More than a quarter of a century has passed since the fall of the infamous Berlin Wall. Willy Brand, one of the Chancellors of Germany, called this structure the “wall of shame.” The concrete fence became a symbol of the split of Germany into separate states and the Cold War - a time of confrontation between two superpowers: the USSR and the USA.
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The unconditional surrender of the Third Reich after World War II entailed the redivision of the world into new spheres of influence. The strengthening of the USSR's position in Eastern Europe aroused the fears of the countries of the Western camp, to which the idea of dividing the defeated power belonged. In February 1945, the participants of the Yalta Conference (America, England, France and the USSR) determined the post-war status of Germany: the allies agreed on the dismemberment of the country. The issue of delimiting the four occupation zones was finally resolved during negotiations in Potsdam on July 17-08, 1945.
Four years later, in May 1949, a new state appeared on the world map - the Federal Republic of Germany, and six months later - the GDR. The nearly 1,400 km long border ran from Bavaria in the south to the Baltic Sea in the north. It cut through the landscapes, settlements and lives of millions of people. Berlin also turned out to be bipolar, while remaining a free zone. Residents moved without problems between the two parts of the divided city.
Walter Ulbricht, the first person of the GDR, was interested in stopping the increasing outflow of citizens (especially valuable specialists) to the west. He repeatedly wrote to Khrushchev about the need to strengthen control on the border with Germany. The impetus for the construction of the fence was the political conflict of 1961. Its participants - the USSR and the USA - claimed undivided ownership of the city. The Vienna negotiations, the topic of which was the status of Berlin, were unsuccessful, and the Soviet leadership approved the GDR proposal to strengthen border control.
History of construction
On the night of August 13, 1961, barbed wire appeared in the eastern part of the city. Next, armed troops blocked transport arteries and installed barriers. By August 15, the entire border line was cordoned off. The first blocks appeared. Creating a reinforced concrete structure, builders blocked streets, bricked up the windows of nearby houses, cut wires and welded pipes. The wall knew no barriers - it passed through metro stations, tram lines, railway crossings and the Spree River.
The Brandenburg Gate, located along the way, was fenced on all sides, making the main symbol of Berlin inaccessible to both Western and Eastern residents of the city. From 1962 to 1978, the building was completed and re-equipped. Each time the wall acquired more and more sinister outlines.
What was
The Berlin Wall is a 3.60 m high engineering structure consisting of reinforced concrete segments. The top of the fence was covered with iron pipes installed in 1975, which prevented anyone from clinging to the edge of the fortification with their hands. At the same time, to enhance protection, anti-tank hedgehogs and barrier tapes with spikes, popularly nicknamed “Stalin’s lawn,” were installed at the foot of the structure. Several areas were supplemented with live barbed wire.
By the end of the 70s, in some areas on the eastern side, a metal mesh with signal flares was strengthened. It was separated from the wall by an earthen ditch, called the “death strip.” This area was guarded by dogs and illuminated by powerful floodlights. An illegal attempt to move to the western part of the city was punishable by imprisonment or death.
The total length of the structure was 155 km, of which Berlin accounted for 44.75 km. The “Shameful Wall” crossed 192 streets, 3 highways and 44 railway lines. Along the entire length there were 20 bunkers, 302 towers and 259 posts guarded by guard dogs. The defense fortification was patrolled by 10 thousand armed soldiers, who were ordered to shoot to kill if necessary.
Border crossing
The odious construction divided the city and cut off relatives and friends from each other. Only pensioners had the right to cross the border. Nevertheless, reckless refugees tried to find loopholes through which they could leave the “socialist paradise.” According to various sources, between 136 and 206 East Berliners died trying to escape, most of them within five years of the construction of the fence.
The first killed was Günther Litfin, shot dead in August 1961 by GDR border guards while trying to get into West Berlin along the Spree River. In 1966, 40 shots killed two children. They were 10 and 13 years old. The last two victims were Winfried Freudenberg, who crashed on March 8, 1989, while flying over a wall in a homemade hot air balloon, and Chris Gueffroy, who died in a hail of bullets while trying to cross the border in February of the same year.
Fall and destruction
Mikhail Gorbachev, who came to power, began to modernize the state and government apparatus. Under the slogans "Glasnost" and "Perestroika" he reformed the Soviet Union. The leadership of the GDR lost the support of the USSR and could no longer stop its citizens trying to leave the country. Socialist Hungary, followed by Czechoslovakia, liberalized the border regime. Residents of East Germany filled these states, wanting to get to Germany through them. The Berlin Wall was no longer necessary.
