Germany Year USA 2018-9: Historical picture gallery

John D. Rockefeller The legendary American oil magnate John D. Rockefeller had German roots, which can be traced close to the town known today as Neuwied. His ancestors emigrated as early as 1723. At the age of 38, Rockefeller controlled almost 90% of the country’s oil refinery capacity. In 1879, he was one of the 20 richest men in the United States. © dpa

Levi Strauss around 1880. Who is not familiar with the iconic blue jeans? The German-American industrialist Levi Strauss is regarded, together with his business partner Jacob Davis, as the inventor of jeans. The roots of the company date back to 1853, when Jewish immigrant Löb Strauss from Upper Franconia founded a textiles firm in San Francisco. Löb Strauss later became Levi Strauss – his company remains family-managed to this day. © dpa

Warhol’s Pop art: “Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box”.

Henry John Heinz It is not only thanks to Andy Warhol’s world-famous depiction of the Heinz box that the ketchup is still widely known today. The company founder was Henry John Heinz, one of eight children of German immigrants. His father Johann Heinrich Heinz came from the Palatinate, his mother Anna Margaretha Schmidt from Hessen. © dpa

Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch Budweiser beer is known throughout America. It was in St. Louis in 1870 that German immigrants Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch first founded the brewery that would become the largest in the country. InBev bought the company in 2008. Today, Budweiser is available in over 80 markets worldwide. © dpa

Wilhelm Böing The roots of the American aircraft producers Boing reach back to Hohenlimburg in the Sauerland region. Wilhelm Böing emigrated to the United States from there in 1868. He began with very little capital in Detroit and invested in the timber trade. His son Wilhelm Eduard, who later named himself William Edward Boeing, founded the Pacific Aero Products Co. in 1916 which became the Boeing Airplane Company the following year. The present-day group is by far the largest aircraft producer in the world. © dpa

North America was a particularly popular destination for German émigrés

Hamburg as port of departure According to the passenger lists in Hamburg’s archives, some five million people left this Hanseatic city on their journey across the Atlantic between 1850 and 1934. At first many Europeans mainly embarked in Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre to emigrate. But because of the strong flow of people leaving Eastern Europe, steamship traffic from Hamburg to North and South America increased considerably. North America was a particularly popular destination for German émigrés, because there was enough land, a favourable climate and fertile soil. © dpa

Elbe Day On 25 April 1945 American troops and units of the Red Army met for the first time on German soil in Strehla, roughly 30 kilometres south of the town of Torgau on the River Elbe. The Allied forces had effectively divided Germany in two, and in a symbol of friendship an American and a Russian soldier shook hands. © dpa

Marlene Dietrich signs a GI’s plaster cast.

Marlene Dietrich Marlene Dietrich rejected all film roles from the Nazi regime and took American citizenship in 1939. She supported American troops and was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1947, the highest civilian decoration in the USA. © dpa

Thomas Mann brought thinkers and artists together.

Thomas Mann Another name for Thomas Mann’s residence in Los Angeles in the early 1940s was the “White House of Exile”. The Nobel laureate who had emigrated to the USA took American citizenship just a few years after moving in. Today the Thomas Mann House is a meeting place for transatlantic exchange. © dpa

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (second from left) Like many of his colleagues, the preeminent figure of German Bauhaus avant-garde architecture emigrated to the United States. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became an American citizen in 1944. As early as 1947 the Museum of Modern Art in New York showed a retrospective of his work. © dpa

Liberation of Buchenwald concentration camp When the United States Army reached Buchenwald near Weimar on 11 April 1945, the prisoners had already rebelled and liberated the camp. Since then the former concentration camp has become a symbol of the National Socialist terror regime, and a symbol of resistance. © dpa

D-Day This major offensive against Hitler was the largest seaborne operation in history, and for many it marks the beginning of the end of World War II. The Allies first brought in large contingents of troops from the USA and Canada to Britain. From there 150,000 Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel and landed in Normandy, France, on 6 June 1944, popularly known as D-Day. The aim of Operation Overlord was to push back the German forces and liberate France. The landings were a success, but the human costs were high. The Allies sustained very heavy losses on the beaches of Normandy. © dpa

The end of the war On May 7, 1945, the German delegation signed an unconditional surrender of the German Reich. The signing took place in France at the Supreme Headquarters of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces in Europe. Two days later the surrender was signed again at the Headquarters of the Soviet Armed Forces in Berlin-Karlshorst. This marked the ceasefire in Europe after more than five years of war. © dpa

Henry Kissinger American Secretary of State and National Security Advisor

Henry Kissinger Henry Kissinger grew up in Fürth and fled from the Nazis to the United States with his parents. The “German-American” became one of the most important American foreign affairs politicians from the 1960s until the 1980s. He was American Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, who served under the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. © dpa

