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Gail Halvorsen – Berlin Airlift hero

Monday, May 9th, 2016

Retired US Air Force Colonel Gail Halvorsen was a First Lieutenant when he was told to help airlift flour, dried eggs, dried potatoes, dried milk and coal into West Berlin during the Berlin Blockade of 1948/49. The purpose of the mission was to keep West Berlin’s 2.2 million population from starvation. The Berlin Airlift was the biggest humanitarian aid mission in history, and Colonel Halvorsen remains one of its unforgotten heroes. The children of Berlin called him Uncle Wiggly Wings.

Why was Berlin blockaded?

Following Word War II, Germany was divided into four zones. American, British, French and Soviet forces occupied the country. Berlin, the capital, was also split into four sectors, and West Berlin ended up 100 miles inside the Soviet occupation zone. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/allied-control-council-governs-germany/ By 1948, the Soviets tried to get the three Western occupation powers to withdraw from Berlin. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlin-blockade-and-the-cold-war/ To hasten the process, the Soviets blocked all land and water access to West Berlin. Now, trucks, trains and barges were no longer able to supply West Berlin with food and coal. In an unprecedented logistical feat, the three Western Allies decided to supply West Berlin from the air in what is commonly known as the Berlin Airlift. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlin-airlift-unprecedented-feat/ For eleven months, supply planes landed every few minutes at West Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport. On 12 May 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade.

How Gail Halvorsen became a Berlin Airlift hero

In a 2007 essay, the now 95-year-old Colonel Gail Halvorsen explains why the children of Berlin knew him as “Uncle Wiggly Wings.” In 1948, the beginning of the blockade, the U.S. Air Force ordered him to fly life-sustaining essentials into West Berlin. Day and night he flew a C-54 Skymaster filled with staples into West Berlin. He flew in thunderstorms, fog, ice and snow. Off duty, he slept in the loft of a farmer’s old barn. From his cockpit Gail Halvorsen could see the moonscape that had once been the grand capital of Germany. Many buildings were mere shells. Rubble everywhere. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/legacy-of-rubble-women/

One day in July, when he was off duty, Colonel Gail Halvorsen walked to the end of the runway to film aircraft landings. A group of about 30 children stood behind the barbed wire fence. He walked over to the children, fully expecting them to beg for sweets as he had previously experienced in other parts of the world. But these children didn’t beg. They appeared so grateful for the flour he delivered that they didn’t think it proper to ask for more. Impressed, Gail Halvorsen reached into his pocket for some gum. But all he found were two sticks of Wrigley’s Doublemint – two sticks for 30 children. He broke them in half and passed them through the barbed wire. Now the children surprised him even more. They broke the gum into as many pieces as possible and shared them. They then tore the wrappers into pieces as well and handed them to the children who had gone without gum. The latter stuck their noses into the wrappers to savor the minty smell. Without fighting over the gum, every little face was lit with glee. Colonel Gail Halvorsen was so moved by the children’s restraint that he promised to drop more gum the next day so that every child could enjoy a piece. When the children asked how they would recognize his plane, he said he would wiggle the aircraft’s wings.

Then First Lieutenant Gail Halvorsen surrounded by Berlin children, photo courtesy of archive.defense.gov

The following day, Gail Halvorsen made good on his promise. He fashioned three little parachutes from handkerchiefs, attached packages of sweets to them and dropped the small canopies from his plane just prior to landing. From then on he continued to drop candy from his plane, even in the Soviet sector. His generous deed caught on. By the end of the Berlin Airlift, Colonel Gail Halvorsen along with many other pilots, had dropped over 20 tons of chocolate, gum and candy over Berlin. In 1974, Uncle Wiggly Wings was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit in Berlin for his role in the Berlin Airlift.

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.

Tags: "Uncle Wiggly Wings", Berlin Airlift, Berlin Blockade, Gail S. Halvorsen, German Federal Cross of Merit, Tempelhof Airport
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Berlin Airlift – unprecedented feat

Monday, May 2nd, 2016

In response to the Berlin Blockade http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/berlin-blockade-and-the-cold-war/the Western Allies (United States, Great Britain and France) organized the Berlin Airlift. The miles flown to supply Berlin from the air between 24 June 1948 and 12 May 1949 equaled almost the distance between the earth and the sun.

