J. Murrey Atkins Library to Host Historic Exhibit

The J. Murrey Atkins Library at UNC Charlotte has been chosen to host “Friends Always: The Berlin Airlift Traveling Museum Exhibit” produced by The German Embassy and the Berlin Airlift Foundation and brought to the University by The Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany, Kurt G. Waldthausen.

The exhibit features 60 large panel photographs that will be on public display from June 1 to June 24. UNC Charlotte is one of only nine venues across the U.S. to be chosen to showcase the historic exhibit. Atkins Library’s Special Collections unit will display items from its own Berlin Airlift and World War II materials.

“This exhibit will remind both Germans and Americans in the Charlotte region of this heroic humanitarian mission that saved the lives of over 2 million people in Berlin, “said Waldthausen. “Furthermore, it is an opportunity for the many German people who have made the Charlotte region their home to express their gratitude to their American Friends and co-workers.”

In June 1948, Joseph Stalin ordered all supplies for West Berlin terminated in response to a growing political conflict with Western powers in the aftermath of World War II. The United States and other Allies organized the Berlin Airlift to provide critical supplies to more than 2 million people living in the war-torn area. Military aircraft, C-47s and C-54s that once delivered bombs, dropped supplies to the people of West Berlin.

By April 1949, American and British aircraft were dropping 12,940 tons of food, fuel and raw materials per day. At midnight on May 12, 1949 the Soviets finally reopened land and water routes into Berlin ending the 322-day blockade.

Sixty years later, the Republic of Germany and the United States are commemorating the humanitarian effort featuring this traveling exhibit.

Atkins Library will host an invitation only opening ceremony, Thursday, June 4 at 6 p.m. Berlin Airlift veterans from North and South Carolina will be honored. U.S. Armed Forces veterans will receive Certificates of Friendship presented by Honorary Consul Kurt Waldthausen.

Andrei Cherny, author of “The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of The Berlin Airlift and America’s Finest Hour” will be the keynote speaker. In the book, Cherny chronicles the people and events that converged to form the military and moral force undertaking one of the most successful humanitarian actions of all time. Their actions won the hearts of America’s enemies, avoided World War III and won the greatest battle of the Cold War without firing a shot.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during normal Atkins Library operating hours.*

UNC Charlotte is reaching out to Charlotte metro-area schools and colleges, inviting students to witness this “living” exhibition. Group tours, a free teacher’s resource kit, videos and more information are provided on the Library’s Web site: http://library.uncc.edu/berlinairlift.