Bundesarchiv Bild 183-11500-1440, Berlin, III

Fotothek df roe-neg 0006153 008 Blick auf die Ehrentribüne mit Walter Ulbricht,

The 3rd

World Festival of Youth and Students The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947. History The festival has been held regularly since 1947 as an eve ...

(WFYS) was held from 5 to 19 August 1951 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, capital city of the then

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

, and organised by

World Federation of Democratic Youth The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) is an international youth organization, and has historically characterized itself as left-wing and anti-imperialist. WFDY was founded in London in 1945 as a broad international youth movement, ...

. The motto of the festival was "Peace and Friendship against Nuclear Weapons" The third WFYS was held in a period of growing international tension between the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and the

western powers The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

; it took place against the background of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

and the spread of communism in

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

and China. The festival was meant to showcase the young

, formed in the Soviet sector of postwar Germany. West German police and the US military tried to prevent international delegates from crossing the western sector of Germany to attend the festival. In response, an operation was arranged to smuggle young people across the country in small groups.

Jan Myrdal Jan Myrdal (19 July 1927 – 30 October 2020) was a Swedish author known for his strident Maoist, anti-imperialist and contrarian views and heterodox and highly subjective style of autobiography. Family Born in Bromma, Stockholm, in 1927, Jan ...

wrote about incidents where young people were shot at by West Berlin police when trying to cross the West German border. The festival's sports programme featured an athletics competition.World Student Games (UIE)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-12-09.

References

External links

Poster
World Festival of Youth and Students International sports competitions hosted by East Germany 1951 in East Germany 1951 conferences 1951 in multi-sport events Multi-sport events in East Germany Festivals in East Germany East Berlin Events in Berlin 1950s in Berlin Sports festivals in Germany 1951 festivals 1951 in East German sport {{festival-stub