On November 10, 1958, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev delivered a speech in which he demanded that the Western powers of the United States, Great Britain and France pull their forces out of West Berlin within six months.
foreign minister’s conference 1959
The two sides opened a foreign minister’s conference at Geneva in the summer of 1959 and made an attempt to negotiate a new agreement on Berlin. Khrushchev wanted the Western garrisons out of West Berlin as a precursor to reunifying the city, but Eisenhower believed that protecting the freedom of West Berlin required an ongoing U.S. presence.
10th August- CIA report on East German refugees.
It says that West Germany registered more than 2,600,000 refugees from East Germany since 1949 and a total, including expellees, of more than 3,500,000 since the end of World War 11. Also, almost 50 percent were less than 25 years old, and another 25 percent in the 25-45 age bracket (From 1949-61
10th August 1961- CIA report on East German refugees.
It says that West Germany registered more than 2,600,000 refugees from East Germany since 1949 and a total, including expellees, of more than 3,500,000 since the end of World War 11. Also, almost 50 percent were less than 25 years old, and another 25 percent in the 25-45 age bracket (From 1949-61
Walter Ulbricht's Speech on the "Berlin Question" (June 15, 1961)
In the photograph, Walter Ulbricht, head of the GDR State Council, discusses the “Berlin Question” at an international press conference on June 15, 1961, at the House of Ministries in East Berlin. In his speech, Ulbricht welcomed Soviet proposals for a peace treaty and called for the neutralization of West Berlin. Additionally, he stressed that the GDR leadership had no intention of building a wall
The building of the wall in Bernauer Straße
Since 1945, the the French and Soviet sectors of Berlin had met at Bernauer Straße. With the building of the Wall in August 1961, the street was divided in half: one side belonged to West Berlin, the other to East Berlin (with the walls of the houses on the Soviet side actually forming part of the border fortification.) In this photo, stunned residents watch the construction from the Western side of Bernauer Straße. Photo by Klaus Lehnartz.
Peter Fechter at the Berlin Wall (August 17, 1962)
On August 17, 1962, Peter Fechter, an eighteen-year-old East Berliner, bled to death at the base of a barricade after being shot multiple times by East German border guards during the course of an escape attempt. For the West German public, Fechter's death brought home with unprecedented directness the barbarity of the shoot-to-kill order in effect along the inner-German border. Photographer unknown
Fortification of the Berlin Wall at Bernauer Straße; July 1963.
Starting in 1963, portions of the original stone Wall were replaced with concrete. This photo shows work being done at Bernauer Straße. The two signs on the right are still within the Western sector – but just barely. One warns: "End of the French sector"; the other issues the following condemnation: “Roadblock caused by the Wall of Shame.”
U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s hand written note card for his speech in Berlin. (June 26, 1963)
In June 1963, the President made a personal visit to the city. After Kennedy had his photograph taken with West Berlin mayor Willy Brandt and Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in front of the Wall, he delivered his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech before Schöneberg City Hall.
