 This is the face of Germany 1945. It is a face scarred by war, aged by suffering, ravaged by dissolution and defeat. This is the face of West Germany today. Restored by hope, revitalized through dedication, re-carved in the image of freedom. An official report produced for the armed forces. This is the story of a people desolate in defeat who found the way back with the help of the military force which defeated them. This is the story of the role played by the United States Army in the rebirth of West Germany. The American soldier had come into the land with fire to burn out the madness that had engulfed Europe and threatened the world. Now he remains on the land to ensure that its defeat is permanent and to help where he can. The task is not easy for an allied soldier. The aftermath of war never is. For great conflicts leave great scars throughout a land. But the war is over. Here are millions of people scrabbling for mere existence. Whatever their past, they live. They must be cared for if Germany is not to become a chaos. For history like nature abhors a vacuum. While U.S. soldiers help bind up the wounds of the German nation, the shape of things to come is foretold in Berlin. The Soviet Union, our ally, has taken the German capital. Much of their own homeland has been decimated by the Nazis. The Soviets determined to reduce Germany to impotence, not to rebuild or strengthen. Factories are dismantled and equipment carted away to the East. The division of Germany is agreed upon. Troops of the United States, Britain and France are to occupy the western portion of the country. The Soviet Union, the eastern portion. The Soviet zone encircles Berlin, which itself becomes a divided city, creating far-reaching problems for the occupying troops. Little more than a decade before, the German capital danced gaily to the strains of two hearts in three-quarter time. Now the strings are silent. Germany waits. In the beginning, we hope for cooperation. But history is an enigma. Between the cooperation of yesterday and the conference of today is an abyss. Disagreement with the Soviets over occupation policies mount. Bonds forged with the Russians in the heat of combat cool. Soon, the only area of cooperation remaining in Berlin is the four-power guard at Spandau Prison, where troops of the occupying nations keep watch over Nazi war criminals. In June 1948, blockade, the rehabilitation of West Germany, is interrupted. The threat of starvation for two million citizens of West Berlin, blockade imposed by the communists to force withdrawal of the Western Allied forces. But the West does not withdraw. Instead, the Berlin airlift is launched by a combined Allied task force. Drawing on its vast World War II experience, the United States Army now marshals all its resources, assembling a lifeline of supplies to Berlin's free peoples for delivery by the United States Air Force. By now, we know what to expect. By now, our course is clear. Commitment to the free people of Germany, commitment to democracy in Europe to prevent a communist takeover. In the spring of 1949, the blockade is lifted. The Soviets have failed in their purpose, but we remain firm in ours, firm in all-out support for West Germany's economy. Buried on by American aid and the ready help of her armed forces on the scene, a new energy takes hold of the nation. U.S. policies bear fruit. In May 1949, a vote of confidence and trust in the West as West Germans established the Federated German Republic. The new government at Bonn takes a vigorous stand against communism and West Berlin becomes representative of all West Germany. Soviet policies in East Germany also bear fruit. Communist armed forces are used as an instrument of repression. By 1953, riots protesting accelerated production quotas spread rapidly throughout communist-controlled Germany. In desperation, freedom-loving people of East Germany look westward, where like a beacon the West flashes its message of hope. Disillusioned, sick with disappointment, they come into West Berlin by the thousands, refugees seeking a dignity they could not find under the red flag. An immigration that is to swell with the passing years. Now from the turbulence that is post-war Germany, a significant fact emerges. The United States Army, by its presence as a strong deterrent force, has become a major factor in our government's support of a free West Germany. Without order or decree, the American soldier has assumed an important role in restoring the people's pride and sense of well-being. He may not always understand them, but he has a job to do here. And more often than not, he finds himself warming to the task. The job of reconstruction is vast. In Mannheim, Germany, the U.S. Army pitches in with heart and with muscle, making its equipment and men available for a variety of tasks. Army manpower gives disaster aid. In Bavaria, Army quartermaster corps and medics stand ready to provide clothing and medical aid for civilian emergencies. When flood wipes out a road leading to an orphanage in southern Germany, army engineers rebuild the road. American soldiers give blood in German hospitals. Fees from the blood donations are offered for a new building to house homeless children. Operation of our soldiers and local activities, encouraged by both the U.S. Army and the German people, creates an atmosphere of goodwill and friendship in which ideas may be exchanged and problems of mutual interest explored. These activities are included in the Army's program of participation in the national life of West Germany. It is more than a decade since Hitler, a new generation emerges. Its future is unpredictable. Only its present can be molded in the image of freedom. The sculptors do their job well. Kindness is a contagion. The people of rural Kernbach invite American soldiers to their homes. American soldier enjoys good relations with the German people and is regarded as a welcome guest. U.S. servicemen are included in local cultural activities. This is the sound of understanding. This is the way of different peoples whose similarities are greater than their differences. We were here by right of conquest, but we did not take the license of conquerors. We are now here in accordance with our mutual goal, NATO defense. We are an army helping a fallen nation regain her dignity, her place in the free world. A new democracy joins the family of free nations. There is no magic formula for the rehabilitation of a country. There is only the realism of sincere effort, a helping hand, and people determined to find their way back. By 1957, the stability of the Federated German Republic earns for the nation full membership in the NATO alliance. But the problems of divided countries still cast a shadow over Germany and especially over Berlin. 