Posts Tagged ‘Glienicke Bridge’

Gatow Airport Played Key Role in Berlin Airlift

Monday, November 25th, 2019

 

Did you know that Berlin’s Gatow Airport handled more than one-third of all Berlin Airlift flights? The credit usually goes to Tempelhof Airport alone, but in fact, three airports were involved in the Berlin Airlift: Berlin-Tempelhof in the American sector, Berlin-Gatow in the British sector and Berlin-Tegel in the French Sector.

Militaer Historisches Museum - Berlin Gatow, Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Militaer Historisches Museum – Berlin Gatow, Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2019. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Reason for the Berlin Airlift

At the end of World War II, Germany and Berlin were divided into four occupation sectors: American, British, French and Russian. Berlin ended up deep within the Soviet zone. As part of the 1945 Potsdam Agreement, the three western Allies had negotiated free access from their West German occupation zones to their respective sectors of Berlin. In 1948, contrary to this agreement, the Soviets blocked all land and water access to West Berlin. The three Western Allies continued to support West Berlin and flew in all coal, food, and medications. The operation was known as the Berlin Airlift. Soon, an Allied plane landed every three minutes. Eleven months later, the Soviets called off the Berlin Blockade.

Gatow Airport’s Role During the Berlin Airlift

The very first planes to fly supplies into West Berlin landed at Gatow Airport, starting on 18 June 1948. Flights landed at Tempelhof Airport starting on 26 June 1948, and flights to Tegel Airport started on 5 November 1948. Both, Gatow and Tempelhof were high-tech airfields and among the first in the world to be equipped with a radar system to support ground-controlled approaches. At the time the Berlin Airlift started, two of Gatow’s runways were already in operation. A third one would be constructed shortly. Altogether, Gatow Airport handled more than 115,000 airlift flights out of a total of almost 278,000 flight to all three West Berlin airports combined.

History of Gatow Airfield

The Gatow airfield was originally constructed in 1934 and 1935 by the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force. Towards the end of World War II, advancing Red Army troops occupied the airport. Following the division of Berlin, the Soviet forces relinquished the field to the British forces in exchange for a locality at the western edge of Berlin.

Many different types of aircraft landed at Gatow Airport. Conventional transport aircraft brought coal, food and other goods. Bomber aircraft converted into tankers delivered fuels. The nearby Havel River was used as runway for flying boats. On their return flights some planes took passengers aboard. Almost 7,500 sick and undernourished children were flown from Gatow to West Germany via these flying boats.

Escapes to Gatow from East Germany

At least three successful escapes were made from East Germany to Gatow: On 7 April 1978 and 15 July 1987, a total of three East Germans defected by flying light aircrafts. Both planes were dismantled and returned to East Germany. On 24 June 1979, an East German pilot defected in a glider and landed at Gatow. The sailplane was handed back to East Germany at the Glienicke Bridge, the bridge of spies.

Today’s Use of the Airfield

Following German reunification, the British Royal Air Force stopped using Gatow Airport and handed it back to the German Armed Forces in 1994. Thereafter, the airfield was closed and the runways were cut in half. The western half became home to a housing project, and the eastern half houses the Militaer Historisches Museum, a branch of the German Armed Forces Military Museum.

 

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.

 

Cold War Checkpoint Charlie – Part 1

Monday, April 4th, 2016

For almost three decades – from 1961 to 1990 – Checkpoint Charlie was an important border crossing point between East and West Berlin. It was located in the Friedrichstrasse, near Zimmerstrasse, on the western side of the border. Along with Glienicker Bruecke (Glienicke Bridge) Checkpoint Charlie was the most prominent border crossing point during the Cold War.

Checkpoint Charlie’s Function

Checkpoint Charlie was a sentry post of the Western Allies and the main demarcation point between Western-occupied West Berlin and Soviet-occupied East Berlin. Its main function was to register and brief Allied military personnel prior to entering the eastern sector. It was also the only point where diplomats, journalists and foreign tourists could cross into Berlin’s Soviet sector. Germans were prohibited from using this checkpoint. Checkpoint Charlie could be passed by foot or by car. Any visit to the eastern sector required a one-day visa and the exchange of a specified amount of West German Marks for East German Marks. The exchange rate was set at 1:1 even though the official rate of exchange was 4:1.

