Berlin Wall Collection: A City Divided: Life and Death in the Shadow of the Wall

With his iconic speech on June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy united the citizens of Berlin and the United States by stating that he too was a "Berliner."  Twenty-four years later, President Ronald Reagan declared in Berlin that "I do not come here to lament.  For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph."

The second of a three-part project, A CIty Divided reveals and details the East and West Berliners' struggle for life and death in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.  The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Historical Review Program, in partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration, has released declassified documents on various topics and activities in Berlin from 1962 to 1986 - the years between these two famous speeches by American presidents.  Attendees of the January 14 symposium will receive a free publication and DVD compilation of 1,324 documents, selected from both NARA and CIA collections.  The booklet and DVD can be accessed on the NARA website at http://www.archives.gov/research/foreign-policy/cold-war/berlin-wall-1962-1987/.  Please scroll down to the section entitled Online Collection from our Conference DVD.