Curator's Choice: Berlin 1953

29th October 2024

Clip from Berlin 1953. Film: © IWM (MGH 7212).

Film Curator Michelle Kirby highlights a recent acquisition to IWM’s film collection

A remarkable amateur black and white film, showcasing the divided Cold War city of Berlin in 1953, is now available to view and license on IWM Film for the first time. It is a rare and recent acquisition to IWM’s Cold War holdings, offering an extraordinary insight into the perceived differences amid civilian life between East Berlin and West Berlin, and its varied respective architecture.

Keen amateur filmmaker John Yeomans, then in his twenties, filmed Berlin 1953 during a six-week work experience trip that year. Having produced his first film at the tender age of 13, when given his first cine camera, John would go on to create many home movies, documenting treasured holidays and family occasions. A labour of love, he filmed and edited the films by himself, and enjoyed adding soundtrack and commentary in his own home, which he dubbed in his films ‘Woodberry Studios’.

Berlin in 1953 is a city “with a past in ruins and a future half hidden behind the Iron Curtain”.

Now in his nineties, John gifted his Cold War Berlin film to IWM. It illustrates the long shadow cast over people and landscapes by war, and the differing impact of predominant ideologies amid the process of rebuilding the fabric of their lives. His lively commentary poignantly concludes that Berlin in 1953 is a city “with a past in ruins and a future half hidden behind the Iron Curtain”.

In these early Cold War years, filming in the city was at times viewed with some suspicion, particularly by army personnel; this is reflected in the footage when a hand briefly covers the camera lens. On one occasion, following filming, John even spent two hours in a police cell, until it was determined that he and his camera posed no threat.

Amateur film maker, John Yeomans, photographed then, and now.