‘Warning: RIAS poison’. In 1952, the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) publishes a poster condemning the broadcasts of RIAS (Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor), a US radio station whose studios are located in West Berlin.

On 10 February 1953, the Dutch UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, forwards to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) an initial report on the persistent mass influx of refugees from East Germany into the FRG and outlines the measures taken to house them.

In February 1953, Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, the Dutch United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, draws up an Action Plan to assist the large number of refugees flooding into West Germany.

On 17 June 1953, the main political parties in West Berlin openly support the demands of the East Berlin strikers and call for the peaceful reunification of Germany.

Following the events of 17 June 1953, Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), expresses to the Bundestag his Government’s solidarity with the striking East German workers.

On 17 June 1953, General Pavel Dibrova, military commander of East Berlin, declares a state of emergency in the Soviet sector of Berlin.

On 18 June 1953, in a note addressed to the Soviet Control Commission in East Berlin, the Commandants of the US, British and French forces in West Berlin express their indignation at the Soviet troops’ brutal intervention to control the workers’ riots in East Berlin and throughout the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

On 18 June 1953, the Bavarian newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung describes the intervention of the Soviet armed forces the previous day to bring the workers’ riots in East Berlin under control.

On 20 June 1953, in his reply to the US, British and French Commandants in West Berlin, the Soviet Commandant justifies the repressive policy of the Soviet Union and accuses the Western Powers of supporting the rioters in the Eastern sector of Berlin.

In its editorial of 23 June 1953, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung considers the consequences of the workers' riot in East Berlin on 17 June.

On 24 June 1953, German weekly Der Spiegel comments on the scenes of unrest that were witnessed on 17 June in East Berlin.

On 23 July 1953, the US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, writes a letter to the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, in which he comments on the workers’ uprising in East Berlin and reaffirms the importance of working together for the reunification of a free and democratic Germany.

Map published by the Federal Ministry for All-German Affairs on the popular uprising of 17 June 1953 in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and in East Berlin.

On 16 and 17 June 1953, strikes and demonstrations in East Berlin and throughout the Soviet zone lead to the intervention of the police force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR): for the inhabitants of East Germany, this signifies the end of democracy.

The workers' riots on 16 and 17 June 1953 in East Berlin sounded the death knell for democracy for all East Germans.

Jakob Kaiser, Federal Minister for All-German Affairs, sees the workers' revolt in East Berlin on 17 June 1953 as an appeal to the free world for German reunification.

On 18 June 1953, the day after the workers’ revolt in East Berlin, the Soviet newspaper Pravda gives the Soviet viewpoint on these events.

On 16 and 17 June 1953, strikes and demonstrations by workers in East Berlin and throughout the Soviet occupation zone lead to the intervention of the police forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the tanks of the Soviet occupation forces. Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), protests on behalf of all Germans and sets the reunification of Germany as his ultimate political goal.

On 10 November 1958, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, deplores Western policy concerning the German Democratic Republic and the City of Berlin.

On 27 November 1958, in a note sent to the US Administration, the Government of the Soviet Union questions the division of Berlin into four sectors and expresses its wish to renegotiate the status of the German city.

On 31 December 1958, in reply to the Soviet note dated 27 November 1958, the United States Administration reaffirms its support for West Berlin and refutes the arguments put forward by the Soviet Union in support of a change in the status of the City of Berlin.

On 16 December 1958, following suggestion by Moscow that West Berlin be granted the status of a free city, the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) renews its guarantees with regard to the presence of American, British and French troops in West Berlin.

‘No way through — go back the way you came’. This is the order issued by the Soviets in December 1958 when faced with Westerners waiting at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

On 5 January 1959, in a note sent to the Soviet leaders, the West German Government deplores the Soviet Union’s proposals regarding a change in the status of Berlin and refutes the accusations made by the USSR against the Federal Republic of Germany.

On 16 March 1959, the US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, delivers an address in which he considers the question of the status of the City of Berlin and deplores Soviet policy on the former German capital.

On 30 May 1959, at a conference in Geneva attended by the Foreign Ministers of the Four Powers, the Soviet representative, Andrei Gromyko, outlines the advantages of the conversion of Berlin into a free, demilitarised city.

On 5 June 1959, at the Four-Power Conference in Geneva, the US Secretary of State, Christian A. Herter, criticises Moscow’s position on the settling of the question regarding the status of the City of Berlin and reaffirms the United States’ support for the citizens of West Berlin.

On 15 June 1959, illustrating the settlement of the status of the City of Berlin, the British cartoonist, Michael Cummings, considers the risk of military confrontation between the Western powers and the Soviet Union (rocket on the left, from left to right: the US President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, the French President, Charles de Gaulle, the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, and the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan. Rocket on the right: Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and his Foreign Minister, Andrei Gromyko).

On 21 May 1960, Nikita Khrushchev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, gives an address at the Sports Arena in East Berlin beneath a banner calling for an end to provocations by the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), as well as for general disarmament.