In fact, the beginning of the fall of the wall was the evening of November 9, 1989. At a live press conference dedicated to the authorities’ decision to open checkpoints, the question was asked when this resolution would come into force. In response, Schabowski, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Germany, uttered the famous words: “This will happen, as far as I know, ... now, immediately.”
Berliners watching the performance on TV were speechless. When the initial shock wore off, people from both sides of the border rushed to the hated fence. The border guards did not hold back their pressure. The reunion that had been dreamed of for 28 years took place. The demolition of the Berlin Wall began on June 13, 1990 at Bernauer Strasse. But even before this moment, the townspeople had broken many of its fragments, taking away pieces of concrete as souvenirs.
Those of you who want to include a visit to the infamous landmark in your excursion program will be interested in information that the guidebooks do not contain. So, the Berlin Wall: facts and figures.
- On October 27, 1961, a confrontation between American and Soviet troops occurred at a checkpoint on Friedrichstrasse - 30 battle tanks collided at the border.
- On June 11, 1964, French President Charles de Gaulle informed the USSR Ambassador about the possibility of a nuclear war in the event of a new military conflict in Berlin.
- Despite enhanced security measures, in the period between 1961-1989. 5,000 townspeople managed to get over the fence. Taking advantage of their official position, 1,300 GDR soldiers also crossed the border.
- After the opening of the passage, West Berliners showed generosity to the East German border guards - bars near the wall gave out free beer.
- Today, some of the concrete monster's segments can be found in different parts of the world, such as the CIA headquarters and the Vatican.
- The construction and protection of the border fence became a great economic burden for the GDR. The cost was more than 400 million marks (200 million euros). Ironically, the “anti-capitalist stronghold” led to the collapse of the socialist country.
- On November 9, 2014, on the day of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 7,000 glowing rubber balls were installed along the entire perimeter of the former border, which soared into the sky at exactly 19:00.
Berlin Wall today
Currently, all that remains of the structure, which aroused hatred and fear among people for 28 years, are only small fragments and a double line of paving stones, snaking like a long snake through the city. To ensure that the memory of the victims remains forever in the hearts of people, the Berlin authorities have opened several museums and memorial centers located next to the remains of the wall.
Memorial on Bernauerstrasse
“Window of Memory” is the name of the memorial, created to familiarize contemporaries with the tragic events associated with the split of the capital. It is dedicated to people living in the eastern part and trying to get to the western part by jumping from the windows of houses and falling to their deaths. The monument is a rusty iron composition containing photographs of the dead.
Nearby there is an area of gray concrete and border strip, a tower, the Chapel of Peace, built on the site of a bombed Gothic temple, a library, a museum and an observation deck. You can get to the memorial by metro (line U8). Stop Bernauerstrasse.
Topography of terror
This place is a reminder of the countless tragedies caused by the Nazi regime. The museum is located on the territory of the headquarters of one of the leaders of the SS - Reichsführer Himmler. Now in a pavilion with an area of 800 m2, visitors can look at photographs and documents introducing genocide and other crimes of fascism. Nearby, in the open air, are the ruins of Gestapo barracks and basements, and part of the Berlin Wall.
Address: Niederkirchnerstrasse 8. You can get here by S-Bahn (city train). Line U2 to Anhalter Bahnhof.
Checkpoint Charlie
At the former border checkpoint for diplomats and officials, where a conflict took place in 1961 - a confrontation between Soviet and American tank divisions, today there is a museum of the Berlin Wall. Among the exhibits are unique photographs and devices with which the East Germans moved to the western side: scuba gear, hang gliders and hot air balloons. Near the museum there is a model of a guard booth with “soldiers” standing nearby, dressed in American military uniforms of that time. “Border guards” willingly take pictures with everyone.
But in the end, it somehow turned out that the whole story was basically just about one very touching phenomenon that personally impressed me to the depths of my soul. This is the famous Berlin Wall. I write “famous,” but I’m ashamed, because, imagine, before coming to Berlin, I simply knew from history lessons that it was erected after the Second World War and divided Berlin into two parts, but why, when, by whom and for what ... never really been interested. But I'll start from the beginning.
Where to stay in Berlin
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Berlin Wall
Once in Berlin, we, to our shame, realized that we didn’t really know what to look at, except for the Reichstag and the monument to the Russian soldier, which, by the way, we never got to. Somehow they didn’t even think about the Berlin Wall. But, circling around the city with a map, suddenly at some point we discovered that we were not far from Checkpoint Charlie, we stopped, read the description in our mini-guide and, to put it mildly, we were hooked.
