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Sep 18, 2022

29 Escape East Berlin Through Tunnel

Sept. 18, 1962 - The West Berlin city government disclosed today that 29 East German men, women, and children escaped to West Berlin through a tunnel (pictured) Friday night. It was the largest group ever to reach West Berlin in a single operation since the East Germans built the wall cutting Berlin in two. Officials said the tunnel was built by Western volunteers who dug for several months. Its entry on the Western side was understood to be near the Bernauerstrasse on the Fr

Aug 20, 2022

More Rioting In West Berlin

Aug. 20, 1962 - Angry mobs of West Berliners stoned and pursued Soviet Army vehicles today and clashed with the West Berlin police in bloody street fights near the wall that runs along the East-West border. Scores of West Berlin policemen and civilians were injured today in riots at the corner of Kochstrasse and Charlottenstrasse, a block from the Friedrichstrasse, where the U.S. Army maintains a checkpoint for foreigners. No U.S. servicemen were injured. Under a bombardment

Aug 19, 2022

West Berliners Stone Soviet Troop Bus

Aug. 19, 1962 - A Soviet troop bus was stoned by a screaming crowd of West Berliners today. The incident was a new manifestation of anger in West Berlin over the shooting Friday of Peter Fechter, a young refugee who was allowed to lie dying for more than an hour next to the Communist wall. The West Berlin police had held a crowd 50 yards back from the Friedrichstrasse crossing point all day. When the Soviet bus, carrying a detail of soldiers to the Soviet war memorial in the

Aug 17, 2022

18-Year-Old Bricklayer Shot, Left to Die by East German Border Guards

Aug. 17, 1962 - East German border guards today shot Peter Fechter (pictured), an 18-year-old bricklayer, as he was fleeing to West Berlin and then allowed him to lie dying for an hour at the foot of the Communists’ wall dividing the city. A fellow refugee, Helmut Kulbeik, hurled himself over the barrier to safety. A crowd of West Berliners gathered at the wall shouting “Murderers!” at the East German guards. The guards then hurled tear-gas grenades at the crowd. The West Ber

Aug 13, 2022

First Anniversary of Berlin Wall Observed Here

Aug. 13, 1962 - A special recorded program marking the first anniversary of the building of the Berlin wall was broadcast at noon today by the four major United States radio networks. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and freedom bells in Berlin tolled as Mayor Willy Brandt of West Berlin and Gen. Lucius D. Clay, President Kennedy’s advisor on Berlin, spoke briefly on hopes for a new birth of freedom. A number of churches of various denominations in the New York metropolitan a

Aug 13, 2022

Riot in West Berlin on Anniversary of Wall

Aug. 13, 1962 - The pent-up wrath of West Berliners erupted today along the Communist barrier that cut Berlin in two last year. Marchers hurled taunts, stones, and beer bottles across the barricades into East Berlin at several points. Motorists joined in the protests with horn-blowing demonstrations. Communist guards replied to the barrages with tear-gas grenades that sent clouds of smoke rolling over the concrete and barbed-wire wall. During the afternoon, a crowd led by a y

May 8, 2022

West Berliners Cheer Gen. Lucius D. Clay

May 8, 1962 - Hundreds of West Berliners cheered and waved to Gen. Lucius D. Clay (pictured with Mayor Willy Brandt), President Kennedy’s special envoy, as he left the city today to return to the U.S. The Berliners showered flowers on the general’s car as he drove past the gates of Tempelhof Airport. Many women had tears in their eyes. General Clay, who was visibly moved, said before boarding the plane: “I will be back on the first plane if I get word that I am needed here.”

Apr 18, 2022

East German Man Killed Trying to Escape to West Berlin; Two Companions Survive

Apr. 18, 1962 - An East German, mortally wounded by Communist gunfire, drove a three-ton dump truck through the Berlin wall today at a speed of 60 miles an hour. He died before crashing to a halt inside the Western sector. His two companions survived the daring escape. The truck driver who died was 24-year-old Klaus Brueske. One of Mr. Brueske’s companions, sitting with him in the cab of the truck, was wounded in the shoulder. Mr. Brueske was hit in the back by two of five bu

Dec 25, 2021

East German Border Guards Arrest Three for Waving at Relatives

Dec. 25, 1961 - Communist border guards arrested three East Berliners today who waved at relatives in the West across the wall dividing the city, the West Berlin police said. The three, two men and a woman, approached the wall from the eastern side across from the French sector. Witnesses told police the three were arrested immediately and taken away in a truck. It was the only border incident reported on what the West Berlin police described as an unusually quiet day along t

Oct 10, 2021

Fifty Thousand Soviet Troops Enter Communist East Germany

Oct. 10, 1961 - Fifty thousand Soviet combat troops and ten thousand Polish troops have arrived in Communist East Germany to take part in Warsaw Pact maneuvers near the West German border. An undisclosed number of Czechoslovakian troops have also arrived in the southern part of East Germany. The Polish and Soviet units include paratroopers and other airborne troops. The Poles brought tanks, artillery, at least 650 trucks, and enough field kitchens to provide meals for three d

