01.06.2007 - 1907 – 2007 | Manfred von Ardenne | Episode 6: Woe befalls the defeated.

In May 1945, prior to the Americans, the Soviets came to Berlin acting quickly. On 10 May, the well-known von Ardenne laboratory in Lichterfelde was surrounded and sealed off by 150 Russian soldiers.

"Placed under protection", this is how Manfred von Ardenne later called this demonstration of power. On 19 May, he was offered to establish and lead a big techno-physical research institute in the Soviet Union. "An invitation which he could hardly reject.", the godfather would say.

From: G. Barkleit: "Manfred von Ardenne - Selbstverwirklichung im Jahrhundert der Diktaturen" (Manfred von Ardenne - Self-fulfilment in the Century of the Dictatorships), Publisher: Duncker & Humblot, Berlin (2006)

Photo: Van-de-Graaff-Generator in the high-voltage hall of the Berlin-Lichterfelde Institute