Berlin Airlift Memorial at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport. The inscription at its base reads “They gave their lives for the freedom of Berlin in service of the Berlin Airlift 1948/49”, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

The Berlin Blockade meant eminent starvation

When the Soviets severed all land and water connections between West Germany and West Berlin in June 1948, there were only 35 days worth of food and 45 days worth of coal left in the city. The power generated provided only 2.5 hours worth of electricity during a 24-hour period. Starvation loomed. Convinced that the United States, Great Britain and France had little choice but to surrender West Berlin, the Soviet military administration celebrated. But their bash was premature.

To try or not to try the Berlin Airlift?

The Soviet Blockade had convinced the three Western Allies that remaining in Berlin was essential to stemming the spread of Communism. Since all surface routes to West Berlin were blockaded, the only alternative was to supply West Berlin by air. There were three previously negotiated air corridors. But the task was enormous. Never before had a population this large (2 million) been supplied from the air. Estimates indicated that about 4,000 to 5,000 tons per day would have to be airlifted to supply the city. And those were summer figures when there was no need for heat. During the winter months the total tonnage required to be airlifted would be closer to 6,000 tons per day. Nonetheless, the American and British military agreed to try a joint operation. The U.S. part of the operation was named Operation Vittles; the British one was dubbed Operation Plainfare. In September 1948, the Australian military joined with Operation Pelican.

The Berlin Airlift begins

On 25 June 1948, only one day after the start of the Berlin Blockade, the American military commander, General Lucius D. Clay, gave the order to launch Operation Vittles. http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/lucius-d-clay-berlins-defender-of-freedom/ The next day, 32 planes hauled 80 tons of milk, flour and medicine to West Berlin. The first British aircraft flew on 28 June. During the first week, the airlift averaged only ninety tons a day, but by the second week it reached 1000 tons. Then Major General William H. Tunner was put in charge of the operation. He quickly doubled the tonnage and hours flown. Supply planes eventually flew in five altitudes, starting at 500 feet. Every three minutes a plane landed in West Berlin. He replaced the unloading crews unloading almost entirely with local people.

Typical aircraft flown during the Berlin Airlift, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

The Berlin Airlift ends

Although the Berlin Blockade ended on 12 May 1949, the Berlin Airlift continued until 30 September. The Western Allies stocked up on food, fuel, and other supplies, just in case the Soviets might resume the blockade. Between June 1948 and September 1949, the Berlin Airlift delivered more than 2.3 million tons of cargo on over 275,000 flights. Nearly two-thirds of the cargo was coal. Pilots came from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Tags: Berlin Airlift, Berlin Blockade, General Lucius. D. Clay, Major General William H. Tunner, Operation Pelican, Operation Plainfare, Operation Vittles
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Berlin Blockade and the Cold War

Monday, April 25th, 2016

Until the Berlin Blockade began in 1948, the United States had no intention of occupying West Berlin beyond the establishment of a new West German government in 1949. But the subsequent Berlin Blockade and ensuing Cold War kept the U.S. in West Berlin until 1994.

An important omission in the Potsdam Agreement

In the summer of 1945, in the aftermath of World War II, the three victorious powers (the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union) signed the Potsdam Agreement. This document laid down the legal framework for the occupation of Germany and re-affirmed rules previously hammered out at the Yalta Conference. Specifically, the Potsdam Agreement addressed the terms of the military occupation, division, territorial changes, reparations and reconstruction of Germany. Accordingly, Germany was divided into three zones. Berlin, the capital, was also divided into three sectors, despite the fact that the city was located 100 miles inside Soviet occupation territory. Three air corridors from West Germany to West Berlin had been negotiated in the Potsdam Agreement, but rail, road and water access were never discussed. This omission was to be the basis for endless frustration.

