Archives

Archive material spanning over 70 years of unified German television and radio history

We are tasked with the program utilization of the rbb’s programming assets, including those of its predecessor broadcasters ORB and SFB, as well as East German Television (DFF) and East German Radio, preserved at the DRA. The rbb archives in Berlin and Potsdam, along with the DRA collections in Potsdam and Frankfurt am Main, house extensive video and audio material capturing major events of unified and divided German history, as well as everyday stories and cultural happenings.

Contact us, we’re happy to support you in researching the right archive material for your productions.

Thomas Radtke

Team leader for program exploitation
TV-footage/Exploitation of excerpts, TV and radio licenses, Archives
Tel: +49 30 97993-84954
Fax +49 30 97993-84959
E-Mail: dra-lizenzen@rbb-media.de

rbb-Archive including ORB and SFB

The archive includes all television and radio broadcasts of Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) since its founding in 2003, as well as the collections of its predecessor organizations, Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) from 1955 to 2003 and Ostdeutscher Rundfunk Brandenburg (ORB) from 1991 to 2003.

rbb covers political and cultural events in Berlin and Brandenburg with a diverse range of programming and up-to-date reporting. Among its most well-known formats are the news programs Abendschau and Brandenburg aktuell and the political magazine Kontraste. The archive continues to grow, creating a unique documentation of the region from the post-war era to the present day.

Our collections not only document significant historical events such as the construction and fall of the Berlin Wall or German reunification but also capture everyday life in the divided and reunified city.

Contact us if you’re looking for excerpts or full productions. We’re happy to assist you with your research.

DRA-Archive Television

With almost 40,000 hours of television material, the archive holdings of the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv (DRA) are among the largest media archives in Germany. It covers the entire spectrum, from the first broadcast in 1952 to the end of East German television on December 31, 1991.

News broadcasts, documentaries, journalistic formats, entertainment and advisory programs, TV films, as well as content for children and young people provide insight into social, political, cultural, and scientific aspects, as well as seemingly marginal, everyday events.

Key turning points in German-German history from this collection have been part of the UNESCO Memory of the World documentary heritage since 2011.
“Nobody has the intention of building a wall” (Walter Ulbricht, June 15, 1961)
“To my knowledge, this is immediately – without delay …” (Günter Schabowski, November 9, 1989)

Contact us if you are looking for excerpts or full productions. We are happy to assist you with your research.

Aufnahme des Videoarchives
Beiges Vintage-Radio

DRA-Archive Radio and RRG

The unique historical audio collection of the Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv (DRA) is one of the largest phonotheques in Europe, alongside the Institut National de l’Audiovisuel in Paris and the National Library in London.

One of the most important subsets of the audio archive includes radio recordings from the period 1945-1991, with 350,000 music recordings and 100,000 spoken word recordings. Key socio-political developments in the GDR, such as the workers’ uprising on June 17, 1953, the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, and the reflection of the political turnaround in the GDR, are documented.

Recordings from the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG), from Hitler’s appointment as Reich Chancellor on January 30, 1933, to Germany’s capitulation at the end of World War II, as well as a significant collection of historical sound recordings dating back to 1888, complement the archive.

Contact us, and we will be happy to assist you in searching for excerpts or full productions.

Archive rbb media

In 1961, the first original pre-evening series for ARD, Alarm für Dora X, was produced by the Berlin-based Werbefunk GmbH, founded in 1955. This adventure-crime series laid the foundation for the archive of what is now rbb media GmbH.

Today, our most successful classic is the cult TV series Drei Damen vom Grill, which depicts the local color of West Berlin in the 1970s and 1980s across 140 episodes. The stories around the Färber family and their snack bar are particularly brought to life by the unbeatable cast: Brigitte Mira, Harald Juhnke, Brigitte Grothum, Günter Pfitzmann, Gabriele Schramm, to name just a few.

Other productions from the rbb media archive include:

  • Café Wernicke – TV series with Harald Juhnke, Dieter Thomas Heck, and others
  • Die Koblanks – TV series with Günter Pfitzmann and others
  • Kommissariat 9 – TV series with Herbert Steinmetz, Edgar Ott, and others
  • Drüben bei Lehmanns – TV series with Brigitte Mira and others
  • Wilhelmina – TV series with Günter Pfitzmann and others
  • Berlin – Schicksalsjahre einer Stadt – A Berlin chronicle of superlatives
  • fernOST – Von Berlin nach Tokio – A road movie in 10 episodes
  • Berlin & Brandenburg von oben – A documentary from a bird’s-eye view
  • Eisbär Knut – Animal documentary from Berlin Zoo
  • Neue Abenteuer mit Pittiplatsch – Children’s TV series from Unser Sandmännchen
Luftaufnahme des rbb Standorts Berlin

What can we do for you?

Contact us if you are looking for excerpts or full productions. We are happy to assist you with your research.

YOUR CONTACTS

Thomas Radtke

Team leader for program exploitation
TV-footage/Exploitation of excerpts, TV and radio licenses, Archives
Tel: +49 30 97993-84954
Fax +49 30 97993-84959
E-Mail: dra-lizenzen@rbb-media.de

Wiltrud Hembus

Commercial exploitation of programs rbb
TV-footage/Exploitation of excerpts, World Sales, International Sales
Tel: +49 30 97993-84952
Fax +49 30 97993-84959
E-Mail: rbb-lizenzen@rbb-media.de

Silke Kaminski

AoD & VoD Marketing
TV-Shows DACH-Sales, Worldwide distribution of radio broadcasts, Podcasts, Digital Sales
Tel: +49 30 97993 84958
E-Mail: silke.kaminski@rbb-media.de

Undine Lücke

Non-commercial program utilization rbb
Non-commercial licenses, Excerpts and full productions (TV/Radio)
Tel: +49 30 97993-84953
Fax +49 30 97993-84959
E-Mail: undine.luecke@rbb-media.de

Peter Till Kolano

Rights clearance & research rbb
Research, Rights review, Commissioned productions according to ARD/ZDF guidelines
Tel: +49 30 97993-84945
Fax +49 30 97993-84949
E-Mail: peter.kolano@rbb-media.de

Manja Meister

Rights clearance & research DRA
Research, Rights review, TV footage/Excerpt utilization, National and international Sales
Tel: +49 30 97993-84962
Fax +49 30 97993-84959
E-Mail: dra-lizenzen@rbb-media.de
We are happy to help you

Contact

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rbb media GmbH

Tel. +49 30 97993-84901
Fax +49 30 97993-84909
info@rbb-media.de