Two brothers meet for a Christmas reunion after having been separated by the Berlin Wall (at this point only two years old). It was the first meeting of East/West relatives allowed by the East German government following the wall’s construction.
West Berlin - 1963
(Photo by Ian Berry)
Two young girls in a West Germans street chat with their grandparents in the window of their home in the Eastern sector, separated only by a barbed wire barricade. It was a common occurrence for families, who had once only lived on the opposite side of the street from one another, to become separated by the ever growing Berlin Wall.
(via gedenkenbrauchtwissen)
This day in history:
Amid protests across Soviet-dominated Hungary, violence erupts, sparking the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
Soon after the revolution began the Soviet Union planned to give in to demands and withdraw forces from the country. However they quickly changed plans and sent in a large military force to quash the rebellion and regain control.
Revolutionaries made quick and large gains up to the end of October, but stood no chance against the superior Soviet military. The rebellion eventually ended on November 10, two and a half weeks after it began.
Despite calls for help to western countries (especially the USA), the revolutionaries received no support during the conflict, and Hungary was dominated by Soviet oppression until 1989.
October 23, 1956 - 56 years ago today
Audio of American journalist Daniel Schorr’s report from Berlin on August 13, 1961; the day on which the East Germany government began construction of the Berlin Wall.
This morning East Berlin presents an eerie picture:
Communist troops in force on every street corner. Soldiers of the Communist National Army drawn up along the sector boundary with columns of armored cars, and behind them, by the tens of thousands, the worker’s militia in their sloppy brown uniforms and visored caps bearing an uncanny resemblance to the stormtroopers of Adolf Hitler…
…East Berlin is an armed camp. It is also a witch’s cauldron, gradually coming to a boil.
The man who saved the world:
Stanislav Petrov was manning surveillance equipment for the Soviet Air Defense Forces when he noticed something strange on the screen. Soon after, warning signals started flashing with the report of an incoming nuclear missile from the USA.
Seeing only one missile, he figured it was a mistake, assuming Americans wouldn’t send only one missile if they wanted a nuclear war.
Soon thereafter, many more started appearing on the screen.
Nevertheless he trusted his instincts, and rather than contact his superiors he waited to see what would happen. He waited past the perceived time on impact. There was no damage - the warnings were due to a system malfunction.
Had Petrov not defied protocol and contacted his superiors, a real retaliatory strike may very well have been fired in response - igniting nuclear war between the USA and Soviet Union.
September 26, 1983 - 29 years ago today.
“A girl looks at the Berlin Wall through a frosty window which reflects the Wall’s silhouetted barbed wire in December 1962.”
“U.S. President John F. Kennedy speaks before reporters during a televised speech to the nation about the strategic blockade of Cuba, and his warning to the Soviet Union about missile sanctions, during the Cuban missile crisis, on October 24, 1962 in Washington, DC.”
Photo by Josef Koudelka.
May 12th 1949: Berlin Blockade ends
On this day in 1949 the Soviet Union lifted their blockade of the Allies’ access to West Berlin which was under their control. The Soviets aimed to force the Allies to give them control over the whole of Berlin by preventing the sending of supplies to West Berlin. However, the Allies organised the Berlin Airlift which dropped supplies to the people of Berlin. The airlift was successful, and after almost a year the embarrassed Soviets lifted the blockade. Thus two German states were created: West Germany (under Allied control) and East Germany (under Soviet control). The crisis is considered one of the first crises of the Cold War.
