On 7 October, THFxGESCHICHTE, in collaboration with the Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship (BAB), will be looking at fateful stories of escape from the GDR.
For many citizens of the GDR, West Berlin was the gateway to freedom before the Berlin Wall was built. They travelled on to the Federal Republic via Tempelhof Airport.
Image gallery
Eingang im Gebäude des Flughafen Tempelhofs
Between 1949 and 1961, hundreds of thousands left the GDR – often at great personal risk and in the hope of a new start in the West.
These stories of escape will be discussed with the guests.
The event is being held in cooperation with the Berlin Commissioner for Coming to Terms with the SED Dictatorship (BAB).
Guests
- Ute Rauscher: eyewitness
- Sarah Bornhorst: Curator of Eyewitness Accounts and Oral History (Berlin Wall Foundation)
- Thomas Werneke: Advisor on historical and political education and the culture of remembrance (Tempelhof Airport)
- Moderator: Irmgard Zündorf, Head of the Public History Department (Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Research)
Additional information
Dates
October 2026
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