Warning to anyone about to venture into the eastern sector of Berlin, photo at Checkpoint Charlie © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

Warning to anyone about to venture into the eastern sector of Berlin, photo at Checkpoint Charlie © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

Where did Checkpoint Charlie get its name?

The name “Charlie” came from the letter C in the NATO phonetic alphabet. There were two other Allied checkpoints in Germany: Checkpoint Bravo at Drewitz-Dreilinden (the border between East Germany and West Berlin) and Checkpoint Alpha at Helmstedt-Marienborn (the border between West Germany and East Germany).

Checkpoint Charlie operated for 29 years

During most of that time, the western side of Checkpoint Charlie consisted of nothing more than a tiny wooden shack and a few sandbags. In the 1980s, the original guardhouse was replaced by a larger metal structure. But it, too, was modest compared to the East German checkpoint. The unassuming appearance of the western side was intentional. With this simple shack, the Western Allies tried to convey that they did not consider the Berlin Wall to be a legitimate border. The East German side of Checkpoint Charlie, on the other hand, included guard towers, cement barriers and a building where the inspection of vehicles and passengers took place. Searches included heat scans to detect fugitives. To read about Checkpoint Charlie’s role in the East/West showdown in October 1961 and the current location of the old guardhouse, please visit http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/cold-war-checkpoint-charlie-part-2/

 

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.

Glienicker Bruecke – Bridge of Spies

Wednesday, November 26th, 2014

Glienicker Bruecke (Glienicke Bridge) is located in Germany and connects Brandenburg’s capital Potsdam to Berlin’s Wannsee district. Since the division of Berlin, the border between Soviet-occupied East Berlin and the US-occupied western sector of Berlin ran right through the center of the bridge. For this reason, the Western Allies and the Soviets used Glienicke Bridge during the Cold War years to exchange captured spies.

Glienicker Bruecke – History

Today’s Glienicker Bruecke, is the fourth bridge that spans the Havel River on this site. The first bridge was build around 1660 and was made of wood. In order to accommodate increased traffic between Berlin and the Emperor’s new castle in Potsdam, the wooden bridge was replaced with a brick and wood drawbridge in the first quarter of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the drawbridge no longer met the needs of the populace and was replaced with an iron bridge. But at the end of World War II, in April 1945, an unexploded shell severely damaged Glienicke Bridge. Reconstruction was completed in 1949 and the East German government renamed it “Bridge of Unity” because of the close proximity of East and West.

During the Cold War years, East German authorities closed the bridge to the people of West Berlin and West Germany in 1952 and also to East German citizens in 1961, when the Berlin Wall was constructed. Soon, Glienicker Bruecke became a favored point of exchange of secret agents between East and West. By the 1970s, the bridge needed significant repairs. West Berlin repaired its half to the bridge in 1980 and the East German half of the structure in 1985. The deal included a provision that the East German authorities would rename the bridge “Glienicker Bruecke” once again. One day after the opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the bridge also reopened to pedestrians.

1960 - Tourists having their picture taken on the western side of Glienicker Bruecke, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2014

1960 – Tourists having their picture taken on the western side of Glienicker Bruecke, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2014

Glienicker Bruecke – Bridge of Spies

During the Cold War, Glienicker Bruecke became the site of three well-known East/West spy exchanges, which resulted it the name “Bridge of Spies.”

1962 – The US exchanges Soviet Intelligence officer Vilyam Genrikhovich Fisher (also known as Rudolf Abel) for American pilot Francis Gary Powers whose U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace and the American Ph.D. student Frederic L. Pryor. The exchange inspired the 2015 movie, “Bridge of Spies, starring Tom Hanks as James Donovan, Abel’s defense attorney, and Sebastian Koch as the East German attorney Wolfgang Vogel who brokered some of the most famous spy swaps between East and West.  For more information on Wolfgang Vogel’s involvement, visit http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/wolfgang-vogel-east-german-profiteer/

1964 – The United Kingdom exchanges Soviet intelligence officer Konon Molody for British spy Greville Wynne.

1986 – The US exchanges Czech spies Karl and Hana Koecher, Soviet spy Yevgeni Zemlyakov, Polish spy Marian Zacharski and East German spy Detlef Scharfenorth for human rights campaigner Anatoly Sharansky and three low-level Western spies. http://www.planet-wissen.de/politik_geschichte/ddr/geteilte_stadt_berlin/agententausch.jsp

 

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.