By Todd DePastino
The Berlin Airlift is a moral highpoint of American history, representing the very best the USA had to offer the world in the 20th century.
In 1948, the Soviet Union cut off surface access to West Berlin. No rail, no road, no river traffic could go in to deliver the necessities of life to a city of 2 million people.
Rather than abandon the city, the Western Allies tried something that sounded impossible: supply the cargo by air. For months, aircraft came in on a tight rhythm every 60 seconds, day and night, in all weather, delivering food, fuel and medicine to keep the city alive. By the end, the airlift had delivered more than 2.3 million tons of supplies.
German-born writer and creative entrepreneur Bibi LeBlanc has dedicated herself to capturing and sharing the history of this remarkable saga in the words of the ordinary people who lived it and never forgot what it meant to them.
Bibi was born and raised in West Berlin during the Cold War, then came to the United States, where she eventually founded Culture to Color, a company that creates what she calls “Explainer” books designed to teach through visual storytelling.
She didn’t experience the Airlift first-hand. She’s too young for that. But the Airlift was always present in the memories and hearts of Berliners, who carried its spirit with them the dark days of the Cold War of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Growing up in divided Berlin, Bibi was always intrigued the Airlift’s hold on her city’s historical imagination.
Her first major Berlin Airlift project was Wings of Freedom, a bilingual coloring book designed to help people, especially younger readers, enter the story through images. The project exists in two forms on her site: a “Coloring Edition,” meant to be colored in, and a “Full Color” edition, presented as a vivid illustrated tribute. The books “bring to life the heroic saga of the Airlift,” introducing iconic aircraft like the C-47, C-54, and the Short Sunderland, alongside pilots, leaders, and the broader humanitarian effort.
After Wings of Freedom was published, Bibi says that people began approaching her with their memories. They shared their thoughts, emotions, family stories. And she kept thinking what every oral historian does: “somebody should collect these.” That somebody, of course, was her.
That’s Bibi’s current book-in-progress, Voices of the Berlin Airlift, came to be.
Bibi invites reflections from anyone connected to the Airlift, especially eyewitnesses and Berlin children, but also family members of those who served in the Airlift or benefited from it.
No memory is too small. A small moment, a family anecdote are often what give historical events their emotional truth.
People can participate in Bibi’s oral history project by Zoom or phone interview, submit a written story, or ask for prompts by email.
Written narratives submitted to Bibi are typically 500–1500 words. She welcomes stories in English or German.
She even includes a small, telling example on the site: “A Pair of Baby Shoes — A Symbol of Hope,” tied to the memory of one man who received baby shoes in a CARE package. He still has those shoes today as a reminder of his young life in the Airlift.
There’s a particular urgency to Bibi’s project because Berliners who were children in 1948–49 are now elderly. The window for sharing their stories is closing. Now is our final chance to get first-hand stories from this remarkable time.
If you lived through the Airlift or have stories from those who did, please consider contributing to Voices of the Berlin Airlift. You can read through the submission process and contact Bibi here.
