OUR COUNTRY IN THE 50s

At the beginning of the 1950s, the economic miracle picked up speed and life in North Rhine-Westphalia became more reliable again. Awakening was the word of the hour. Between Bonn and Bielefeld, Minister President Karl Arnold saw to the construction of thousands of new apartments. The first Photokina took place in Cologne in 1951 and Louis Armstrong toured NRW with great success, shaping a new era with his music.

The second episode of the four-part WDR series "Our country in the 50s" focuses on the years 1951 to early 1954. Politically, Adenauer set a clear direction: Integration and recognition in the Western world. After the signing of the Germany Treaty in 1952, foreign state guests were once again received in Bonn and Adenauer traveled the world.

The young state of North Rhine-Westphalia was buzzing. In 1952, the newly built Westfalenhalle was opened in Dortmund and the NWDR broadcast the first German post-war television program from Cologne from the newly built Funkhaus. Peter Millowitsch takes us back to the days when his father Willy managed to have the first live television broadcast from his Volkstheater. The Rhenish theater became known throughout Germany with the Etappenhasen. The Düsseldorf figure skating couple Ria and Paul Falk caused a sensation when they brought the gold medal back to the Rhine from the Winter Olympics, in which West Germany was allowed to participate again for the first time.

Probably because of this spirit of optimism, the 1950s are still a decade of longing for many people in Germany: Sarah Bokermann, born in 1978, from Gütersloh has focused her life entirely on the "Fifties". Her hairdressing salon resembles a museum from this era and customers from all over NRW come to her to have their hair done in style, because the right cut, whether on the head or in clothing, became very important for women after the end of the war. They wanted to show themselves and be seen. The Burda patterns came out and were a great success. In the 1950s, Hildegard Vermöhlen completed an apprenticeship as a tailor in the Lower Rhine region, which would almost fatefully link her life with Aenne Burda. First she sewed for herself and her friends according to Burda patterns and later, by chance, she actually became Aenne Burda's closest confidante.

Tonino D'Orsaneo's father was one of the first Italian mine workers in North Rhine-Westphalia. He came to Siersdorf near Jülich in 1953. This is where the story of the guest workers began. A few years later, Tonino D'Orsaneo, his brother and his mother followed their father to Siersdorf. Tonino still remembers today how difficult it was for him as a 7-year-old to come from Abruzzo to a village in the Rhineland.