In the aftermath of World War II, a divided Berlin became a city split in two—a concrete sign of the ideological divide between East and West. This short video, Life In Postwar Berlin Before The Wall, which I found on the BBC Archive YouTube page, explores the stark differences in the quality of life between East and West Berlin and the invisible boundary between them.
I found this video during my constant search for interesting videos about Berlin. Sometimes, the ones I find are more historical, and sometimes, they are focused on the beauty of daily life in the city. This one is historical, showing Berlin in 1959, split between East and West.
Life in the Shadow of Division
The video starts with a seemingly ordinary street scene that belies Berlin’s division. The reporter says this street used to be called Hermann-Göring-Straße, but now it has a more respectable name (Ebertstraße). Interestingly, the invisible boundary between West and East Berlin runs through this street.
People can easily walk from one side to another since this was a few years before the Berlin Wall. There are police officers on both sides who will stop you only if you are carrying parcels. Weirdly, nobody stops the reporter from standing in the middle of the road while cars and trucks pass by, too close for comfort.
The video shows a stark difference in a divided Berlin. Even though people can easily pass from one side to the other, life in East Berlin seems much more difficult. People in East Berlin are not free to leave, and the standard of living is much lower, as the BBC describes.
There are food shortages, and people don’t have many choices of clothes, an example of luxury capitalism instead of a big problem.
Western Dreams in a Divided Berlin
On the other hand, West Berlin is much more prosperous. People there enjoy a higher standard of living since the Allied Forces decided to use the city as an example of what Western Powers could do.
One interesting thing to see is when the reporter talks to a woman who fled East Berlin with her husband and two children because of political and anti-religious pressure. She says that none of the people in West Berlin want to leave.
A crisis loomed between the Soviet Union and the Allied Powers, but the video shows people having fun in lakes and parks. It’s interesting to see how Berlin used to be in the late 1950s, after the Second World War and the city’s occupation.
The video shows debris in the city and how people don’t feel like this is their fault; they blame the previous generation for that. Still, an older Berliner talks in the video about his life in Berlin before the war. He says that things were much better then. People could afford more, and life was more enjoyable.
Clearly, the video works as a piece of propaganda to be seen by people in the United Kingdom and English-speaking countries about a divided Berlin. But I see this as a piece of history that can be watched today with the understanding of what it is and what it means to that world that doesn’t exist anymore.
Berlin’s Divided Heart: Stories of Resilience and Resistance
1959: Life in POSTWAR BERLIN before the WALL | Panorama | Iconic News Stories | BBC Archive
