Introduction (engl.)

The temporary exhibition “Like a Tinderbox! The Berlin Crisis and the Construction of the Wall” and
this companion volume reflect the Allied Museum’s aspiration to present the postwar history of the

Federal Republic in relation to the role of the Western powers in West Berlin, but also to inner-German, European, and global power relations during the Cold War.The Wall was not Berlin’s problem alone, nor was its signifi cance simply that of an especially  dramatic chapter in the history of German division. Rather, from 1961 on the Wall was the demarcation line between NATO and the Warsaw Pact.
The background to the division of Berlin, which the Soviet Unionand the GDR cemented on August
13, 1961, can be found in the second Berlin Crisis. At the time, the United States and the Soviet Union were vying for political and ideological infl uence in the world.

In Germany, at least, this crisis is not at the center of people’s perceptions when they think of the construction of the Wall. To that extent, the book and the exhibition are also attempts at  “contemporary archaeology”. I wish you illuminating reading that encourages you to delve deeper into the subject.

Dr. Gundula Bavendamm
Director of the Allied Museum, Berlin