Years of the Wall - Life in Divided Berlin - DVD

Content: On June 15, 1961, the then GDR Chairman Walter Ulbricht promised the people of Berlin: No one has the intention to reach a wall.... A blatant lie, as it would turn out not long after. On August 13, 1961, the city was finally divided, the borders between East and West were closed, and the Wall was erected. For 28 years, Berliners had to live in a divided city - which eventually became part of everyday life, but never an acceptable matter of course. The years 1961 - 1990, from the construction to the fall of the Berlin Wall, are now, 50 years after the construction of the Wall, the subject of a great TV series, which has also been released as a 3 DVD set.

Mauerjahre - Leben im geteilten Berlin follows the tried and tested pattern of the acclaimed documentary series 60x Deutschland. Each year is covered in a 15-minute feature, with political and social events balanced. What is particularly interesting here, however, is the direct comparison of some events between East and West. For example, how the death of a border guard during the escape of some people to West Berlin was literally celebrated as a martyrdom by the politicians and media in the East, although in reality he died by a ricochet of his own comrade. Or, as a somewhat lighter example in terms of content, the difference between aerobics, which was very popular in the West in 1985, in direct comparison to pop gymnastics, which was celebrated on GDR television at about the same time.

Also very interesting to see how differently US Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were received by West Berliners. How surprisingly cosmopolitan East Berlin showed itself in 1973 at the World Festival of Youth and Students. Or how a big show spectacle and naked skin in the newly opened Friedrichstadtpalast tried to satisfy the longing of the GDR citizens for the big wide world.

Using numerous eyewitness interviews, TV footage and rare film footage, the events of life in divided Berlin are traced. Again, there are some very nice things to discover, such as in the coverage of the first drive-in restaurant of a large fast-food chain in West Berlin, which in 1984 was still dubbed in German as Schnellküchen-Restaurant. In addition to the high information content of the contributions, it also becomes clear at such moments how much our language, but also the reporting on television, has changed in recent decades, which makes this series just also from a purely social and media point of view a great testimony to the times.

The interviews with the various contemporary witnesses, who are artists, squatters, state officials, tram drivers or very simple Berlin citizens, then again give the viewer a much more personal view of the Wall years. All of this makes the documentary series a must-see for anyone interested in post-war German history. An engaging chronicle that, despite its compact character, never seems superficial and captivates the viewer and entertains extremely well. Accompanying the DVD box set is also a comprehensive book on the series that works perfectly as a supplement to the 30 episodes. And so for both book and DVD: absolutely recommended!

Picture + Sound: Of course, especially the very old picture and film material is technically not on the latest stad. Soiling, noise and blurring are neither surprising, nor disturbing, because after all, the footage shown are authentic documents of the time. With the current interviews, on the other hand, there is no reason to complain about either the picture or the sound. Both meet the requirements that can be placed on such a documentary series. Good.

Extras: As a bonus, the third DVD features the nearly 30-minute documentary Berlin 21 Uhr 37 - Ein Tag vor dem 13. August 1961 in Berlin. This time document is highly interesting, even if the voiceover sometimes sounds a bit too theatrical from today's perspective. But this snapshot of Berlin shortly before the Wall was built is a more than worth seeing and also moving encore to the great chronicle.

Conclusion: Mauerjahre - Leben im geteilten Berlin is a great documentary series that has captured 30 years of German-German history in moving, entertaining and interesting features. With an encore documentary well worth watching, this 3-DVD set proves to be an absolute must for anyone interested in this important chapter in Germany's post-war history. Absolutely recommended

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp