1918), the
German Empire (
1871–1918), the
Weimar Republic (
1919–1933) and the
Third Reich (1933–
1945). Berlin in the
1920s was the third largest municipality in the world. After
World War II, the city was divided;
East Berlin became the capital of
East Germany while
West Berlin became a de facto
West German exclave, surrounded by the
Berlin Wall (
1961–
1989).
Following German reunification in
1990, the city was once more designated as the capital of all Germany, hosting
158 foreign embassies.
Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations, and convention venues. Berlin serves as a continental hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network
...
Modern Berlin is home to renowned universities, orchestras, museums, entertainment venues, and is host to many sporting events. Its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is well known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts, and a high quality of living. Over the last decade Berlin has seen the upcoming of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene...
After the end of the war in
Europe in 1945, Berlin received large numbers of refugees from the Eastern provinces. The victorious powers divided the city into four sectors, analogous to the occupation zones into which Germany was divided. The sectors of the
Western Allies (the
United States, the
United Kingdom and
France) formed West Berlin, while the
Soviet sector formed East Berlin.
All four
Allies shared administrative responsibilities for Berlin. However, in 1948, when the Western Allies extended the currency reform in the
Western zones of Germany to the three western sectors of Berlin, the
Soviet Union imposed a blockade on the access routes to and from West Berlin, which lay entirely inside Soviet-controlled territory. The
Berlin airlift, conducted by the three western Allies, overcame this blockade by supplying food and other supplies to the city from June 1948 to May 1949. In 1949, the
Federal Republic of Germany was founded in
West Germany and eventually included all of the
American, British, and
French zones, excluding those three countries' zones in Berlin, while the Marxist-Leninist
German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Germany. West Berlin officially remained an occupied city, but it politically was aligned with the Federal Republic of Germany despite West Berlin's geographic isolation.
Airline service to West Berlin was granted only to American, British, and French airlines.
The founding of the two
German states increased
Cold War tensions. West Berlin was surrounded by
East German territory, and East Germany proclaimed the Eastern part as its capital, a move that was not recognized by the western powers. East Berlin included most of the historic center of the city.
The West German government established itself in Bonn. In 1961, East Germany began the building of the Berlin Wall between
East and West Berlin, and events escalated to a tank standoff at
Checkpoint Charlie...