On 18 June 1948, the Western authorities decide to bring in monetary reform, introducing the Deutschmark in their three occupation zones with the aim of reviving the post-war economy.

Am 19. Juni 1948 berichtet die Kölnische Rundschau über die Geburt der Deutschen Mark und kommentiert die Währungsreform in Westdeutschland.

Le 19 juin 1948, à l'occasion de la naissance du Deutsche Mark, le périodique allemand Kölnische Rundschau analyse les conséquences de la réforme monétaire en Allemagne de l'Ouest.

On 20 June 1948, the first law on currency reform in the US, British and French occupation zones specifies the conditions for the introduction of the new German currency, the Deutschmark.

Am 20. und 21. Juni 1948 führt ein Gesetz zur Währungsreform in den amerikanischen, britischen und französischen Besatzungszonen zur Einführung der neuen deutschen Währung, der Deutschen Mark.

On 24 June 1948, the United States, France and the United Kingdom announce the extension of the monetary reform and the introduction of the German mark to the Western sectors of Berlin.

On 3 October 1948, the Soviet Government sends a note to the United States, France and the United Kingdom condemning the monetary reform undertaken by the Western Allies in the zone of Berlin under their control.

In June 1948, the Soviet authorities announce a raft of measures seeking to block the supply of provisions to the Western zones of Berlin in reaction to the monetary reform introduced in Germany by the Western Allies.

In June 1948, Marshal Vassili Sokolovski, commander-in-chief of the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, condemns the monetary reform introduced by the Western Allies in their zone of occupation and announces a series of restrictive measures with regard to the new Deutschmark.

On 26 September 1948, in a note from the United States, France and the United Kingdom to the Soviet Union, the three Western Allies express their annoyance following the Berlin Blockade and reveal their intention to bring the matter before the United Nations Security Council.

On 22 June 1948, Marshal Vassili Sokolovski, commander-in-chief of the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, informs his US counterpart, General Lucius Clay, of the negative reaction of the Soviet Government towards the monetary reform introduced in the Western zone of occupation in Germany.

In June 1948, in a message to the people of Berlin, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany condemns the monetary reform undertaken by the Western Allies in their respective zones of occupation.

Am 1. Juli 1948 kritisiert die sowjetische Zeitschrift Soviet news die Währungsreform der westlichen Besatzungsmächte, in deren Rahmen eine neue Rechnungseinheit, die Deutsche Mark, in den drei westlichen Besatzungszonen eingeführt werden soll.

In der luxemburgischen Tageszeitung Luxemburger Wort wird die Frage gestellt, welchen Zweck die UdSSR mit der Blockade der Zugangswege nach Westberlin vom 24. Juni 1948 verfolgt.

Dans ses Mémoires, l'ancien diplomate américain Robert Murphy se souvient de la décision prise le 24 juin 1948 par l'URSS de couper les voies d'accès à Berlin-Ouest et évoque l'ambiance dans la ville pendant cette période.

On 20 March 1948, in London, Vassili Sokolovsky, Soviet Marshal, announces the breakdown in relations between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies on the issue of Germany and confirms his refusal to attend future meetings of the Allied Control Council.

On 2 April 1948, the British daily newspaper Daily Mail condemns the decision of the Soviet Union to bring to an end its participation in meetings of the Allied Control Council and expresses concern over the risks of confrontation between the Western Allies and Moscow in the event of the Soviets’ blocking the means of access to Berlin.

„Stecknadel-Duell.“ Angesichts der sich verschlechternden internationalen Lage in Berlin illustriert der britische Karikaturist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth die wachsenden Spannungen zwischen dem Westen und dem Ostblock und unterstreicht die Risiken eines ernsten Konflikts zwischen den beiden Supermächten USA und Sowjetunion. Links: der amerikanische Präsident Harry Truman, rechts: Josef Stalin.

Diese Karte zeigt die Sektoren Berlins, die ab dem 24. Juni 1948 von der Sowjetunion blockiert wurden, sowie die Korridore der Luftbrücke der alliierten Streitkräfte, die bis zum 12. Mai 1949 dauerte.

The Berlin Blockade, imposed by the Soviet Union on 24 June 1948, causes a food shortage, forcing Berliners to grow their own fruit and vegetables.