Quadripartite administration of Germany and Berlin

The Allies established the Allied Control Council http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/allied-control-council-governs-germany/ to execute resolutions concerning Germany and the Allied Kommandatura http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/allied-kommandatura-governs-berlin/ to implement resolutions concerning Berlin. When France joined the Allies as the fourth occupation power, its territories of Germany and Berlin were carved from the American and British occupation zones and sectors. The four Allies agreed to govern their respective zone and sector as they deemed fit, but unanimous agreement would be required in matters that concerned all of Germany or all of Berlin.

Events leading up to the Berlin Blockade

By 1948, the relationship between the four powers had gone sour. The three western powers wanted to help rebuilt Germany to stabilize the European continent, with the hope that it would prevent Communism from spreading. The Soviets preferred a weak Germany and an unstable continent, with the hope that it would provide fertile ground for the spread of Communism. It did not take long before the Soviets regretted having agreed to share the city of Berlin with the Western Allies. Now they wanted nothing more than for the three western powers to get out of West Berlin. Quadripartite control became unworkable. On 20 March 1948, the Allied Control Council met for the last time. On 16 June 1948, the Allied Kommandatura assembled for the last time. The Soviet delegation walked out for good.

After the Soviets had left the table, the three Western Allies made decisions concerning their occupation territories without Soviet input. On 21 June 1948, the Western Allies introduced a new currency in the western zones and sectors. They introduced the Deutsche Mark. The Soviets, who had not been consulted, objected vehemently. On 22 June 1948, the Soviets also introduced their own new currency in the eastern zone.

From Berlin Blockade to Berlin Airlift

On 24 June 1948, The Soviets blocked all rail, road and water connections between West Germany and West Berlin. They offered to lift the blockade only if the Western Allies agreed to withdraw the Deutsche Mark from West Berlin. The Western Allies refused. The Soviets stopped supplying agricultural goods to West Berlin and cut off the electricity generated in the Soviet zone and relied upon by the three western zones of Berlin. There was only enough food to last for 35 days and enough coal to last for 45 days.

With surface traffic between West Germany and West Berlin severed and in the absence of negotiated ground access rights to the city, the only remaining possibility was to try to supply West Berlin from the air. On June 26, 1948, American military commander Lucius D. Clay http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/lucius-d-clay-berlins-defender-of-freedom/ had the first planes in the air. The Berlin Airlift began and the Cold War heated up. The Berlin Blockade lasted from 24 June 1948 to 12 May 1949.

Tags: Allied Control Council, Allied Kommandatura, Berlin Blockade, Cold War, Deutsche Mark, Lucius D. Clay, Potsdam Agreement, quadripartite administration
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Lucius D. Clay – Berlin’s defender of freedom

Monday, April 18th, 2016

General Lucius D. Clay died in 1978. At his gravesite at West Point you’ll see a memorial. It was erected by the people of West Berlin and reads: Wir danken dem Bewahrer unserer Freiheit (We thank the defender of our freedom). Those words were spoken from the heart because General Clay literally saved West Berlin from starvation during the Berlin Blockade. I was only three years old when the blockade started in 1948, but I am keenly aware that I would not write about it today, had it not been for the actions of General Lucius D. Clay. Years later, when President John F. Kennedy dispatched Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson together with Lucius D. Clay to Berlin to shore up the spirits of Berliners during the Berlin Wall crisis, it was Clay whom we went to see. It was Clay whom we trusted.

General Lucius D. Clay and the Berlin Blockade

So how did the Berlin Blockade come about and what did General Lucius D. Clay do to earn the respect and the hearts of West Berlin’s population? Following World War II, Germany and the city of Berlin were divided into four sectors and occupied by British, French, American, and Soviet forces. On 23 June 1948, in an attempt to revive the German economy, the three western Allies issued a new currency, the Deutsche Mark. The Soviets vehemently opposed this action and in return blockaded all land and water access routes to West Berlin. With this move, they hoped to force the Western Allies take back the new currency and subsequently hand West Berlin to the Soviets. By blocking all deliveries of food and electricity they hoped to starve West Berliners into submitting to Soviet control.