During meetings with the US President John F. Kennedy held in Vienna on 3 and 4 June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, reiterates his proposals for the conclusion of a peace treaty with Germany and for West Berlin to be granted the status of a free city.

On 17 July 1961, the United States forwards to Andrei Gromyko, Soviet Foreign Minister, an official note protesting against Moscow’s proposal to put an end to the four-power agreements governing the status of the City of Berlin.

On 19 July 1961, the US President, John F. Kennedy, criticises the controversial proposals set out in the Soviet aide-mémoire of 4 June 1961 relating to the status of the City of Berlin.

On 25 July 1961, in a speech on the Berlin crisis, the US President John F. Kennedy warns the USSR against any false moves in Berlin and calls for increased US military spending in order to counter the Communist threat.

On 25 July 1961, in a speech on the Berlin crisis, the US President John F. Kennedy warns the USSR against any false moves in Berlin and calls for increased US military spending in order to counter the Communist threat.

On 8 August 1961, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir outlines the diplomatic implications of the settlement of the issue of the status of City of Berlin.

On 21 November 1961, during an address given to the National Press Club in Washington, the Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak draws attention to the issue of settling the status of Berlin.

'Berlin viewpoints'. In January 1962, the international status of the City of Berlin is a stumbling-block and a cause of tension between East and West.

On 2 July 1962, the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera gives an account of the difficult negotiations between US and Soviet diplomats over the future status of the City of Berlin.

On 25 August 1962, commenting on the removal of the Soviet military command from Berlin, the French daily newspaper Le Monde refers to the dispute between the three Western Allies and the Soviet Union over the future status of Berlin.

Border-crossing point in the American sector of divided Berlin, nicknamed ‘Checkpoint Charlie'.

On 12 August 1961, the authorities of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) block the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin. US soldiers immediately prepare to face the East German National People’s Army.

On 12 August 1961, the East German Government issues a decree condemning the imperialist aims and aggressive policy of the West towards the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and providing for very strict border controls between East and West Berlin.

On 13 August 1961, the Member States of the Warsaw Pact publish a joint statement in which they condemn the imperialist policy of the West and justify blocking the border between East and West Berlin.

On 13 August 1961, Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State, criticises the measures adopted by the East German authorities to restrict freedom of movement to the West for the inhabitants of East Berlin and for the citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Troops and police officers from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) watch the building of the Berlin Wall (13–14 August 1961).

On 15 August 1961, the Commandants of the Western sectors of Berlin send a note to their Soviet counterpart to protest against the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Map showing the successive stages of demarcation between the Soviet Zone and the three Western Zones of Berlin, followed by the building of the wall and the establishment of access points between West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

On 12 August 1961, in a bid to put a stop to the mass emigration of East German nationals to the Western sectors of Berlin, the authorities in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) decide to build a wall between the Eastern and Western sectors of Berlin.

During the night of 12 to 13 August 1961, some 15 000 members of the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) block the roads and railways leading to the western sectors of Berlin and begin putting up fencing and barbed wire around West Berlin. The building of the Berlin Wall, separating the eastern and western sectors of the city, becomes a symbol of the division of Germany and of Europe.

On 15 August 1961, this soldier in the People's Army of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) deserts and flees to the Western sector of Berlin.

Since 13 August 1961, a wall erected by the authorities of the German Democratic Republic has separated East and West Berlin. This is the Brandenburg Gate.

During the visit to Berlin of US Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson on 16 August 1961, Berliners hold aloft placards criticising the lack of reaction from the Allied forces to the construction of the wall separating the city in two a few days earlier.

‘It's not just Berlin that's at stake!' In August 1961, the cartoonist Fritz Behrendt illustrates the Berlin crisis and warns against Soviet plans to conquer the globe.

On 17 August 1961, the US Ambassador to West Germany expresses his indignation at the closure, by the East German authorities, of the borders between East and West Berlin during the night of 12 to 13 August 1961.

In this note to the Soviet authorities, dated 17 August 1961, the representative of the French Government in West Germany expresses France’s indignation at the closure of the border between East and West Berlin by the East German authorities during the night of 12–13 August 1961.

On 18 August 1961, the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, makes a statement to the Bundestag condemning the closure of the border between West and East Berlin by the authorities in the Soviet occupation zone during the night of 12–13 August 1961.

Starting on 13 August 1961, the Berlin Wall was built in the very centre of the German capital, separating the Soviet sector from the Western sectors. This hermetic seal aimed to prevent thousands of East German citizens from fleeing to the West. This photo, taken on the Harzer Straße, shows workers, closely monitored by soldiers from the German Democratic Republic, busy constructing the wall.

On 18 November 1961, Willy Brandt, Governing Mayor of Berlin, addresses the Bundestag and denounces the building of the Berlin Wall and the violation by the Soviet Union of the city’s four-power status.

On 18 August 1961, the Soviet Commandant in Berlin sends a note to his Western counterparts in which he justifies the construction of the Berlin Wall.