Wenige Tage nach dem Beginn der Berliner Blockade am 24. Juni 1948 analysiert die französische Tageszeitung Le Monde die möglichen Auswirkungen der Blockade auf den Verlauf der Gespräche zwischen der Sowjetunion, den Vereinigten Staaten und dem Vereinten Königreich über die Besatzung der Stadt durch die vier Siegermächte.

On 1 and 12 July 1948, Albert Wehrer, Head of the Luxembourg mission to the Allied Control Council in Berlin, sends several letters to Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, in which he describes the state of tension in Berlin after the access routes to the former German capital were blocked by the Soviets.

Two weeks after the start of the Berlin Blockade by the Soviet Union on 24 June 1948, the United States sends a note to the Soviet Government expressing its resolve not to abandon the people of Berlin in the face of Soviet pressure.

On 14 July 1948, in a letter addressed to the US and British Governments, the Soviet authorities accuse the Western Allies of having breached the four-power agreements on the control of Berlin.

On 30 July 1948, in a memorandum addressed to the Soviet authorities in Berlin, the British, French and US representatives reject the reasons put forward by Moscow for closing the access routes to Berlin.

‘Over the lime (Linden) trees’. In July 1948 the German satirical magazine Der Tintenfisch portrays the hegemonic policy of the Soviet Union in Berlin and Moscow’s overt desire to see the Western Allies leave the former German capital.

On 3 August 1948, the British, French and US Governments deliver to Joseph Stalin a note in which they call on the Soviet Union to put an end to the military blockade of Berlin.

On 1 July 1948, the Italian newspaper Il nuovo Corriere della Sera explains how the Berlin Blockade fits into the scheme of the Cold War and considers the fate of Germany.

„Die Zerreißprobe.“ Am 1. Juli 1948, nach Beginn der Berlin-Blockade durch die Sowjets, illustriert der Karikaturist Mirko Szewczuk „die Zerreißprobe“ zwischen der Sowjetunion und den westlichen Alliierten (Vereinigte Staaten, Vereinigtes Königreich, Frankreich) über den Status der Stadt.

‘Note after note — Fear not! We shall feed him so many strongly worded notes that he will no longer have any appetite for you …’ On 17 July 1948, some weeks after the start of the Berlin Blockade, the German cartoonist Lang comments ironically on the Western Allies’ response to the real threat posed by the Soviet Union to the city of Berlin.

In July 1948, British cartoonist Ernest Howard Shepard emphasises the Western Allies’ determination to present a united front against the decision taken by the Soviet Allies to block access to the Western zones of Berlin.

On 20 September 1948, Alexandre Parodi, permanent French delegate to the United Nations Security Council, expresses to Trygve Lie, first Secretary-General of the UN, France’s wish that the Security Council will intervene on the issue of the Berlin Blockade.

In October 1948, Joseph Stalin gives an interview to the Soviet Communist daily newspaper Pravda in which he outlines his position on the Berlin Blockade and deplores the aggressive policy of the Western bloc towards the USSR.

On 5 October 1948, in response to questions from East German journalists, Marshal Vasily Sokolovsky, Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, outlines the causes of the Berlin Crisis.

On 27 October 1948, André François-Poncet, former French Ambassador to Germany, condemns in the French Conservative daily newspaper Le Figaro the Soviet policy on Berlin and calls for an end to the Blockade.

Das deutsche Nachrichtenmagazin Der Spiegel untersucht die diplomatischen Beziehungen zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und der Sowjetunion während der Berliner Blockade im Jahre 1949.

In 1948, Vincent Auriol, the first President of the Fourth French Republic, expresses his concern about the consequences of the Berlin Blockade. In favour of an agreement with the Soviet Union in order to defuse the situation, he refuses to lend his support to the American policy.

The blockade imposed by the Soviet Union around the Western sectors of Berlin from 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949 forces the Western Allies to organise an airlift along air corridors specifically allocated to aircraft supplying the cut-off city.

Diagram of the Berlin Airlift showing the flight paths and altitudes of Allied aircraft.

