BBC ALBA

Balla Berlin - an slighe gu saorsa/The Berlin Wall - Escape to Freedom

Documentaries

Factual: History

Balla Berlin

12/02/2015

BBC ALBA - Balla Berlin - an slighe gu saorsa/The Berlin Wall - Escape to Freedom

Documentary charting the history of the Berlin Wall, from its construction in 1961, to its fall in 1989.

An Lùnastal, naoi-ceud-deug seasgad 's a h-aon. Chaidh Balla Bherlin a thogail. Air an taobh siar dhen bhalla, tha e na shamhladh air a' Chogadh Fhuar. Air an taobh an ear, 's e cnap-staraidh air saorsa a th' ann.

Thog ùghdarrasan Gearmailt an Ear ceithir modhan dhen bhalla, gach fear nas teinne na am fear roimhe. Ach, thar an fhichead 's a h-ochd bliadhna, bha na mìltean a' feuchainn faighinn troimhe - a' ruith tro uèir biorach, a' leum bho uinneagan thoglaichean àrda, agus a' draibheadh làraidhean tron bhalla. Airson gach neach a shoirbhich, chaidh na ceudan a mharbhadh a' feuchainn.

August, 1961. The Berlin Wall is built. On the Western side, it's a symbol of the bitter Cold War. On the East, it's a blockade to freedom. East German authorities  build four versions of the wall, each more impenetrable than the last. Yet over 28 years, thousands attempted to defeat it - running through the barbed wire, jumping from apartment building windows, and driving trucks through the makeshift wall.

In 1964, Hubert Hohlbein and Peter Schulenburg join 35 other students to dig a 475 foot long tunnel under the wall from the West. They help bring 57 refugees out of East Germany before the police discovered them, leading to a dramatic and deadly gun battle. And then, on one extraordinary night in 1989, the wall fell.

This film considers the history of the wall, and its battles with freedom-fighters. The wall has gone, but even for those who survived their battle, the nightmare will never completely fade.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Balla Berlin - an slighe gu saorsa/The Berlin Wall - Escape to Freedom

Genres

Formats

BBC ALBA

About BBC ALBA