During the night of 12 to 13 August 1961, the authorities of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) erect a wall which separates the eastern and western sectors of Berlin. As a sign of their support for the people of the West German enclave, Lyndon B. Johnson, Vice President of the United States, and General Lucius D. Clay, organiser of the Berlin Airlift during the 1948 blockade, travel to Berlin. However, Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), will not be able to go to West Berlin himself until some days later, as the Americans do not wish to spark further provocation. The reunification of Germany seems to become a little more distant still.

‘Thus far and no further …’ In August 1961, Ernst Maria Lang, German cartoonist, commenting on the construction of the Berlin Wall, describes the American reaction to the territorial appetites of the Soviet ‘ogre’.

On 13 August 1962, to mark the first anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, people living in the Western sectors of the City hold a rally in front of one of the symbols of the Cold War.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, gives a historic address in the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, he declares ‘Ich bin ein Berliner', implying that every inhabitant of the ‘free world' is behind the Berliners in the city's American, British and French zones.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, gives a historic address in the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, he declares ‘Ich bin ein Berliner', making it clear that every inhabitant of the ‘free world' is behind the Berliners in the city's American, British and French zones.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, gives a historic address in the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, he declares ‘Ich bin ein Berliner', making it clear that every inhabitant of the ‘free world' is behind the Berliners in the city's American, British and French zones.

On 26 June 1963, the final day of his official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, travels to West Berlin, where he receives a triumphant welcome. The photo shows the US President, accompanied by the current Mayor of West Berlin, Willy Brandt, and the German Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, being greeted by a jubilant crowd.

On 26 June 1963, during his official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), the US President, John F. Kennedy, visits the City of Berlin and the Wall that divides the City into two distinct areas.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, visits West Berlin and contemplates the ‘wall of shame’, accompanied by Willy Brandt, the Mayor of West Berlin.

‘Two worlds in Berlin.’ On 26 June 1963, the German cartoonist, Bensch, illustrates the visit to Berlin, in the middle of the Cold War, of the US President, John F. Kennedy, and emphasises the hope of freedom that this trip imagines in the West German people faced by the oppressive, police state regime of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) led by Walter Ulbricht.

The outer limit of the ‘Iron Curtain’ is symbolised by three former boundary posts which mark the meeting point between the territories of the former Duchies of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Saxe-Meiningen and the former Kingdom of Bavaria.

The ‘Iron Curtain’ divides the East German border town of Hirschberg, on the banks of the River Saale.

Sketch representing the ‘Iron Curtain’ at the edge of the Soviet zone, published in May 1965 by the Federal Ministry for All-German Questions.

On 14 August 1961, the East German daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung condemns the imperialist policies of the West and welcomes the decision taken by the Government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to build a wall preventing movement between the eastern and western zones of the capital.

On 14 August 1961, the West Berlin newspaper Der Abend lambastes the decision taken by the East German Government to close off militarily the border between the Eastern and Western zones of the capital on the night of 12 and 13 August 1961.

On 14 August 1961, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung paints an alarming picture of the situation in Berlin after the decision by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to erect an impassable border between East and West Berlin during the night of 12 to 13 August.

On 15 August 1961, the French daily newspaper Le Monde publishes statements by Konrad Adenauer, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, criticising the closure of the East German border posts in Berlin.

On 15 August 1961, the French daily newspaper Le Monde describes the reactions of Willy Brandt, the Mayor of West Berlin, to the closure of the East German border in Berlin during the night of 12–13 August 1961.

On 15 August 1961, commenting on the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera deplores the strike carried out by East German and Soviet leaders and expresses concern over the fate of the citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

In August 1961, in an article in the French monthly publication Le Monde diplomatique, the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Willy Brandt, gives his reaction to the unilateral decision taken by the Soviet authorities to construct a wall in Berlin separating the eastern and western zones of the city.

On 16 August 1961, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung condemns the decision taken by the East German authorities to erect an impassable wall between East and West Berlin and emphasises the importance of diplomatic talks to resolve the German question.

On 16 August 1961, the cartoonist Lang deplores the attitude of Walter Ulbricht, the First Secretary of the East German Communist Party, who ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall during the night of 12–13 August in order to prevent large numbers of East Germans from escaping to West Germany. Lang describes this as ‘The Cutting’.

‘Quick Comrades, another wall — there are swarms of public enemies and spies!’ In August 1961, Walter Ulbricht, Secretary-General of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), orders the closure of crossing points to the West and the building of a wall to stem the exodus of East German nationals to the FRG.

‘The balance of terror'. In October 1961, facing the risk of military escalation in Berlin, the cartoonist Abu portrays, in the British left-wing Sunday newspaper The Observer, a world that is prey to human folly.

On 24 August 1962, the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera condemns the death of a young man, Peter Fechter, shot down by East German border guards at the foot of the Berlin Wall, and deplores the political and economic situation in East Berlin.

On 27 June 1963, commenting on the visit of US President, John F. Kennedy, to West Berlin the previous day, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung considers the German question and the division of Berlin.