Found a little historical gem online. It’s a Cold War British government film about the correct procedure for getting to West Berlin from the border between West and East Germany via the road corridor that existed to allow Western Allied military personnel to travel from West Germany to the then divided city of Berlin.
It is a fascinating reminder of the tensions and paranoia that existed at the time of the Cold War. The video, which contains no audio but has selectable electronic captions, shows us just what a rigmarole it was to travel to Berlin when Germany was divided. The instructions, which are presumably for the benefit of military and diplomatic personnel, who were the ones most likely to be travelling to Berlin from West Germany at this time, cover just about everything one would need to know to travel the hundred or so kilometres to Berlin. The video tells the traveller how to keep to the route, how to address and to salute Soviet security personnel, what to do if stopped by the East German police and how to avoid getting into compromising conversations with possible Iron Curtain intelligence operatives.
Yet Lou Reed, David Bowie and Iggy Pop all managed to record albums and score smack and cocaine in 1970s Berlin!
Part of the reason I went for my birthday a couple of years ago 🙂
Copyright 1989, and the wall came down in November 1989….
In the early ’70s there had been a Scotland Germany football match in Berlin and I scrounged a ride on one of the charter flights for supporters. The most memorable, in a very sad way, part of the day was seeing all the people one side of the wall/barrier waving to their friends and relatives on the other side. Which was not out of line with the paranoia expressed in the film.
Not pleasant.
People have forgotten that Communism was so bad that it had to wall people in to stop them fleeing.
During my military service, I was fortunate to spend two years in West Berlin, and driving from Helmstedt (Checkpoint Alpha) to Berlin (Checkpoint Bravo) certainly was an experience. With squaddies, of all nations, being squaddies, this was also an opportunity for the British soldier to surreptitiously swap western items (country and western music tapes were very popular) for Soviet cap badges, belts, or even a fur hat. On one occasion, a group of soldiers from an Irish infantry regiment, at the first checkpoint, managed to swap a Playboy magazine for some cap badges. When they reached the second checkpoint, they were kept in their vehicle until a senior RMP officer attended to liaise with the senior Soviet officer. It wasn’t the unauthorised exchange that was the cause of the Soviet complaint, but rather the fact that the centrefold was missing from the Playboy magazine!
On a more serious note, a colleague was stationed there when the Wall came down and the Soviets left. After the week long celebrations, it was noted that British troops and their families were ignored in shops, insulted in the streets, and even had damage done to BFG registered cars. He said it was if the Berliners, especially the students and younger ones, were saying, “The Russians have gone, so we don’t need you now. Go home.” . It apparently left a bitter taste at the end of one of the more popular postings for the military.
Interesting story and sad how the Berliners turned on those who had protected them for so long.
Berlin should issue a video on how to enter/leave UK IN 2021
1. Be rich
2. Arrive in rubber dinghy: Free board, lodging, Elec, TV, Web…. and £40pw cash – free package ‘holiday’ and better life than UK Unemployed
Not on BBC…..
youtube.com/watch?v=pHlvs59FfrE
Interesting to note the extent to which the Soviets were in charge rather than delegating to East German authorities.
That is indeed interesting. Also that the Allies appeared to have treated the Soviets as slightly more trustworthy than the GDR police.
I forgot to mention that the reason the Allies would only deal with the Soviets was that, at the Potsdam conference, it was agreed between the four nations that Berlin would be a fully occupied, non political, city and the capitals of the two zones would be elsewhere. The Allies selected Bonn while the Soviets declared Ptosdam would be the capital of the GDR, the Soviet zone of Germany. Once the war was won, the Soviets backtracked and declared East Berlin, the Soviet zone of the city, as the capital of the GDR. There wasn’t a lot the Allies could do about that, but together, refused to accept the East Germans as a legitimate government. That is why the East German checkpoints were ignored and only the Soviet checkpoints were used.
Each of the four nations had daily military ‘Flag Tours’ into the other zones, and while the American, British, and French vehicles were often crewed by senior NCOs, the Soviet Flag tours had 4 officers of at least Major rank, who were usually not known to each other, to avoid a planned mass defection. The Soviets refused to allow GDR officers to accompany them in case they would be horrified at the level of reconstruction of West Berlin while the Eastern sector was still in a state of disrepair.
Allied soldiers were allowed into East Berlin, as long as they were in uniform, often taking their families,. It was quite funny, and also sad, when East Berliners wanted to know how they managed to be in the Eastern sector as they were told the Wall was to keep them out, rather than the East Berliners in.
Thanks for the extra information.