Rainer March
Rainer März (* 1950 in West Berlin ) is a German cameraman, screenwriter, director and producer. March became known as the only cameraman on site who filmed the opening of the Berlin Wall at the Bornholmer Strasse border crossing on November 9, 1989 at around 11:30 p.m. Due to its historical significance, this unique film document was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011 as one of only three contemporary documents of the fall of the Wall on the night of November 9th to 10th, 1989.
Life and career
Rainer März was born in 1950 on Grüntaler Strasse in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen . From 1975 to 1978 he completed an apprenticeship at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) . During this time he wrote scripts and also directed various documentary films, but switched to camera work in the following years.
Opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989
On November 9, 1989, Rainer März was on the road in East Berlin as a cameraman for a Spiegel TV team under the direction of Spiegel TV reporter Georg Mascolo . Sound assistant Germar Biester is part of the party. The three still follow the press release by Politburo spokesman Günter Schabowski on the new draft travel law at the hotel bar of the former GDR Interhotel Grand Hotel Berlin on Friedrichstrasse near the Brandenburg Gate. On the advice of March, the Spiegel TV people went to the East Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg , in the hope of some worthwhile recordings, which at the time was more of a cultural scene and working-class district. At this point, however, everything is still there. That's why the team is invited to a private apartment to report. The daily topics, which started a little late at 10:40 p.m. with Hanns Joachim Friedrichs and a live switch from the border crossing in Invalidenstrasse with reporter Robin Lautenbach, are currently on West TV . When the latter reported on isolated border crossings at the Bornholmer Strasse crossing, the Spiegel TV team immediately went there. Together with a growing stream of curious residents and those wishing to leave the country, the three of them reached the barrier at the border crossing. The MfS officers at passport control , trying to get rid of the camera team heading west as quickly as possible, involuntarily ensure that the Spiegel TV crew can position themselves in the immediate vicinity of the barrier. From the elevated position of a concrete bollard, cameraman March succeeded in making spectacular film recordings of the moment the barrier was opened and the associated flood of East Berlin citizens in the direction of Bornholmer Bridge and then into the western part of the city.
Web links
- Rainer März in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Video on YouTube "This is where world history is happening!" In: Spiegel TV , published on Youtube on November 6, 2019
Individual evidence
- ^ How cameraman Rainer March filmed German history. In: Spiegel Online , October 7, 2019, accessed on November 13, 2019.
- ↑ https://www.unesco.de/kultur-und-natur/weltdokumentenerbe/weltdokumentenerbe-deutschland/bau-und-fall-der-berliner-mauer
- ↑ https://www.linkedin.com/in/rainer-maerz-b7025b10b/
- ↑ https://www.filmportal.de/person/rainer-maerz_a8e6ab7d5014484980523a9bb897365a
- ↑ "World history is happening here!" Cameraman Rainer March on the fall of the Berlin Wall.
- ↑ http://www.bpb.de/geschichte/zeitgeschichte/deutschlandarchiv/297811/video-der-maueroeffnung-am-9-november
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | March, Rainer |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German cameraman, director and screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1950 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | West Berlin |