Berlin and the BBC

Founded in 1922, the BBC developed strong connections with Germany from the start, focused particularly on Berlin. The first Director-General of the BBC John Reith, wanted to broadcast ‘high’ culture to British radio audiences and often selected Berlin orchestral music for the early live performances of the BBC. The BBC in Berlin contributed to British attitudes towards the Third Reich. During the Second World War, the BBC developed its German Service aimed at listeners across German-speaking regions, but with much of the content derived from and focused on Berlin. And after 1945, the BBC set up in the occupied part of the city, becoming a key institution in the cultural politics of the Cold War, both westwards- facing, in transmitting news and features from West Berlin to British and world listeners (and later TV viewers); and also DDR-centred with the continuing activity of the BBC German service. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the reunification of Germany in 1990 were hugely significant moment for the BBC.As one of the few international cultural institutions that remained in situ in the city throughout the Weimar years, the Third Reich, the era of divided Germany through to reunification and the return of the capital to the city, the BBC is a potentially revealing case-study of how British-German relations changed over time. This collection of essays will create a fuller understanding of how German culture has been presented to English-speaking audiences, and how, conversely, British national identity and memory has been formed by images and stereotypes of Germany.