The GDR State Council elects Walter Ulbricht as the chairman of the GDR National Defence Council. No information is given about its tasks and other members.
17 December
1963
Queues of people waiting for border passes in front of a West Berlin school, December 1963The first border-pass agreement between the West Berlin Senate and the East Berlin authorities makes it possible for West Berliners to visit their East Berlin relatives at Christmas and New Year 1963/64 for the first time since 13 August.
Queues of people waiting for border passes in front of a West Berlin school, December 1963Seven hundred and thirty thousand people put up with long waits to apply and use the agreement to make around 1.2 million visits in East Berlin. Other pass agreements for periods of two to three weeks follow in the years 1964, 1965 and 1966.
Queues of people waiting for border passes in front of a West Berlin school, December 1963 (Photo: Polizeihistorische Sammlung/Der Polizeipräsident in Berlin)
Queues of people waiting for border passes in front of a West Berlin school, December 1963 (Photo: Polizeihistorische Sammlung/Der Polizeipräsident in Berlin)
RIAS report on the issuing of border passes in West Berlin, 19 December 1963 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Die Zeit im Funk, Text: Knut Terjung, Sprecher: Dietrich Frauboes)
RIAS report on the issuing of border passes in the Riesengebirgsschule in West Berlin, 19 December 1963 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Die Zeit im Funk, Reporter: Christof Schade)
RIAS report on the issuing of border passes in the Schöneberg district of Berlin, 19 December 1963 (in German) (Source: Archiv Deutschlandradio, Broadcast: Die Zeit im Funk, Reporterin: Lea Rosh)