Rundfunk der DDR

Rundfunk der DDR (1990 till 1991 Funkhaus Berlin) was the radio broadcasting organisation for the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1952 until German reunification. The organization was based in the Funkhaus Nalepastraße in East Berlin.

History

Post-war

The pre-war Deutschlandsender stations, under the control of Joseph Goebbels' Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda as the Großdeutsche Rundfunk, were closed by the Allied forces upon Germany's surrender in May 1945. On 13 May 1945, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAG) began a radio broadcasting service to the people of Berlin called Berliner Rundfunk, operating from what would become the British sector of West Berlin. The station was controlled by Walter Ulbricht.

When the three Western occupation sectors in Berlin were established, the American zone gained the station Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor (RIAS), while the British zone established the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) which also broadcast in their zone. In 1948, control of the NWDR was transferred to the provisional government in West Germany, while RIAS remained under direct American control.

On 15 September 1952, the SMAG formally transferred control of broadcasting in the GDR to the East German government.

The Berlin Wall

After the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, the GDR began a programme to attempt to prevent its citizens from listening to broadcasts from RIAS and Sender Fries Berlin (SFB), the...
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