History

US planned East Berlin's 'systematic destruction'

The US Air Force planned to drop 91 atomic bombs in and around East Berlin in the event of the Cold War turning hot, documents released on Wednesday showed.

Soviet

Lenin's head to be 'resurrected' in Berlin

Buried and long forgotten, the head of a giant Lenin statue is set to make a comeback in the German capital a quarter-century after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

chess

Chess referee recalls 'Cold War clash'

The 1972 World Chess Championship between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky was almost abandoned but for a timely intervention from German arbiter Lothar Schmid. He tells the story on its 40th anniversary.

Thuringia

Adenauer wanted to swap West Berlin

Newly revealed documents show that Germany's first post-war Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was prepared to hand over West Berlin to communist East Germany in exchange for eastern areas of the country.