At that time, Clay was military governor of the American section of occupied Germany. He decided to supply Berlin by air. Lucius D. Clay gave orders even before having received authorization from President Harry S. Truman. Within three days of the start of the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift started. It was an incredible logistical feat because never before had a population of 2 million been supplied from the air. But with the help of a man by the name of William H. Tunner, Clay fine-tuned the Airlift until planes landed every three minutes, twenty-four hours a day. Over the course of the next eleven months, General Clay directed some 277,800 flights, carrying 2.3 million tons of food and fuel to West Berlin. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1793.html.

The Berlin Airlift lasted 324 days. When the Soviets realized that the Western Allies could supply West Berlin indefinitely, they threw in the towel. The Berlin Blockade ended on 12 May 1949. It was Clay’s decisiveness and tenacity that saved Berliners from starvation.

General Lucius D. Clay (1898 to 1978)

Who was this man, General Lucius D. Clay?

Born in 1898 in Georgia to U.S. Senator Alexander Stephens Clay and Sarah Francis, Lucius DuBignon Clay was the youngest of six children. He graduated from West Point in 1918, became a military engineer and held various civil and military engineering posts during the 1920s and 1930s. During that time, he earned the reputation of being a hard-charging, chain-smoking, tireless and decisive worker who could turn chaos into order.

From 1947 to 1949, Clay was commander in chief of the U.S. Force in Europe and the military governor of war-torn Germany’s American Zone. General Lucius D. Clay also directed “A Report on Germany,” which became one of the source documents for The Marshall Plan. After retiring as a four-star general in 1949, Clay went into the private sector and became a successful business executive. Over time, he served on 18 corporate boards and became the principal architect of our Interstate highway system.

Tags: A Report on Germany, Berlin Airlift, Berlin Blockade, currency reform, Deutsche Mark, Lucius D. Clay, Marshall Plan, We thank the defender of our freedom, West Berlin, William H. Tunner
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Cold War Checkpoint Charlie – Part 2

Monday, April 11th, 2016

For almost 30 years Checkpoint Charlie embodied the Cold War. Only a small shack, erected in the wake of the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, it served as the main demarcation point between Western-occupied West Berlin and Soviet-occupied East Berlin. To read about Checkpoint Charlie’s function and how it came by the name, please visit http://walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/cold-war-checkpoint-charlie-part-1

Checkpoint Charlie and the East/West Showdown

Checkpoint Charlie became the scene of a nail-biting showdown between the United States and the Soviet Union. I remember it well because I lived in West Berlin at the time. According to Allied agreements, German personnel did not have the authority to inspect travel documents of members of the occupying military forces. But when U.S. diplomat Allan Lightner attempted to cross Checkpoint Charlie in October 1961 to attend the opera in East Berlin, East German border guards demanded to see his passport. Mr. Lightner refused, turned around and returned in the company of military jeeps and armed U.S. soldiers. The East German guards let him pass, but on the next occasion they again denied entry to American military personnel. The United States responded by moving ten tanks into position on their side of Checkpoint Charlie. The Soviets responded by moving three-dozen tanks to the eastern border. Then, on 27 October 1961, ten Soviet tanks rolled forward and faced the American tanks. For 16 hours American and Soviet tanks stood within 100 yards, facing each other. Along with the rest of the world I feared the beginning of World War III. But the standoff ended peacefully on 28 October following an American-Soviet agreement to withdraw all tanks.

Checkpoint Charlie and prisoner swaps

Occasionally, Checkpoint Charlie was also used for prisoner swaps. The best-known exchange occurred in 1962 when American U-2 spy plane pilot Francis Gary Powers was traded for Soviet agent Rudolf Abel. While Powers and Abel were swapped at Glienicker Bruecke (Glienicke Bridge), Soviet officials released Frederic Pryor, an American student, at Checkpoint Charlie. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/glienicker-bruecke-bridge-of-spies/

Checkpoint Charlie today

On 22 June 1990 the guardhouse at Checkpoint Charlie was removed. It is now on display in the Allied Museum in Berlin’s Zehlendorf district. On 13 August 2000, a replica of the original US Army guardhouse was erected in the Friedrichstrasse location. Today, it is one of Berlin’s most famous tourist attractions. Nearly 900,000 tourists from all over the world visit the replica every year. On one side, the image of a Soviet solder is shown; on the opposite side, the image of a U.S. soldier is displayed.