Potsdam Conference From 17 July until 2 August 1945, the Allies met at Cecilienhof Palace for the Potsdam Conference in order to decide how they should go about administering Germany after its unconditional surrender. It was attended by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States – represented by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Secretary of the Communist Party Joseph Stalin, and US President Harry S. Truman (from left to right). © dpa

Konrad Adenauer Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

Konrad Adenauer In 1949 Konrad Adenauer became the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany and shifted the focus from denazification to reconstruction. With close relations to France, the United Kingdom and the United States, he led West Germany to democracy, stability, international respect and economic prosperity. © Picture Alliance

George C. Marshall The United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall formulated the Marshall Plan, an unprecedented programme providing economic and military aid. The programme to rebuild Europe formed a cornerstone of Germany’s ‘economic miracle’. © dpa

Horst Lippmann The musician from Frankfurt am Main played a key role in the development of jazz, blues and rock music. During World War II, he published an illegal jazz journal and later brought the first American jazz stars, such as James Moody and Coleman Hawkins, to Germany. © hr/Kurt Bethke

‘Economic miracle’ The ‘economic miracle’ was the name given to the rapid rebuilding of the German economy after World War II. Above all, the currency reform, the Marshall Plan and the introduction of the social market economy were the key elements to swift recovery. The first Minister for Economic Affairs in the Federal Republic of Germany, Ludwig Erhard, was regarded as the country’s architect of the ‘economic miracle’. © dpa

Gail Seymour Halvorsen During the Berlin Blockade from June 1948 until May 1949, Western Allied aeroplanes supplied the cut-off city. Gail Seymour Halvorsen is the most famous pilot of what were known in Berlin as “Raisin Bombers”: The airman later became commander of Berlin’s Tempelhof airport. © dpa

ERP stands for “European Recovery Program”.

Marshall Plan To help war-ravaged Europe back on its feet, in 1948 the USA introduced the Marshall Plan. Officially called the “European Recovery Program” (ERP), it brought goods and loans with a present-day value of 131 billion dollars to Europe. It bears the name of then US Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who is said to have drawn it up. © dpa

Ernst Reuter speaks in front of the ruins of the Reichstag.

Ernst Reuter During the Soviet blockade of Berlin, the city’s Mayor Ernst Reuter appealed to the “people of the world” on 9 September 1948 in front of 300,000 Berliners: Berlin was a bastion of liberty, he said, that must not be forsaken by the Western Allies. The moving speech made Reuter a symbol of the city’s perseverance and helped establish the airlift in the face of initial reservations. © dpa

Group 47 (Gruppe 47) Group 47 was the name given to the German-language writers who attended meetings organized by Hans Werner Richter between 1947 and 1967. In the early days, Group 47 provided young writers with a platform for renewing German literature after the Second World War. Members of the group would influence the development of German-language literature up until the early 1970s. The best-known members of the group include Heinrich Böll, Martin Walser and Günter Grass. © dpa

Kennedy giving his historic speech in front of Schöneberg City Hall.

John F. Kennedy In 1961 John F. Kennedy became president of the United States – the same year in which the Berlin Wall was built. He gave a speech in Berlin on the 15th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift in which he made it clear that West-Berlin would not be abandoned in the face of the communist threat. The visit was a triumph and his statement “Ich bin ein Berliner” became legendary. © dpa

The Freedom Bell prior to transport in Berlin.

Freedom Bell In 1950 Lucius D. Clay, the American military governor in Germany, had the idea of creating a replica of the famous “Liberty Bell” from Philadelphia for Berlin. The Freedom Bell is still located in the tower of Schöneberg City Hall today and is the largest secular bell in Berlin.

The Freedom Bell at Schöneberg City Hall.

Freiheitsglocke In 1950 Lucius D. Clay, the American military governor in Germany, had the idea of creating a replica of the famous “Liberty Bell” from Philadelphia for Berlin. The Freedom Bell is still located in the tower of Schöneberg City Hall today and is the largest secular bell in Berlin. © dpa

Checkpoint Charlie Checkpoint Charlie was the best-known border crossing between East and West Berlin between 1961 and 1990. It connected the Soviet sector with the American sector and linked East Berlin’s Mitte district with the Kreuzberg district in West Berlin. © Picture Alliance

Elvis Presley he definitively brought rock and roll and the American youth culture to Germany.