Later, when we tried to explain to ourselves why this touched us so much, we found a simple explanation for this - it’s not just theirs, it’s our common history! The Berlin Wall is, in fact, a symbol of the then political regime, it is a living personification of the “Iron Curtain”. In official documents, however, they often talk about the “Cold War.”
Being seriously interested in this topic, I found a lot of stories and photos on this topic, I dare to briefly state here what shocked me the most, and post some photos of that time, the authors of which I apologize in advance.
But first, I’ll explain a little: in 1948, Berlin was divided into two parts, one of which, the eastern one, was the capital of the GDR, and the second, the western one, was the American, French and British sectors of the occupation. At first, it was possible to cross the border freely, which East Berliners happily did every day, going to West Berlin to work, to the store, to visit friends and relatives. But this did not have a very positive effect on the economy of the GDR. There were other equally significant, in the opinion of the GDR government, political and economic reasons why it was decided to surround West Berlin with an impenetrable wall. As a result, during the night of August 13, 1961, the entire border with West Berlin was blocked, and by August 15 it was completely surrounded by barbed wire, in the place of which the construction of the Berlin Wall began quite quickly. At first it was stone, and later it turned into a whole complex complex of reinforced concrete walls, ditches, metal mesh, watchtowers, etc.
Since the border was closed overnight, you can imagine how many people instantly lost their jobs, friends, relatives, apartments... And all at once - freedom. Many could not put up with this and almost immediately escapes from East Berlin to West Berlin began. At first, this was not so difficult, but as the Berlin Wall complex grew and became stronger, the methods of escape became more and more inventive and cunning.
You can read a lot about escape attempts on the Internet, I won’t tell you about everything. I will only briefly describe those that were the most successful, original and memorable. Forgive me, I will write without names and dates. Several times, immediately after the construction of the Berlin Wall, they broke through it, ramming it with trucks. At checkpoints, they drove under the barriers at high speed in sports cars that were too low to hit the barrier, swam across rivers and lakes, because... this was the most exposed section of the fence.
The border between West and East Berlin often ran right through the houses, and it turned out that the entrance was on the eastern territory, and the windows faced the West. When they first began to build the Berlin Wall, many residents of the building boldly jumped out of the windows onto the street, where they were often caught by Western firefighters or simply caring city residents. But all these windows were bricked up very soon. I wonder if the residents were relocated, or if they continued to live without daylight?
The first escapes of East Berliners
Tunnels were very popular; dozens of them were dug, and this was the most crowded method of escape (20-50 people escaped at a time). Later, particularly enterprising Western businessmen even began to make money from this by placing advertisements in newspapers “We will help with family problems.”
A tunnel through which dozens of people were running
There were also very original escapes: for example, two families made a homemade hot air balloon and flew over the Berlin Wall on it; the brothers crossed to West Berlin by stretching a cable between houses and going down it on a roulette wheel.
When, a few years later, Westerners were allowed to enter East Berlin with special passes to see relatives, sophisticated methods were invented to smuggle people out in cars. Sometimes they used very small cars, specially modified so that people could hide under the hood or in the trunk. The border guards didn’t even realize that there could be a person instead of a motor. Many people hid in suitcases, sometimes they were stacked two at a time, with slits made between them, so the person fit completely without having to fold.
Almost immediately, an order was issued to shoot at all people trying to escape. One of the most famous victims of this inhumane decree was a young man, Peter Fechter, who, while attempting to escape, was shot in the stomach and left to bleed against a wall until he died. The unofficial numbers of arrests for escaping (3,221 people), deaths (from 160 to 938 people) and injuries (from 120 to 260 people) while trying to overcome the Berlin Wall are simply terrifying!
When I read all these stories about escapes from East Berlin, I had a question that I could not find the answer to anywhere, where did all the escapees live in West Berlin? After all, it was not made of rubber either, and according to unconfirmed data, 5,043 people managed to escape successfully in one way or another.
Near Checkpoint Charlie there is a museum dedicated to the history of the Berlin Wall. In it, Rainer Hildebrandt, the museum's founder, collected many of the devices that East Berliners used to escape to West Berlin. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the museum itself, but even the postcards with images of the Berlin Wall and photo sketches from everyday life of that time, sold in a nearby souvenir shop, aroused unusually strong emotions in us. And I was very touched by the request and appeal left at Checkpoint Charlie to our president.
