Berlin: East and West Trivia Quiz

Answer: Schönefeld (Shofel)

Tempelhof Central Airport and the Marienfelde complexes were located in the Tempelhof district and were operated by the U.S. Air Force. Teufelsberg was located in the Wilmersdorf district, in the British sector, and was operated by the U.S. Army. Schönefeld was an airport controlled by the Russians and located just outside East Berlin.

Answer: 1987

Berlin celebrated its 750th year as a city in 1987. The city was founded in 1237 and was then known as Cölln. This was a year long "party" in which many events took place to commemorate the birth of the city. West Berlin had 12 of the 23 districts of the city and each month a different district would celebrate Berlin's birthday in its own way.

Answer: The pregnant oyster

In 1980 a portion of the building's roof collapsed and re-construction was not completed until the mid 1980s. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 the former Kongresshalle was renamed Haus der Kulturen der Welt or House of World Cultures.

Answer: At the wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate

The Brandenburg Gate, commissioned by Friedrich Wilhelm II and completed in 1791, was one of 14 gates built in the late 18th century. This wall controlled access into and out of the city of Berlin. The Brandenburg Gate is the only surviving portion of that wall. Until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 the Brandenburg Gate was located in the Soviet sector and was off limits to everyone including those in the East.

The Reichstag building was the seat of parliament for the new German Empire that came in being at the end of the Franco-Prussian war (1871).

It was commissioned in 1884 and completed in 1894. Checkpoint Charlie was the main border crossing point for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic between East and West Berlin.

Answer: The Siegessäule

The Siegessäule or Victory Column was built in 1873 to commemorate the Prussian victories over Denmark (in 1864), Austria (in 1866) and France (in 1870-71). The monument originally was located near the Reichstag building but was moved by the Nazis in 1938 to its current location.

There is an observation deck on the top of the column and the only way up is to climb a long spiral staircase and the passageway gets narrower and narrower. The Funkturm, located in the Charlottenburg district, was built in 1924 for the International Telecommunications Exhibiton.

It has a similar structure as the Eiffel tower but is only about 1/2 the height. The Kaiser-Wilhelm- Gedächtniskirche, or what is left of it, is located in the Charlottenburg district and was built in 1895 by Kaiser Wilhelm II in memory of his father.

The church was badly damaged during World War II but still stands on the famous Kurfürstendamm in downtown Berlin. The Eiffel tower is, of course, located in Paris.

Answer: Francis Gary Powers and Rudolf Ivanovich Abel

Captain Francis Gary Powers was a U-2 pilot working for the CIA. He was, unfortunately, shot down by a surface-to-air missile (or so the story goes) over the Soviet Union on 1 May, 1960. He survived, was captured and tried as a spy. He never served his 10 year sentence and was later exchanged for Soviet spy Rudolf Ivanovich Abel on 10 Feb 1962.

He was killed in a helicopter crash in 1977. Rudolf Ivanovich Abel was a Soviet spy living and working in the United States until his arrest in June of 1957.

He was tried and sentenced to 30 years in prison but was later exchanged for Powers. Oleg Penkovsky was a high level KGB operative who, in 1961, became a double agent working for the United States and England. His spying continued for less than two years as the KGB found him out in 1963.

He was arressted, tried and executed for his actions. Harold "Kim" Philby was a British MI6 agent who started working for the Russians after the end of World War II. His spying activities continued into the Cold War until British intelligence began to suspect him of being a possible "mole".

He fled England for the Soviet Union in 1963 before he could be arressted. He died in 1988. Anotoly Scharansky was not a spy but a Russian dissident arrested and put in prison in 1978 for treason. He was released in 1986 as part of another spy swap involving the Freedom Bridge. Aldrich Ames worked for the CIA and in February of 1994 he was arrested for spying for the Russians. The Glienicker Brucke is a bridge across River Havel and connects the southwestern part of Berlin with the (formerly East German) city of Potsdam.

Answer: Rudolph Hess

The seven men sent to Spandau prison were: Rudolph Hess (sentenced to life and died in prison in 1987), Albert Speer (sentenced to 20 years, released in 1966 and died in 1981), Baldur von Schirach (sentenced to 20 years, released in 1966 and died in 1974), Karl Doenitz (sentenced to 10 years, released in 1956 and died in 1980), Walter Funk (sentenced to life, released in 1957 due to poor health and died in 1960), Erich Raeder (sentenced to life, released in 1955 due to poor health and died in 1960), Konstantin von Neurath (sentenced to 15 years, released in 1954 due to poor health and died in 1956). Rudolf Hess, at one point the number two man in the Nazi party, was captured in Scotland on May 10, 1941 after he parachuted from the plane he was flying.

He took it upon himself to try to negotiate "peace" with the British but his plan was not accepted and he spent the rest of the war as a POW in England. After the war he was tried at Nuremberg and given a life sentence. He spent the rest of his days in Spandau prison until August, 1987.

There are rumours that he committed suicide in Spandau. Helmut Kohl was the Chancellor of Germany from 1982-1998.