Checkpoint Charlie guardhouse on display at the Allied Museum in Berlin-Zehlendorf, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

Tags: Allan Lightner, Allied Museum, American and Soviet Tanks facing each other, Checkpoint Charlie, East Berlin, East-West showdown, Francis Gary Powers, Frederic Pryor, Friedrichstrasse, Glienicker Bruecke, Rudolf Abel, West Berlin
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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

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/

Tags: Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie, Cold War, Drewitz-Dreilinden, Glienicke Bridge, Glienicker Bruecke, Helmstedt-Marienborn
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Oberbaumbruecke – mock medieval bridge

Monday, March 28th, 2016

Of the city’s nearly 1,000 bridges, Berlin’s Oberbaumbruecke (Oberbaum Bridge) is by far the most striking. Its Backsteingotik (brick gothic) towers, pointed arches, turrets, cross vaults and arched walkways hark back to its city gate past. The double-deck bridge with its seven arches spans the River Spree. Vehicles and pedestrians use the lower deck; Berlin’s bright yellow underground tram, the U-Bahn, uses the upper deck.

Berlin’s Oberbaumbruecke spans the River Spree between the districts of Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

What does the name “Oberbaumbruecke” mean?

The bridge got its name from the spike-covered tree trunk that was lowered into the river each night during Friedrich Wilhelm I, King of Prussia’s reign. The purpose was to prevent the passage of ships without paying taxes. “Baum” means tree in German; thus the name “Oberbaumbruecke” can be translated to mean “Upper Tree Bridge.” There was also an “Unterbaumbruecke,” a “Lower Tree Bridge” downstream. http://berlin-sehen.de/sehenswurdigkeiten-in-berlin/die-oberbaumbrucke/

The Oberbaumbruecke’s history

Archival evidence shows that around 1724 a timber bridge on pilings was constructed close to the location of the current bridge. When King Friedrich Wilhelm I established a customs border in 1732, the bridge formed the border between Berlin and the surrounding State of Brandenburg. Between 1737 and 1860, the Oberbaumbruecke functioned as one of 14 city gates and was an integral part of Berlin’s Custom Wall.

At the end of the 18th century the wooden barriers were replaced with stone walls, and in 1860 the Customs Wall was removed altogether. At the end of the 19th century, when plans for an elevated railway required a reinforced structure, a granite bridge with a brick façade was built. Architectural details included the current mock medieval turrets, reminiscent of the old toll bridge and city gate function.

Backsteingotik mock medieval turrets of Berlin’s Oberbaumbruecke, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

In April 1945 the German military blew up the middle section of the bridge to prevent the Red Army from crossing it. After the war ended and Berlin was divided into four sectors, the Oberbaumbruecke crossed between the American and the Soviet sector. Until the mid-1950s pedestrians, motor vehicles and the underground tram were able to cross the bridge without difficulty.

The Oberbaumbruecke and the Berlin Wall

But with the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 the bridge became part of the border between East Berlin and West Berlin. The River Spree at this location belonged to East Berlin so that East German fortifications extended all the way to the shore on the West Berlin side. The West Berlin underground tram, the U-Bahn, was forced to terminate at the previous stop. Between 1963 and 1989, the Oberbaumbruecke served as a pedestrian border crossing for West Berlin residents only. Only pedestrians were allowed to cross. The bridge was closed to vehicular traffic. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and German reunification in 1990, the bridge was restored and reopened to pedestrians and motorized traffic at the end of 1994.

Tags: Backsteingotik, Berlin Wall, Berlin's Custom Wall, brick gothic, East Berlin, King Friedrich Wilhelm I, Oberbaum Bridge, Oberbaumbruecke, River Spree, West Berlin
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The doener – Germanys fast food favorite

Monday, March 21st, 2016

Foreigners usually associate Germany with sausages of all kinds. But when it comes to simple meals, the doener is Germany’s favorite food. Although it is a Turkish invention, Germany sports more doener stalls than McDonald’s or Burger Kings combined. There are about 17,000 doener stalls in the country, 1,000 in Berlin alone.

