Invasion of U.S.S.R. on 22 June 1941 (German code name: Operation Barbarossa) during World War II. Early morning street activities in Berlin on the morning of invasion of USSR. Preparation for a broadcast at radio station. At 5:30 AM German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels sits at desk and makes an announcement. People listening. Foreign Minister of Germany, Joachim Von Ribbentrop walks into conference. Newspaper headline.
Worker or farmer leading several camels carrying gear in a village in Kazakhstan. Soviet workers busy with excavation at a a phosphorous mining facility. Fertilizers manufactured in Kazakhstan. Soviet officials visiting and touring the mining operations.
Ice hokey match between Canada and USSR during World Amateur Hockey Championship in Geneva, Switzerland. People cheer as match proceeds. Canadian team making goals one after the other. Russian players loose temper and fight during the game. Smoke Eaters, the Canadian national team gathers near the goal post and celebrates the win by 5-1.
United States President John F. Kennedy addresses a press conference in Washington DC. President Kennedy outlines the West's reply to Nikita Khrushchev's threats to sign a peace treaty with East Germany. He calls on the Soviet government to reconsider its course. “A city does not become free merely by calling it a "free city." For a city or a people to be free requires that they be given the opportunity, without economic, political or police pressure, to make their own choice to live their own lives. The people of West Berlin today have that freedom. It is the objective of our policy that they will continue to enjoy it.” President Kennedy said in his speech.
Statue of José Marti, designed by Enrique Luis Varela and sculpted by Juan José Sicre, at foot of Marti memorial monument in Revolution Square, Havana, Cuba. The Cuban flag on the Ministry of Interior building, across the square. Camilo Cienfuegos addresses people and Fidel Castro smiles in Havana, Cuba. A procession by people. Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos with others sitting. President Manuel Urrutia comes with others. Soviet vice-prime minister, Anastas Mikoyan, steps from Soviet plane. He meets President Urrutia. Mikoyan wearing a straw hat with "Cuba" written on it. Fidel Castro and leading revolutionary figures attend a formal reception for Mikoyan. A signboard reads 'INRA Cooperative Arroceru Jose Smith Comas Zona H-10 Cardenas'. Farmers in field with their cattle. Fidel Castro addresses the press. Cuban workmen handling lumber at a construction site. A board reads'Instituto Nacional de Ahorro y Vivienda,' and announces the construction of a planned city of 300 homes. Women parade holding rifles. The French freighter La Coubre exploding on March 4,1960, while being unloaded in Havana harbor, Cuba. Scenes of explosions and fire as people run to escape the area. Fire fighters trying to extinguish flames, and similar events are captured by the camera. Post accident scenes of Castro speaking to the populace and of mourners walking along the street in Havana. (Note: This French ship was carrying munitions from Antwerp.Approximately 100 people were killed and twice as many injured in this terrible accident.)
Teacher and school children playing amid rubble in Berlin, in the aftermath of World War II. Children receiving food outdoors. Children in a school classroom being given cups of soup by their teacher. In March, 1948, a Soviet soldier is seen lowering their flag from one of four flag poles displaying it, along with flags of the British, American, and French flags. (They no longer wished to share occupation of Berlin with the other Allied powers.) View of Western representatives preparing to issue a new stable currency. Next, the Soviets block all access to West Berlin (the "Berlin Blockade.") Open rail cars filled with coal are brought to a halt in their tracks. Trucks servicing West Berlin are stopped from moving over a highway. West Berlin citizens stand at a fence watching a U.S. Army Air Forces C-47 transport plane flying supplies to them. View from below of a C-54 transport plane descending to land, with supplies, at Templehof airfield in West Berlin. A C-54 taking off to make another supply run. A pallet of coal being offloaded from a C-54. A tram running on restricted schedule. A Berliner planting food in a deserted lot near a demolished building. People assembled in front of the severely damaged Bundestag and in other places surrounded by war torn buildings. Berlin Mayor Ernst Reuter, speaks of seeking assistance from America, England, France, and Italy, to help his city. Closeups of some of the Berliners applauding him. An airlift airplane labeled "Operation Santa Claus" with a soldier dressed like Santa, dispensing wrapped gifts or candy to German children near the plane's doorway. German children can be seen and heard singing "deck the Halls" in English. A soldier dressed as St. Nicholas stands next to one dressed as a Native American Indian. Children sing Martin Luther's hymn, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"). A British Sunderland flying boat, takes off on the Havel River, in Berlin, after delivering supplies to the city. Grateful Berliners surrounding American pilots. Children run in a street carrying a large model of an airplane to simulate the Berlin airlift. Children playing "airlift" on a sidewalk. An airlift plane crashed and burning in a residential section of Berlin. German fire fighters battle the flames with hoses. A C-54 airlift plane descending to land with its gear extended. Scene at midnight, May 2, 1949, as the barriers isolating Berlin are raised, as the Soviets promised free and improved access to Berlin. People waving flowers as trucks once again move into the city. But Communists are seen violently storming the Greater Berlin City Hall in the Eastern Sector of the city. Non-Communist deputies in the Eastern Sector are forced to meet in West Berlin, where they meet without being molested. View of the Berlin Logo (Bear). Free election vote being deposited in a ballot box. Animated map shows how Berlin was cut in two, separating East Berlin from West Berlin.
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