Answer: "The Forbin Project"

The "Forbin Project" was made in 1969 and starred Eric Braeden as Dr. Forbin. Dr. Forbin created a supercomputer called Colossus who, in conjunction with the Russian built supercomputer Guardian, takes control of humanity. Scary thought isn't it? "Gotcha" was made in 1985 and starred Anthony Edwards of "ER" fame. California college student takes a trip to Paris and gets caught up in the international spy game. Good movie - even better if you have been to Paris or Berlin because several of the places mentioned in this quiz are shown in the movie. "One, Two, Three" was made in 1961 and starred James Cagney.

This was also the year that the Soviets closed the border between East and West Berlin. "Funeral in Berlin" was made in 1966 and starred Michael Caine as Harry Palmer of British intelligence. Palmer is assigned to help a Russian Colonel defect to the west. "Funeral in Berlin" is the second of the Palmer trilogy.

The first was "The Ipcress File" and the third was "The Billion Dollar Brain".

Answer: The Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Airlift began after the Soviets closed off all lines of surface traffic between West Germany and West Berlin in June of 1948. The result of this blockade was the largest sustained airlift in history. American, British and French forces began flying tons of food and coal into the city in an effort to keep the people of Berlin alive.

The airlift ended in September of 1949 after the Soviets finally lifted the blockade. During the airlift over 2.3 million tons of cargo had been delivered to Berlin.

At the height of the airlift the flights were so intense that one aircraft would land in Berlin each minute (that's an air traffic control nightmare.) 78 people were killed during the airlift operations including 31 Americans, 39 British and nine German civilians.

The memorial was designed by Eduard Ludwig and was built in 1951. The three "prongs" represent the three air corridors (northern, central and southern) used by the Allies. The former Rhein-Main Airbase is now part of an expanded Frankfurt airport.

Answer: 3

A total of three stages were completed within the city of West Berlin: the Prolouge, Stage 1 and Stage 2 (the Team Time Trial). After the completion of these stages the race was moved to West Germany since the riders were not allowed to race through East Germnay. Three more stages were run in West Germany before the Tour returned to France (Strasbourg) at the end of the fifth stage.

Answer: The Pope's revenge

The Fernsehturm was built in 1969 on Alexanderplatz in what was then East Berlin. The tower was originally going to be constructed at a location outside of the city but it was decided that a more powerful political statement could be made if it was built on the Alexanderplatz.

The tower would then be in a position to be constantly viewed from the West. The pride that the Communists had in this structure quickly turned to embarrassment. The officially aetheist East which tried to supress religion and religious symbols got a little more than they expected with the completion of the tower.

When the sun shines a huge cross appears on the "ball". No matter what was tried nothing could get rid of the reflection or change its appearance. The tower is about 1,200 feet high and has an observation deck in the "ball".

The tower serves primarily as a platform for radio and television (digital and analog) transmitters.

Answer: 4

The original wall was constructed on August 13, 1961 while the majority of East Berliners were still sleeping. One of the major reasons that the Berlin Wall was constructed was that East Germany was a much poorer country than West Germany. Over 2.5 million people fled to the west because of better living and working conditions.

The Soviets were afraid that all of the most highly skilled workers would also flee so they built the wall in an attempt to keep them in the east. The wall was first upgraded in June of 1962.

The next upgrade to the wall occurred in 1965 when concrete slabs were placed between concrete and iron posts. A concrete pipe was placed on top of the wall giving it a rounded appearance. The third and last upgrade was made in 1975 when new and improved "L" shaped segments replaced the older concrete sections.

These newer segments were easier to handle and more resistant to breakthroughs. The Berlin Wall was a total of 97 miles long. 67 of those miles were the concrete section of the wall and the remaining 30 miles consisted of barbed wire and mesh fencing.

The concrete sections of the wall were approximately 12 feet high.

Answer: Peter Fechter

Peter Fechter lay wounded for almost an hour before East German border guards picked him up and carried him back into East Berlin but by that time it was too late. He was only 17 years old. Chris Gueffory, 20, was the last person to be shot and killed trying to cross the wall.

He died on February 5, 1989. Winfried Freundenberg, 32, died on March 3, 1989 when the balloon he was piloting crashed. He was the last person to die trying to escape over the wall. Eric Honecker was the leader of East Germany from 1971 to 1989.

Answer: The Olympic torch relay

The Olympic torch relay, a part of the ancient games, was re-introduced into the modern Olympic games in 1936. A Greek man named Konstantin Kondylis was the first person to carry the Olympic flame. He lit the first torch in a ceremony in Olympia Greece on July 20, 1936.

A total of 3,331 runners carried the flame and on August 1, 1936 the German athlete Fritz Schilgen lit the Olympic torch in the Berlin stadium. The Olympic flag made its first appearance in the 1920 games. The five interlocking rings represent the five continents: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe and the Americas (North and South together).

The taking of the Olympic oath by the athletes was first introduced in the 1920 games.

Answer: No

It would have been better if President Kennedy had omitted the "ein", but the notion that his expression of solidarity was misunderstood is a 1980s American legend. (In German one doesn't use an article with a noun indicating nationality, citizenship or place of origin, but the meaning was perfectly clear).