Ich bin ein Berliner"Ich bin ein Berliner" (ɪç ˈbɪn ʔaɪn bɛʁˈliːnɐ; "I am a Berliner") is a speech by United States President John F. Kennedy given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin. It is one of the best-known speeches of the Cold War and among the most famous anti-communist speeches. Twenty-two months earlier, East Germany had erected the Berlin Wall to prevent mass emigration to West Berlin. The speech was aimed as much at the Soviet Union as it was at West Berliners.
East German markThe East German mark (Mark der DDR ˈmaʁk deːɐ̯ ˌdeːdeːˈʔɛʁ), commonly called the eastern mark (Ostmark ˈɔstmaʁk) in West Germany and after reunification), in East Germany only Mark, was the currency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Its ISO 4217 currency code was DDM. The currency was known officially as the Deutsche Mark from 1948 to 1964, Mark der Deutschen Notenbank from 1964 to 1967, and from 1968 to 1990 as the Mark der DDR (Mark of the GDR). The mark (M) was divided into 100 Pfennig (pf).
AirliftAn airlift is the organized delivery of supplies or personnel primarily via military transport aircraft. Airlifting consists of two distinct types: strategic and tactical. Typically, strategic airlifting involves moving material long distances (such as across or off the continent or theater), whereas a tactical airlift focuses on deploying resources and material into a specific location with high precision. Depending on the situation, airlifted supplies can be delivered by a variety of means.
Brandenburg GateThe Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor ˈbʁandn̩ˌbʊʁɡɐ ˈtoːɐ̯) is an 18th-century neoclassical monument in Berlin, built on the orders of Prussian king Frederick William II after restoring the Orangist power by suppressing the Dutch popular unrest. One of the best-known landmarks of Germany, it was built on the site of a former city gate that marked the start of the road from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg an der Havel, which used to be the capital of the Margraviate of Brandenburg.
Potsdam AgreementThe Potsdam Agreement (Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe on 1 August 1945 and it was published the next day. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned the military occupation and reconstruction of Germany, its border, and the entire European Theatre of War territory. It also addressed Germany's demilitarisation, reparations, the prosecution of war criminals and the mass expulsion of ethnic Germans from various parts of Europe.
Iron CurtainThe Iron Curtain is a political metaphor used to describe the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West, its allies and neutral states. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union, while on the west side were the countries that were NATO members, or connected to or influenced by the United States; or nominally neutral.
Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt and as a United States senator from Missouri from 1935 to January 1945. Assuming the presidency after Roosevelt's death, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism.
ElbeThe Elbe (ˈɛlbə; Labe ˈlabɛ; Ilv or Elv; Upper and Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, northwest of Hamburg. Its total length is . The Elbe's major tributaries include the rivers Vltava, Saale, Havel, Mulde, Schwarze Elster, and Ohře. The Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of , the twelfth largest in Europe.
German reunificationGerman reunification (Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single full sovereign state, which took place between 9 November 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the "Unification Treaty" entered into force dissolving the German Democratic Republic (GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR, or East Germany) and integrating its recently re-established constituent federated states into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD, or West Germany) to form present-day Germany, has been chosen as the customary German Unity Day (Tag der deutschen Einheit) and has thereafter been celebrated each year as a national holiday in Germany since 1991.
Reichstag buildingThe Reichstag (Reichstag, ˈʁaɪçsˌtaːk; officially: Plenarbereich Reichstagsgebäude ˈʁaɪçstaːksɡəˌbɔʏdə; Parliament) is a historic government building on Platz der Republik in Berlin that has been the seat of the German Bundestag since 1999. Since 1994, the Federal Convention has also met here to elect the Federal President. The Neo-Renaissance building was built between 1884 and 1894 in the Tiergarten district on the left bank of the River Spree to plans by the architect Paul Wallot.
