istoryworld
Events relating to germany
The Soviet Union imposes a blockade on Berlin by denying the other powers access through the land corridor to the city
The Western powrers respond to the Soviet blockade by launching the Berlin airlift, flying in necessary provisions of every kind
Karl von Frisch demonstrates that bees make use of the polarized light of the sun to calculate direction
The Christian Democrats win the first elections in Germany since 1933, and Konrad Adenauer becomes chancellor of West Germany
Bertolt Brecht establishes a new theatrical company, the Berliner Ensemble, in East Germany
The Soviet Union lifts the blockade on Berlin and the airlift ends, after providing for nearly a year a lifeline to the city
The Federal Republic of Germany is formed from the British, French and US zones of occupation
The USSR grants nominal independence to east Germany as the newly established German Democratic Republic
Kirsten Flagstad sings the posthumous premiere, in London, of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs
Hans Werner Henze's first full-length opera, Boulevard Solitude, has its premiere in Hanover
The German firm NSU builds the first working example of the rotary engine invented in 1924 by Felix Wankel
Relations are normalized between West Germany and the USA, France and Britain, ending the postwar period of occupation
Thomas Mann publishes a longer but still incomplete version of his novel Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man
Konrad Adenauer negotiates the release of the last 10,000 German prisoners of war held in the USSR
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Song of the Children combines electronic sounds and the human voice
Hans Werner Henze's opera The Stag King has its premiere in Berlin
Six founding nations (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, West Germany) establish the European Economic Community (EEC)
German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen uses three separate orchestras to achieve acoustic space in Gruppen
Nigerian dramatist Wole Soyinka's play The Swamp Dwellers is produced in London
German novelist Günter Grass has an immediate success with his first novel, The Tin Drum
Niger becomes independent, with Hamani Diori as the new nation's first president
British choreographer John Cranko becomes director of the Stuttgart Ballet
The drug Thalidomide, synthesized in West Germany, is shown to have been the cause of severe defects in about 12,000 children born in 46 countries
The East German government erects the Berlin Wall to prevent an exodus of its citizens
President Kennedy, in divided Berlin, makes the dramatic declaration: Ich bin ein Berliner ('I am a Berliner')
