History of Europe

• Karmann and the Ghia:The fame and fall of a cult era

  The former family company from Osnabrück became world famous with the Karmann Ghia. But much more was produced there. The Karmann era has been history since 2009. At its core, its just a beetle. Maybe streamlined and lowered, but a beetle. The top model has just 50 horsepower under the hood and not

• June 22, 1969:Twelve dead in Linden explosion

  The rescue workers were presented with a picture of the devastation. It is Sunday morning when the catastrophe takes its course. June 22, 1969, slightly cloudy. Shortly after 8 a.m., the fire brigade in Hanover received an emergency call:A goods wagon was on fire in Linden station. The emergency se

• New Elbe tunnel:beacons of hope under water

  by Kathrin Weber, NDR.de In December 1969, the Otto tunnel boring machine bored out the first of the four tunnel tubes in the bank area. With the noise of excavators and pile drivers, work began on June 19, 1968 in Hamburg on one of the most ambitious construction projects of the time:Europes longe

• Container shipping:Beginning of a new era in the 1960s

  On May 31, 1968, the Port of Hamburg entered a new era:With the American Lancer, a full container ship docked for the first time. The square boxes on board revolutionize shipping, port work and global trade. Fire-fighting boats greet the 213-meter-long ship on the Elbe with meter-high water fountai

• 1968:Hamburg court convicts SS perpetrators

  by Irene Altenmüller, NDR.deThe bodies of around two million people were buried by the Nazis in mass graves like this one in Mirny (Ukraine). It was a heinous crime:Between 1942 and 1944, the National Socialists had countless mass graves opened along the Eastern Front and the bodies of hundreds of

• Benno Ohnesorg:A death changes the Federal Republic

  Benno Ohnesorg was born in Hanover on October 15, 1940. A police officer shoots the student at a demonstration in Berlin in 1967. Ohnesorgs death becomes a symbol for the increasing politicization of the student movement. Who is behind the symbol figure? by Dirk Hempel In the early summer of 1967,

• HVV - The pioneer of local public transport

  One tariff, one ticket, one timetable:with these goals, the worlds first transport association was founded on November 29, 1965 in Hamburg. The Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) was a pioneer and role model in local public transport. by Heiko Block, NDR.de Until then, if people in Hamburg wanted to

• A big hole at the beginning:Hanover's subway

  In June 1965, the city council of Hanover made a historic decision:the state capital should get a subway. From now on, large construction sites will characterize the center for almost 30 years. by Ole Lerch With the construction of the subway network in 1965, a new phase of urban development began

• Spiegel affair:Attack on freedom of the press

  The cover story conditionally ready to defend yourself in the news magazine Der Spiegel from October 9, 1962 leads to the arrest of editors a good two weeks later. The attack on press freedom sparks outrage. The Hamburg press building was hectic on the evening of October 26, 1962, a Friday:producti

• Hamburg's brief dream of the large tube mail

  With the groundbreaking ceremony for Hamburgs large pneumatic tube on September 13, 1960, the construction of a facility that is unique in the world begins. But already in 1976 the end comes. Some traces still bear witness to the project. by Marc-Oliver Rehrmann, NDR.de Anyone who carefully stroll

• The Friendship of Nations - holiday ship of the GDR

  On February 24, 1960, the Friendship of Peoples set off from Rostock for its maiden run. The first holiday ship in the GDR not only offered luxurious cruises to deserving working people. by Henning Strüber Cruise shipping has not only been at home in Rostock since the AIDA shipping company. Even i

• VW Beetle:1978 ended an era in Emden

  VW employees pose for the anniversary with a white VW Beetle that rolled off the assembly line in Emden 40 years ago. A few tears must have flowed in Emden:On January 19, 1978, the last Beetle produced in Germany rolled off the assembly line at the East Frisian VW plant. After a total of almost 2.4

• Election thriller in the Lower Saxony state parliament

  by Axel Franz, NDR.de Agreements, trial votes:Everything is well prepared, routine, but it will be a debacle and a political sensation. In the middle of the legislative period, the SPD and FDP fail on January 14, 1976 in the Lower Saxony state parliament when voting on a new prime minister. Stiff f

• Overrun by flames:deadly disaster in the heath

  Drought, heat and wind:In August 1975 devastating fires raged in the Südheide and in Wendland. The emergency services couldnt get them under control for days. Five firefighters and two other helpers die. 82 people are injured. At the beginning of August 1975 it was unusually hot and dry in Lower Sa

• World Cup 1974:The GDR beats the class enemy

  In the 1974 World Cup game in Hamburg, the GDR surprisingly beat the DFB team 1-0. West Germans dont notice the total surveillance of GDR players and fans. A murmur goes through the room on January 5, 1974 at the draw for the soccer World Cup:the GDR team meets the host team - the Federal Republic

• Sinking of the Caesar II:Death in the icy Elbe

  50 years ago, on a cold winter morning, two ships collided in the port of Hamburg. The barge Caesar II sinks in the Elbe. 17 people drown in the icy water. by Axel Franz On this cold Tuesday, February 15, 1972, ice floes are floating on the Elbe in the port of Hamburg. The piers between Landungsbr

• Death in the English Channel:The sinking of the MS Brandenburg

  50 years ago, the Hamburg general cargo ship MS Brandenburg sank in the English Channel within a few minutes. The ship had collided with a wreck. 20 men and women of the crew die. by Kerstin von Stürmer and Jan Wulf Eleven crew members survive the shipwreck, which is one of the worst in the post-w

• December 1989:hostage-taking in Groß Düngen

  Gisela and Siegfried Schilberg were taken hostage in their own home 30 years ago. December 10, 1989. Its the second Sunday in Advent, shortly before 8 a.m., when Gisela Schilbergs nightmare begins. In the bedroom of her house in Bad Salzdetfurth (Hildesheim district), a loud rumble jolts her out of

• November 9, 1989:The day the wall fell

  With Monday demonstrations and mass escapes, the GDR citizens bring a regime to its knees. The borders open on November 9, 1989, 327 days later Germany is reunited. As far as I know, this is ... immediately, without delay - with these words on the new GDR travel regulations, Politburo spokesman Gün

• Propaganda songs and funeral hymns:the rise and fall of the FDJ

  March 7, 1946 is considered the official founding date of the FDJ. With a ceremony in Schwerin a few days later, the youth organization is to become a symbol of hope for German youth. However, the FDJ does not remain free and non-partisan for long. by Siv Stippekohl In Mecklenburg, the history of