What is a doener?

The word doener comes from the Turkish verb doenmek, which means to rotate. Today’s German doener is a variation of the original Turkish doener kebab, which has been in existence for many centuries. Way back in the 19th century, a cook named Iskender Efendi from the city of Bursa, Turkey, came up with the idea of serving kebabs. He placed chunks of lamb on a spit and roasted them horizontally. He served the meal on plates along with rice and tomatoes.

German doeners, on the other hand, are a take-away item. A 2- to 3-foot stack of seasoned, marinated chicken, turkey or beef (rarely lamb) is layered on a vertical spit, which slowly rotates in front of a heating element. The outer layer of the meat cooks while the inside layer remains frozen. Only the crisp outer edges of the meat are sliced off the constantly rotating skewer. The meat is then heaped onto a piece of charred flatbread and topped with various chopped vegetables and a spicy or yogurt-based sauce.

Who brought the doener to Germany?

Most people agree that a Turkish-born immigrant to Berlin created the first German doener. This man not only adapted the popular Turkish dish to the German palate but he also turned the meal into a handheld snack for the Berliner-on-the-go. Two Turkish-born guest workers in Germany vie for the title of having “invented” the German doener.

Kadir Nurman – doener inventor no. 1

The most likely candidate to have “invented” the German doener is Kadir Nurman. In 1960 – at age 26 – Mr. Nurman left his native Turkey for Germany and worked as a guest worker for Daimler in Stuttgart. Six years later he moved to Berlin. In 1972, he set up a fast food stand near Berlin’s busy Zoo station and sold his first doeners. When he realized that busy Berliners prefer to take their meal with them rather than eat it at the stand, he turned his doeners into a moveable feast. He also invented the vertical rotating spit. His doener caught on and by the 1990s became a German fast food favorite. But because he never patented his inventions, Mr. Nurman did not profit from the doener’s success. Although his contribution as the inventor of the doener was officially recognized by the Association of Turkish Doener Manufacturers in 2011, Mr. Nurman died a poor man in 2013, living only on his meager social security income. http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/doener-erfinder-kadir-nurman-ist-tot-a-930140.html

Mehmet Ayguen – doener inventor no. 2

Mehmet Ayguen also claims to have invented the doener. Like Kadir Nurman, Mr. Ayguen was born in Turkey and immigrated to Germany. While both men had their start as poverty-stricken guest workers, Mr. Ayguen made good. He moved to Berlin in 1976. He was 16 years old. Initially, he drove a taxi, worked as a dishwasher and finally worked for Mr. Nurman at his doener stand (so says Mr. Nurman). At this point the assertions are getting foggy. Mr. Ayguen claims to have served his first doeners in 1971 at Hasir, his family’s restaurant in Berlin. He would have been 11 years old at the time and supposedly still lived in Turkey.

Whether he invented the doener or not, Mehmet Ayguen’s is a success story. He and his five brothers started as paupers and ended up as multi-millionaires in their country of choice. Today, the Ayguen brothers own eight restaurants and three hotels in Berlin as well as five hotels in Istanbul and a luxury resort somewhere else in Turkey.

Tags: doener, Mehmet Ayguen, nadir nurman
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The Lipsi – a politically correct dance

Monday, March 14th, 2016

The Lipsi was a new dance in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was officially promoted by East German leaders. The socialist dance creation was the East’s answer to Elvis Presley’s Rock ‘n’ Roll and the Rock ‘n’ Roll-inspired dance, the Twist. Party officials saw in Elvis’ sexually provocative performance style an undesirable capitalist influence on their socialist youth and were looking for a more wholesome alternative.

The birth of the Lipsi

East German leaders regarded both dancing too closely together as well as dancing apart as indecent, decadent and offensive. Both dance modes were frowned upon and sometimes strictly forbidden. To eclipse the emerging Rock ‘n’ Roll music and dance modes, party officials had to come up with an alternative, a politically correct dance. And in 1959 they introduced the Lipsi.