Elvis Presley On 1 October 1958 the “King” arrived in Bremerhaven to do his military service in Germany, where he would stay until March 1960. Stationed in the Frankfurt region, he definitively brought rock and roll and the American youth culture to Germany. It was also here that he met his later wife Priscilla, who lived in Wiesbaden. © dpa

VW Beetle The VW Beetle is perhaps the prime example of Germany’s ‘economic miracle’, as it became a huge export hit in Germany’s post-war economy. Originally designed as an official vehicle for the military and the bureaucracy, it later became a car for all: affordable and reliable. On August 5, 1955, amidst much media hype, the one millionth Beetle left the assembly line at the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg. © dpa

Ramstein Several million US soldiers have done their military service in Germany since the end of World War II. During the Cold War the US armed forces had about 200 barracks, airbases, munitions depots and other military facilities in some 100 German towns and communities. Ramstein Airbase still remains the largest United States Air Force base outside America. It is near Kaiserslautern, which can be hard to pronounce, so the Americans simply call it K-Town. © dpa

The representatives of the Two Plus Four countries in front of their flags.

“Two Plus Four” conference The Two Plus Four Agreement paved the way for reunification. The “Two” were the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic (represented by Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Markus Meckel). The “Four” were the Soviet Union (Eduard Schewardnadse), France (Roland Dumas), Great Britain (Douglas Hurd) and the USA (James Baker). © dpa

9 November 1989 Walking a few steps from East to West: Something that today, almost 30 years later, is quite normal made people cry tears of joy during the night of 9/10 November 1989. After the Central Committee Secretary for Information, Günter Schabowski, announced that every East German citizen would be entitled to receive a visa to travel to the West from the following morning, thousands of East Berlin residents gathered at the city’s crossing points. Around 11.30 p.m. the officers on duty at the Bornholmer Strasse crossing point in Berlin’s Wedding district yielded to the pressure from the populace and opened the border. The Iron Curtain dividing East and West had fallen. © dpa

Owing to the ideological differences among the Allies, the country was later split into West Germany and East Germany.

3 October 1990 On 3 October 1990, after 45 years of division, East and West Germany officially became one nation again. The division had come about after the Second World War: In 1945 Germany was initially divided into four sectors that were administered by the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. Owing to the ideological differences among the Allies, the country was later split into West Germany and East Germany. In 1952 the latter closed its borders to the West and in 1961 built a wall through the city of Berlin. © dpa

Many years after reunification, the Scorpions still celebrate their classic.

Scorpions – Wind of Change No other Rock song encapsulates the mood at the end of the Cold War more than “Wind of Change” by the German band Scorpions. It became an anthem of East-West rapprochement and the fall of the Berlin Wall. © dpa

David Bowie concert ends in riot On June 5, 1987, thousands of fans went to the concert of British music star David Bowie in front of the Reichstag Building in West Berlin. But in the eastern part of the city, just a few metres away on the other side of the Wall, hundreds of young people gathered to listen to the music and call for the Wall to be demolished. They were pushed back by the People’s Police, and a riot resulted. © dpa

The image from the G7 summit that circled the globe.

Angela Merkel and Donald Trump Adjusting relations: Transatlantic relations have a high standing, even when the partners don’t always agree, as at the G7 summit in Canada, held in June 2018. In addition to Angela Merkel and Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron (France) and Shinzo Abe (Japan) also attended. © dpa

Hans Zimmer makes films worth listening to.

Hans Zimmer Frankfurt native Hans Zimmer is a living legend in Hollywood. He captivates filmgoers with his soundtracks, having written the music for films such as Gladiator, Inception, Pirates of the Caribbean, Interstellar and Dunkirk. He won an Oscar in 1995 for The Lion King. He also plays his film music live with a large orchestra and spectacular show. © dpa

Nowitzki is the highest-scoring player in NBA history who was not born in the United States.

Dirk Nowitzki It is not just German supermodels who find success across the Atlantic: In the 1998 NBA draft Dirk Nowitzki was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks and was immediately traded to the Mavericks, where he has played ever since. Nowitzki is the highest-scoring player in NBA history who was not born in the United States.

Heidi Klum Heidi Klum is arguably Germany’s most beautiful export success. She is a model, presenter, businesswoman and actress. In 1999 she was the first German model to become a Victoria’s Secret angel. Later she presented the successful American reality show Project Runway, for which she won an Emmy. © Picture Alliance

G7 Summit at Schloss Elmau On June 7 and 8, 2015, the heads of state and government of the G7 met at Schloss Elmau for their annual summit. The aim was meet the complex international economic and political challenges of our time, based on common values and principles. But one picture in particular will remain in people’s memories: Barack Obama is laid back relaxing on a park bench, while Angela Merkel is standing in front of him waving her arms around. Exactly what they were talking about remains a secret to this day. © dpa

Diane Kruger She made it from small-town Germany to Hollywood. Diane Kruger gave her debut there in “The Piano Player”, acting opposite Dennis Hopper. Her biggest role so far is probably the double agent and resistance fighter she played in Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”. © dpa

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