#post-war germany

[lalalaugenbrot]

Lieber Mitmensch, das ist das Berlin, das du kennst. Das Berlin, das du täglich von deinem Hubschrauber aus siehst. Das Berlin des Jahres 2048. Unaufhörlich starten und landen auf dem neuen Berliner Großflugplatz die Düsenmaschinen der Weltluftlinie New York - Moskau. Er erhebt sich an der Stelle, wo einst der sogenannte Grunewald gestanden haben soll. Aber nicht immer war Berlin so groß wie heute — die Vororte Küstrin und Magdeburg sind erst vor kurzem eingemeindet worden. Vor 100 Jahren, Anno 1948, in der guten alten Zeit, sah es hier noch anders aus. Dreieinviertel Million Einwohner hatte Berlin damals und kein Mensch kann sich heute erklären, wo diese vielen Leute eigentlich gewohnt haben.

Berliner Ballade (1948), dir. Robert A. Stemmle

[thatswhywelovegermany]

Legendary "Raisin Bomber" Pilot Gail Halvorsen died at age 101

Für die Kinder war er „Onkel Wackelflügel“. Auch als „Candy Bomber“ oder „Rosinenbomber“-Pilot ging Gail Halvorsen in die Geschichte ein. Der US-Pilot, der während der Berliner Luftbrücke kleine Fallschirme mit Süßigkeiten abwarf, ist nun mit 101 Jahren gestorben.

Gail Halvorsen was a US-Americen pilot who participated in the Berlin Airlift when Russia blocked access to West Berlin vie land routes in order to extort the annexation of West Berlin to the Russian occupation zone of Germany, the later GDR.

Halvorsen had given some children who were waiting at the airport fence his last two pieces of chewing gum and witnessed how they distributed small pieces of the candy among them. He was so moved that he promised them to drop candy every time he would approach the airport. They would recognize his aircraft among the hundreds of flights every day when he would wiggle the wings. On the next flight, he wrapped chocolate and other candies in a handkerchief and dropped the little package out of his cockpit window. More and more pilots followed his example, and eventually about 23 metric tons of candy were dropped over Berlin, earning the air fleet the nickname “candy bombers”.

This action initiated by Gail Halvorsen raised the reputation of the Americans among the German post-war population tremendously, who no longer viewed them as occupants, but rather as friends. Halvorsen was later awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

[todaysdocument]

The new "Big Three" meet for the first time at the Potsdam Conference in Potsdam, Germany. L to R: new British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, President Harry S. Truman, and Soviet Prime Minister Josef Stalin, 7/29/1945

Attlee had just succeeded Winston Churchill as British Prime Minister.

Series: Photographs Relating to the Administration, Family, and Personal Life of Harry S. Truman, 1957 - 2004

Collection: Audiovisual Collection, 1957 - 2006

Image description: The three leaders stand next to each other in front of a crowd of other men. Attlee is wearing a three-piece suit with a pocket watch chain; Truman wears a double-breasted suit with a bow tie and pocket square; Stalin wears a light-colored uniform with the insignia of Marshal of the Soviet Union.

[seventh-victim]

still image of Hildegard Knef and Ernst Wilhelm Borchert from the 1946 German drama, Die Mörder sind unter uns (The Murderers Are Among Us)

[septembergold]

[dershellelavender]

[paulinedorchester]

Scenes from the Rosh Hashanah morning service, Fraenkelufer Synagogue, Berlin, Saturday, September 8th, 1945 — the first to be held openly in that city since 1938.

Photographs by Robert Capa (American, born Austro-Hungary, 1913-1954; né Endre Ernő Friedmann), Collection International Center of Photography, New York City, N.Y.

[sure-i-can-wait-just-gimme-a-sec]

TIL what "Heino" is

This is so German I can't get over it. He sings folkmusic and looks like manly Ross Lynch I just–I–I jus–