keywords: west berlin, world war II, wwii, the iron curtain, berlin wall, president john f. kennedy, brandenburg gate
Synopsis: In West Berlin, a new skyline has risen from the rubble of World War II. A dynamic, prosperous city, West Berlin lies one hundred miles into Soviet controlled East Germany--an outpost of freedom in a jungle of Communist slavery. This is a story of West Berlin's struggle to remain free of Communist control... (read more)
Aerial view Berlin Germany 1930’s. Berlin 1930, buildings, street scenes, people, automobiles, buses, sidewalk vendors, sidewalk Cafe, Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz, German police with children crossing street.
Scenes of Berlin German in 1945 after WWII, remains of bombed out buildings, German people without food or shelter living on the streets, a defeated nation. Map of a divided Germany showing zones of occupation and the divided city of Berlin. Scenes of the start of re-construction in Berlin and first free election in Berlin.
Images of elected Lord Mayor of Berlin Ernst Reuter in 1947, year expression “iron curtain” became a reality. Image of East German guard watchtower. Lines of people fleeing East Berlin to the West. Russians closed the routes into Berlin, cut electrical power, isolating 2-million people. Shows the planes flying supplies into Berlin that forced the Soviets to end the Berlin Blockade. Various scenes of the Berlin Airlift during the Berlin Blockade. Images of crashed and burning aircraft and planes.
Images of a thriving and prosperous West Berlin. 1953 protest march and rioting of East Berlin workers, the Russian Army crushes revolt, workers attack Soviet tanks. In the west the new Federal Republic of Germany was formed and joined NATO. Scenes of the new look of a modern Berlin. Various images of Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev with President John Kennedy. Shows solid line of East German Police at Brandenburg Gate and water cannon to stop people from leaving East Berlin.
Shows images of the first construction efforts building the Berlin Wall. Shows East German guard fleeing East German sector across barbwire to the West. Shows Willy Brandt appealing to the western powers at a protest meeting in the western sector of Berlin. Shows military forces arriving in Berlin as a “show of force”. Construction continued on the Berlin wall. View of a deserted Potsdamer Platz that is in east Berlin, people wave from windows behind the Berlin Wall.