Question

How does this witness describe her experience? What is her point of view?

Describe your answer in two to three sentences.

We were so scared about what would happen if the Soviets took over the city. The Soviet army had treated us brutally when the war ended in 1945. Our very survival depended upon the Allies.

Only two days after the blockade started, the first planes began to arrive. They were full of coal, food, medical supplies, power plant machinery, soap, and paper. Airplanes took off every three minutes around the clock. Whenever a plane landed in Berlin, its crew stayed with it. A snack bar would roll up with food, and weather announcers arrived in jeeps with weather updates. As soon as Germans unloaded the last bit of cargo, the plane would take off. The flight crew dropped candy to the children, using handkerchiefs as parachutes and signaling a drop by wiggling the plane’ wings.

For our city of West Berlin, destroyed by war and occupation, it was the beginning of winning back pride. We had feared that the West would abandon us to the Soviets, or to starvation, so our gratitude was immeasurable. Some years later, many of us who had survived the airlift started the Berlin Airlift Foundation to assist the families of the seventy-eight British and American men who had been killed during the operation.

Answer 1

She describes a shift from terror—fearing Soviet takeover after wartime brutality—to immense relief and gratitude when the Allied airlift continuously delivered food, coal, and supplies, even dropping candy to children. Her point of view is that of a grateful West Berlin survivor writing in the first person, seeing the Allies as lifesavers who restored the city's pride and deserving lasting honor.