The Berlin Airlift turned Germany into a beacon of hope in one year
At the end of World War II, Germany was carved into multiple divisions, occupied separately by each of the Allied powers. So too was the city of Berlin itself. But…
How the fall of the Berlin Wall affected techno music
Berlin is known as the techno music capital of the world. Much to the chagrin of Detroit, where the style originated, the German city took the style and baked it…
A US troop helped an East German escape the Iron Curtain
There were only a few places around the world more tense than in the Cold War showdown between East and West that occurred every day in divided Berlin. In the West, American and NATO guards stared down the barrels of the Soviet-backed East German bo…
This real soldier’s photo is still hanging at Checkpoint Charlie
It’s been almost 30 years since the infamous Checkpoint Charlie, the primary crossing post between East and West Berlin, was taken down with the fall of the Berlin Wall. The original guardhouse was little more than a temporary shack for much of its…
A communist soldier made a daring escape through the Berlin Wall in an APC
May Day was a big deal in East Germany. As a matter of fact, it was a big deal in all of the Communist Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War era. It was, after all, a day for celebrating workers around the world. Since Communist countries wer…