Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
attempt to build a true democracy on the ruins of Nazi Germany. Another powerful
strand was anti-Americanism, fuelled by US policy in Southeast Asia, Latin America and
the Middle East. Both these viewpoints tended to bewilder and enrage older Germans.
he police reacted to street demonstrations in Berlin with a ferocity that shocked
even conservatives. On June 2, 1967, a student was shot by police during a protest
against a state visit by the Shah of Iran. When someone tried to kill student leader
Rudi Dutschke
(April 11, 1968), there were huge and violent demonstrations. Although
the mass-protest movement fizzled out towards the end of the 1960s, a new and
deadlier opposition would emerge in the 1970s - partly born from the West German
establishment's violent response to what was initially a peaceful protest movement.
Ostpolitik and détente
he international scene and Berlin's place in it changed considerably around the turn of
the decade. Both superpowers now hoped to thaw the Cold War and agree to a détente,
while elections in the Federal Republic brought to power Willy Brandt, a chancellor
committed to rapprochement with the GDR. On February 27, 1969, US President
Richard Nixon called for an easing of international tension during his visit to Berlin.
Soon afterwards,
Four Power Talks
were held in the former Allied Control Council
building in the American sector. Participants decided to set aside broader issues in an
effort to fashion a workable agreement on the status of the divided city resulting in the
Quadripartite Agreement
(September 3, 1971), followed in December by inter-German
agreements regarding transit routes to West Berlin and travel and tra
c regulations for
West Berliners. In 1972, the Federal Republic and the GDR signed a
Basic Treaty
,
which bound both states to respect each other's frontiers and de facto sovereignty. In
return for diplomatic recognition, the GDR allowed West Germans access to friends
and family across the border, which had effectively been denied to them (barring
limited visits in the mid-1960s). However, the freedom to move from East to West
was restricted to disabled people and senior citizens.
The 1970s
During the 1970s Berlin assumed a new identity, breaking with the images and myths
of the past. hanks to the easing of Cold War tensions, West Berlin was no longer a
frontline city, and East Berlin lost much of its intimidating atmosphere. hroughout
the decade,
West Berlin
had similar problems to those of West Germany: economic
upsets triggered by the quadrupling of oil prices in 1974, and a wave of terrorism
directed against the establishment. In addition, West Berlin suffered from a
deteriorating stock of housing and rising unemployment - both alleviated to some
extent by financial help from West Germany.
East Berlin
remained relatively quiet.
A new East German leader,
Erich Honecker
, who was regarded as a “liberal”, succeeded
Ulbricht in 1971. Living standards improved and there was some relaxation of the
tight controls of the Ulbricht days. However, most people regarded the changes as
essentially trivial, and escapes continued to be attempted, although by now the Wall
was formidably deadly. In 1977, a rock concert in Alexanderplatz turned into an
explosion of street unrest, which the authorities suppressed with deliberate brutality.
1989
November 9, 1989
The first Love Parade is organized in
Berlin; just 150 people take part.
Following a series of mass demonstrations across East
Berlin, and a confused government press conference,
border crossings in the Wall finally open.
