Giffey: We continue to stand with Ukraine

Franziska Giffey (SPD), Governing Mayor of Berlin.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the end of the Berlin blockade on Wednesday (May 11, 2022), Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey has pledged Berlin's solidarity with Ukraine in light of the current Russian attacks.

"73 years ago, on May 12, 1949, one of the most serious crises that shook Berlin after the end of the war ended," Giffey said. The Soviet Union had sealed off the western part of Berlin for more than ten months. At the time, Giffey said, Berlin experienced a wave of international aid. "Today, we are doing our part to show solidarity with Ukraine," the SPD politician said. "We continue to stand by the Ukrainians."

International solidarity: Berlin wants to pay it forward

"Our city, which relied on solidarity during the blockade, can give something back," Giffey said. "Overcoming the blockade shows the enormous power that standing up together for our democratic values can unleash." Giffey will be represented by Urban Development Senator Andreas Geisel at Thursday's wreath-laying ceremony at the Memorial on Platz der Luftbrücke in Berlin-Tempelhof. The Governing Mayor will be on her first trip abroad to Poland.

West Berlin sealed off for almost a year

For almost a year at the end of the 1940s, West Berlin was supplied with millions of tons of food and equipment only from the air at great expense because of the Soviet blockade of the three western sectors. The blockade was not ended until May 12, 1949.