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Berlin Airlift keeps city supplied

In the ideological struggle that was the Cold War, East Germans voted the only way they could: with their feet. By the thousands each month, they escaped communist rule by slipping into the West through Berlin. In 1961, the East German government built a wall to keep them in. The Berlin Wall became both a barrier and a symbol of the differences between West and East, between democracy and communism. On Nov. 9, 1989, after floods of East Germans had left via third countries, the Berlin Wall came down, paving the way to German reunification.

A heavily laden Lancaster bomber is coming in to land at an airfield in western Berlin. But it isn't carrying munitions: instead, it's loaded with seven tons of food. Every day, about 600 planes land as part of the Berlin Airlift, bringing food, fuel and essential supplies to beleaguered Berliners. The airlift is the Western powers' response to the Soviet-imposed Berlin Blockade of 1948-49. Direct from the airfield, CBC Radio reporter Peter Stursberg interviews an airlift commander.
• In their postwar negotiations, the Western powers neglected to secure rail, road and canal access between western Germany and Berlin through Soviet-occupied territory. But they had guaranteed access through three air corridors to the city

• The airlift was carried out by the Americans with Operation Vittles and the British with Operation Plainfare. During the airlift, planes landed as often as every minute. In total, there were 276,926 flights in the airlift, delivering about 2.3 million tons of supplies - far more than subsistence levels for Berlin residents.

• The Soviets lifted the Berlin Blockade in May 1949. Later that month, the Western powers established the democratic Federal Republic of Germany, also known as West Germany.

• In October 1949, the Soviet powers in the East established the German Democratic Republic (also known as East Germany), describing it as "the first worker's and peasants' state on German soil." 

Medium: Radio
Program: CBC News Roundup
Broadcast Date: Sept. 24, 1948
Guest(s): Dick Martin
Reporter: Peter Stursberg
Duration: 2:51

Last updated: January 31, 2012

Page consulted on March 20, 2013

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