110 miles behind the Iron Curtain. The Brandenburg Gate, which separates the western section of the city from the communist-controlled eastern sector, is a sign of the nation's separation. These border zone streets are no ordinary streets. They are harbingers of mistrust and suspicion, where any moment may explode into world headlines. Here, where the people live on the edge of the crater of east-west tensions, there is perhaps greater concern over the communist danger than in other parts of free Germany. A Berlin taxi driver expresses the feeling of his countryman to a member of the American Forces Radio Network. I see that you're wearing a little pin there that resembles the Brandenburg Gate. Does that have any special meaning for you? Oh, to tourist, the Brandenburg Gate is just the landmark. But to us, Berliners, it has a special meaning. At the present time, it stands symbol of our country division. We, Berliners, hope that someday the Brandenburg Gate will be a symbol of a united Germany. Well, do all Berliners feel the same way? Sure, we have a saying about this gate. Macht das Tor auf. It means in English maybe, please open this gate. But the gates remain closed. There is no choice here but to stand guard and be prepared. US troops in the American sector of Berlin maintain their vigil to ensure the continued prosperity of the people. Patrol activities are a vital part of the Army's mission in the sensitive Berlin area. Throughout West Germany as well as in Berlin, American military patrols cooperate with West German authorities in safeguarding the nation. To bolster Western defenses, the US Army helps train and build up the Bundeswehr, the Army of West Germany, now a part of the NATO military arm. United States Seventh Army in Europe is grimly aware of its role in the destiny of Germany. Its weapons are the latest and the best to fill the needs of a modern army with men superbly trained in the science of modern warfare. Their job, along with the armies of our Western allies, hold back the tide of communism in Germany and in free Europe. The success of their mission is affirmed in the present thriving West German Republic. A vivid example of growth that could only have been accomplished under the protection of sympathetic military forces and under the democratic methods of free enterprise. West Germany has built one of the soundest economies in Europe and is economically far out-distance to East Germany. Industrial production here is at its peak. West German products find their way to world markets as their international trade increases. Throughout the Republic, today's Germany begins to appear as the people prosper, as the land renewed with their energy yields them the fruits of their labor. Having achieved a remarkably high standard of living, the people feel free to engage in their traditional pursuits and pleasures. The cities have risen phoenix-like from the ashes of World War II. Once targets for allied bombers, today their new structures bear witness to a prodigious enterprise and to our own investment in their future integrity. U.S. Army and allied personnel buy freely on the economy, contributing greatly to West Germany's current wave of prosperity. New spirit flashes in the streets as the key cities of Western Germany regain their places as famous world centers. Endorsement for what West Germany has accomplished comes from the President of the United States during his visit to the nation in September 1959. President Eisenhower praises the country's determination to preserve freedom. The implementation of that determination, the American people stand by your side and they send through me to you, the German people, their very best wishes for your successful efforts. A cycle has come full turn. The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces which helped defeat Germany is hailed now by free Germans as friend and protector. Liberty Bell was presented by the United States to the people of West Berlin as a tribute to their courage during the blockade. Bell rings out from the tower of the Schoenberg Town Hall. To the West Germans, the bell like the Brandenburg Gate has become a symbol. As a citizen of West Berlin, what does the freedom bell mean to you? Well, it's a symbol of our freedom just like your Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. It means that we have the right to shop in the shops we want to. We can worship in the church of our choice. We can elect the people we want to represent us in government and just gives us a feeling of being free. Well, do all Berliners share your opinion and views? Yes, I think all Berliners share my opinion and we're all united and determined to retain this freedom no matter what the price. And we've been suppressed before and we know what it means to live on this oppression and there's an expression in Berlin to the effect that Berlin bleibt frei which means Berlin remains free. Berlin remains free. Germany remains free. This is the hope of the German nation. There's a hope backed up by the United States and the NATO countries. No other force in military history has done so much to put a conquered nation back on its feet as the United States Army. Because the US Army has been a bulwark, West Germany remains democratic, a front line for our own nation's security. Oh, what future dangers may arise in Germany? But the United States Army is on guard and will be ready. Germany's freedom bell echoes in all free lands. It calls for eternal vigilance. It calls for readiness to defend freedom with all the power at our command. This is the news by the Army Pictorial Center, presented by the Department of the Army in cooperation with this station.