While the speech effectively recognised East Berlin as part of the Soviet Bloc, it also reaffirmed America’s commitment to defend West Berlin against Communist expansion.
West Germany’s Federal Archives revealed that forensic tests proved the Hitler Diaries were forgeries.
Although the border remained closed for around three hours, by 11pm the Berlin Wall checkpoint at Bornholmer Strasse had been opened.
Beginning at midnight on the 13th August 1961, East German police and army began to close the border with West Berlin.
US President Ronald Reagan made a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in which he called on the USSR’s leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to ‘Tear down this wall!’
On May 12th 1949, the Soviet Union ended its blockade of West Berlin.
On the 26th June 1963 American President John F. Kennedy declared US support for West Berlin with the phrase, “Ich bin ein Berliner” – I am a Berliner – 22 months after the Soviet-supported DDR, more commonly known as East Germany, built the Berlin Wall.
The Battle of Berlin ended after German General Helmuth Weidling surrendered to Soviet General Vasily Chuikov.
On the 20th January 1942, a number of senior Nazis met at the Wannsee Conference where they discussed what was referred to as the Final Solution to the Jewish Question.
In the evening of the 9th November 1989, the East German government opened the Berlin Wall after central committee spokesman Guenter Schabowski mistakenly announced that GDR citizens could cross into West Berlin with immediate effect.
28th June 2015
3rd August 2020
9th November 2019
1st September 2018