Composer René Dubianski and dance instructor-couple Christa and Helmut Seifert concocted the dance. Since all three came from the East German city of Leipzig, they named their creation the “Lipsi” by adapting the name from lipsiens, the Latin name for Leipzig. Officials hoped that the “i’ on the end of Lipsi would make the dance sound modern and American and, therefore, appeal to young people. All aspects of the dance were government- supervised and approved. Officials even prepared for the possibility that the new East German dance might become a worldwide hit and applied for a patent.

Let’s do the Lipsi

The Lipsi is a dance in 6/4 time. Think of a double-time waltz, done to fast, upbeat music. Its basic steps and patterns are simple and easily learned so that beginners can master them in short order. The Lipsi is a couples’ dance. The man leads; the woman follows. It looks similar to the Latin Rumba without hip involvement, of course. While partners gently hold hands, they rarely dance apart nor do they get very close to each other. For a few beats of the Lipsi, watch Christa and Helmut Seifert on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbc9VUBy_8/

What happened to the Lipsi?

Although the Lipsi was actually a rather nice dance addition, it had limited appeal. Its major downfall was that it was promoted as a politically correct dance to counter Rock ‘n’ Roll. Despite enormous propaganda efforts on the part of the East German government, the Lipsi was only briefly in vogue. The dance was too conventional to captivate the East German youth, which hungered for the rousing rhythms of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Within a few years the Lipsi disappeared again. However, since the beginning of the 21st century, the Lipsi has celebrated a come-back, especially in Leipzig.

Tags: Christa and Helmut Seifert, East Germany, Elvis Presley, government-approved, Leipzig, Lipsi, lipsiens, politically correct, Rene Dubianski, Rock 'n' Roll
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reassembling shredded stasi files

Monday, March 7th, 2016

The Stasi, the feared secret police agency of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany), was formally disbanded in February 1990. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-stasi-and-how-it-worked/ But before disbanding and until East German citizens could put a stop to it, Stasi personnel destroyed a vast number of sensitive files. They shredded and hand ripped photos, documents, tapes and index cards. When citizens stormed the Stasi headquarters in Berlin, they saved many bags and boxes of shredded Stasi files from complete destruction.

File shredder used by the Stasi - on exhibit in the Haus in der Runden Ecke, Leipzig, photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2015

The Destruction of Stasi files

Aside from containing personal information, Stasi files often contained critical evidence against individuals who had committed atrocities in the name of the agency. Therefore, Stasi officials wanted to get rid of the documents. When their shredders burned out, they ripped the files by hand. When the public became aware of the destruction on 15 January 1990, protesters overcame the police and stormed into Stasi headquarters. It should be noted, however, that not all protesters were victims. Some were actually former Stasi collaborators who hoped to destroy incriminating evidence.

The fate of salvaged Stasi files

Along with the German Reunification on 3 October 1990, a Stasi record agency was founded. It is called “Der Bundesbeauftragte fuer die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik” and officially abbreviated “BStU” (Stasi Records Authority). The fate of the salvaged Stasi files was decided under the Unification Treaty between East and West Germany. In 1992, the files were opened and people could have a look at their own files. Between 1991 and 2011, around 2.75 million individuals – mostly citizens of the former East Germany – requested to see their files. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/stasi-files-online-now/

What about the shredded Stasi files?

The shredded strips sat there for five years. Then in 1995, the BstU assigned the monumental task of trying to reassemble the shredded documents to a small group of 31-36 workers. In the past fifteen years 1.5 million shredded documents (the equivalent of 500 bags of shredded Stasi files) have been reconstructed. Although an incredible achievement, it remains a mere drop in a bucket because the total number of salvaged bags of shredded Stasi files is close to 16,000.

Tags: BstU, Der Bundesbeauftrage fuer die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, shredded Stasi files
Posted in J. Elke Ertle, Tête-à-Tête, Walled In Berlin | Comments Off on reassembling shredded stasi files