Sep 27, 2021

Berlin Wall Documentary (Video)

Sept. 27, 1961 - Here is a documentary on the Berlin Wall, the construction of which began August 13. #communism #communist #coldwar #soviet #sovietunion #USSR #politics #history #berlin

Sep 24, 2021

Robert Kennedy says President Would Use Nuclear Weapons if Necessary

Sept. 24, 1961 - Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy said today that there "is no question" that his brother, President Kennedy, would order use of nuclear weapons if they were essential to save West Berlin's freedom. The Attorney General, on NBC's "Meet the Press," said: "If we retreat, we will never be able to stand up again. The President has said again and again that if we don't stand up in Berlin, when can we stand up?" He predicted that Premier Khrushchev would continue

Sep 21, 2021

Ed Sullivan to Tape TV Show in West Berlin for CBS

Sept. 21, 1961 - Connie Francis (pictured), Louis Armstrong, Sid Caesar, and the comedy team of Rowan and Martin are among the performers Ed Sullivan has lined up for his trip to Berlin. The TV producer and host said today he expected to leave here Sept. 30 to put on shows for military personnel in Germany. Two shows in West Berlin will be taped for telecast by CBS. Mr. Sullivan said he had not altered his plans in any way because of the recent controversy resulting from TV s

Sep 16, 2021

Refugee from East Berlin Her Gets Dog Back

Sept. 16, 1961 - It is not only humans who are bothered by the Communist wall across Berlin - dogs are affected as well. A fox terrier named Mausi finally got back to his mistress in the West today. An East German policeman at Friedrichstrasse led the dog on a leash to the border and then turned him loose. Mausi dashed across the border and leaped into the arms of his owner, a hospital nurse, and licked her face. She had been waiting three days at the crossing point to see if

Sep 13, 2021

Comedian Dick Gregory at NYC's Blue Angel

Sept. 13, 1961 - Dick Gregory, who won quick fame last spring as the first Negro comic to succeed in metropolitan cabarets, is back at New York's Blue Angel. Mr. Gregory has expanded his target range. In a new string of jokes tried out for the first time this week, he refers to the German, truck-borne escapees as the "East Berlin Freedom Riders." "They are people who push the gas pedal down to the floor and don't look right or left," he says. "In New York, we call them cab dr

Sep 9, 2021

U.S. to Send 40,000 Additional Army Troops to Europe

Sept. 9, 1961 - The United States will send about 40,000 Army troops to Europe "in the immediate future" to strengthen combat and support forces there, the Pentagon announced today. The announcement was expected. It was the latest in a series of moves, including the call-up of military reserves and plans for a broad expansion of the armed forces, that President Kennedy has undertaken to cope with the crisis in Berlin and other trouble spots. #germany #berlin #communism #commu

Sep 9, 2021

Pentagon Disciplines Two Army Officers Over TV Show in West Berlin

Sept. 9, 1961 - The Pentagon took action against two Army officers in Berlin today for having permitted the use of U.S. forces in the filming of a Jack Paar television show. Col. John R. Deane Jr. (pictured), commanding officer of the Second Battle Group, Sixth Infantry, in Germany, was admonished for "exercising poor judgment." The Defense Department also announced that Lieut. Col. Dallas Hoadley, public information officer of the Berlin Command, had been relieved of his dut

Sep 8, 2021

Senators Decry Use of Military for Paar Show in West Berlin

Sept. 8, 1961 - "Shocking," "disgraceful," and "highly dangerous" were descriptions applied by Senators today to describe the use of U.S. Army forces in the filming of a Jack Paar television show in West Berlin yesterday. The Defense Department, with White House approval, ordered an investigation. Majority Leader Mike Mansfield told the Senate that the situation in Berlin was a world tragedy, not a television spectacular "to be made into some kind of game for the personal pro

Sep 7, 2021

Jack Paar in West Berlin to Film TV Show

Sept. 7, 1961 - Fifty armed U.S. soldiers moved rapidly down the street, then took possession of buildings overlooking the East-West Berlin border. A jeep mounting an anti-tank gun and several others mounting machine guns moved into position along either curb. Two colonels arrived. It was the biggest turnout the U.S. Army had yet made along the wall that divides the city - and it was all for Jack Paar, TV star. Mr. Paar filmed one of his shows along the "concrete curtain," so

Aug 30, 2021

President Kennedy to Send Gen. Lucius Clay to West Berlin

Aug. 30, 1961 - President Kennedy said today that Gen. Lucius D. Clay would return to West Berlin next month as his personal representative. The President described the situation in Berlin as "fraught with danger” and promised to use all means to find a peaceful settlement, but he said he had no indication from Moscow that made him optimistic about the prospects. Gen. Clay, retired, who was military governor of Germany when an Allied airlift broke the Communist blockade of Be