The blockade imposed by the Soviet Union around the western sectors of Berlin from 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949 forced the Western Allies to establish an airlift along air corridors specifically allocated to aircraft supplying the cut-off city. In July 1948, the cartoonist of the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau points out the implications of the airlift, whose initial objective is to supply Berlin while, above all, symbolically protecting Europe against the Soviet threat.

In July 1948, as the Soviet authorities impose the Berlin Blockade, British cartoonist Ernest Howard Shepard takes an ironic look at the vain attempts by Moscow to put an end to the airlift organised by the Western Allies in order to bring supplies to West Berlin.

On 4 August 1948, Lieutenant-General Hugh Gray Martin, military correspondent of the British daily newspaper The Daily Telegraph, gives a personal account of the various stages in the organisation and the workings of the airlift to the western zones of Berlin.

Am 15. September 1948 kommentiert der britische Karikaturist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth die Luftbrücke der westlichen Alliierten zur Versorgung Westberlins und ironisiert über die neue Missionen der britischen Piloten der Royal Air Force, der Helden der Schlacht um England, die drei Jahre nach dem Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges Berlin über den Luftweg mit Lebensmitteln versorgen müssen.

„Kein Durchgang, Joe!“ Am 27. September 1948 betont der britische Karikaturist Leslie Gilbert Illingworth die Wirksamkeit der Luftbrücke zur Versorgung der Westsektoren Berlins, die seit dem 24. Juni 1948 durch die sowjetische Blockade isoliert sind. Von unten nach oben: Josef Stalin, Generalsekretär des ZK der Kommunistischen Partei der Sowjetunion; Wjatscheslaw Molotow, sowjetischer Außenminister; Andrei Wyschinski, ständiger Vertreter der Sowjetunion im Sicherheitsrat der Vereinten Nationen, die vergeblich versuchen, die ununterbrochene Reihe von Flugzeugen zur Versorgung West-Berlins zu stoppen.

In einer am 1. November 1948 gehaltenen Rede verurteilt Otto Grotewohl, Vorsitzender der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), die Schaffung einer Luftbrücke durch die Westmächte und bezeichnet die Blockade Berlins durch die Sowjetunion als bloße Erfindung.

In February 1949, the Western allies proudly display the millionth tonne of supplies to arrive in the Western sectors of Berlin, currently cut off by the blockade imposed by the Soviet forces on 24 June 1948.

In 1949, the cartoonist, Mirko Szewczuk, illustrates how Lucius D. Clay, US General and organiser of the airlift, circumvents the Soviet blockade of West Berlin.

Vom 24. Juni 1948 bis zum 12. Mai 1949 sollten mehr als 270 000 Flüge notwendig sein, um die westlichen Sektoren Berlins zu versorgen, die von den sowjetischen Behörden als Folge einer Währungsreform der Amerikaner, Briten und Franzosen abgeriegelt worden waren.

Dans ses Mémoires, l'ancien président américain Harry S.Truman se souvient des conséquences du blocus soviétique des secteurs occidentaux de Berlin en juin 1948 et décrit le pont aérien mis en place par les Alliés occidentaux pour ravitailler Berlin-Ouest.

In May 1949, West Berliners and the Western forces celebrate the return to normality and the success of the Airlift, which forced the Soviet Union to reopen access routes to the Western sectors of the city on 12 May 1949.

On 9 May 1949, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany specifies the measures concerning the lifting of the Berlin Blockade on 12 May 1949.

On 4 May 1949, after lengthy negotiations, the representatives of the Governments of the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union adopt a joint communiqué announcing that the Berlin Blockade is to be lifted on 12 May 1949.

On 5 May 1949, a few days before the lifting of the Berlin Blockade by the Soviets, the Dutch daily newspaper Het Parool looks at the consequences of the blockade for the Soviet Union and Western Europe.

Am 12. Mai 1949 berichtet die deutsche Tageszeitung Süddeutsche Zeitung über die Aufhebung der Berlin-Blockade durch die Sowjetunion und befasst sich mit der Zukunft der in vier Zonen aufgeteilten Stadt.

On 7 July 1949, the British left-wing daily newspaper The Manchester Guardian describes the economic consequences of the lifting of restrictions on Berlin and the influx of consumer products into the German capital.