The Edge of the American Sector, Berlin, 1949

Photograph showing German men and women removing the rubble barricades between the American Sector and the Soviet Sector of Berlin at the end of the Berlin Blockade, May 1949. Between April 1948 and May 1949 Josef Stalin, leader of the USSR, imposed a land blockade on supplies from Western Europe to West Berlin. In response the British and American governments organised an enormous airlift to supply food and other essentials to the 2.5 million inhabitants of West Berlin. After a year Stalin conceded defeat and lifted the blockade

Airlift Barricades Blockade Conceded Enormous Essentials Governments Imposed Inhabitants Lifted Organised Removing Response Sector

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