Meanwhile, life went on as usual, the people of West Berlin had free access to the wall, could walk along it and use it for their needs. Many artists painted graffiti on the western side of the Berlin Wall, some of these images became famous throughout the world, such as the “Kiss of Honecker and Brezhnev.”
People often came to the wall to look at their loved ones at least from afar, wave a handkerchief at them, show them their children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters. This is terrible, families, loved ones, loved ones, separated by concrete and someone’s complete indifference. After all, even if this was so necessary for the economy and/or politics, then it was possible to provide for people not to suffer so much, to give at least the opportunity to reunite relatives...
The fall of the Berlin Wall occurred on November 9, 1989. The reason for this significant event was that one of the countries of the socialist camp, Hungary, opened its borders with Austria, and approximately 15 thousand GDR citizens left the country to get to West Germany. The remaining East German residents took to the streets with demonstrations and demands for their civil rights. And on November 9, the head of the GDR announced that it would be possible to leave the country with a special visa. However, the people did not wait for this; millions of citizens simply poured out into the streets and headed towards the Berlin Wall. The border guards were unable to contain such a crowd, and the borders were open. On the other side of the wall, West Heman residents met their compatriots. There was an atmosphere of joy and happiness from the reunion.
There is an opinion that when the general rejoicing passed, residents of different Germanys began to feel a huge ideological gap between themselves. They say that this is still felt today, and East Berliners are still different from West Berliners. But we haven't had a chance to check this yet. Nowadays, sometimes, no, no, but a rumor slips through that some Germans are convinced that life under the Berlin Wall was better than it is now. Although, perhaps, this is what those who generally believe that before the sun was brighter, the grass was greener, and life was better say.
In any case, such a terrible phenomenon occurred in history, and its remnants are still preserved in Berlin. And when you walk down the street and under your feet you see marks where the Berlin Wall used to be, when you can touch its fragments, and you understand how much pain, unrest and fear this building brought, you begin to feel your involvement in this history.
The content of the article
BERLIN WALL- a barrier erected by the authorities of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) around West Berlin in August 1961. It completely surrounded the territory of the three western (American, British and French) sectors of the old German capital and interrupted free communication between the two parts of the city, divided since 1948.
Berlin crisis.
Before the construction of the wall, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was open. The 44.75 km dividing line (the total length of West Berlin's border with the GDR was 164 km) ran right through streets and houses, canals and waterways. Officially, there were 81 street checkpoints, 13 crossings in the metro and on the city railway. In addition, there were hundreds of illegal routes. Every day, from 300 to 500 thousand people crossed the border between both parts of the city for various reasons.
The construction of the Berlin Wall was preceded by a serious aggravation of the political situation around Berlin. Both military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) confirmed the irreconcilability of their positions on the “German Question”. The West German government led by Konrad Adenauer introduced the “Halstein Doctrine” in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR. It categorically rejected proposals from the East German side to create a confederation of German states, insisting instead on holding all-German elections. In turn, the GDR authorities declared in 1958 their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it was located “on the territory of the GDR.” In November 1958, the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the Potsdam Agreements of 1945. He announced the abolition of Berlin's international status by the Soviet Union and described the entire city (including its western sectors) as the “capital of the GDR.” The Soviet government proposed turning West Berlin into a “demilitarized free city” and, in an ultimatum tone, demanded that the United States, Great Britain and France negotiate on this topic within six months (“Khrushchev’s Ultimatum”). This demand was rejected by the Western powers. Negotiations between their foreign ministers and the head of the USSR Foreign Ministry in Geneva in the spring and summer of 1959 ended without result. After N. Khrushchev's visit to the USA in September 1959, the Soviet ultimatum was postponed. But the parties continued to insist on their previous positions. In August 1960, the GDR government introduced restrictions on visits by German citizens to East Berlin, citing the need to stop them from conducting “revanchist propaganda.” In response, West Germany refused a trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an “economic war.” After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was finally put into effect on January 1, 1961. But the crisis was not resolved. ATS leaders continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, the foreign ministers of NATO countries confirmed in May 1961 their intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of Western powers in the western part of the city and its “viability”. Western leaders declared that they would defend “the freedom of West Berlin” with all their might.
Both blocs and both German states increased their armed forces and intensified propaganda against the enemy. The GDR authorities complained about Western threats and maneuvers, “provocative” violations of the country’s border (137 for May–July 1961), and the activities of anti-communist groups. They accused “German agents” of organizing dozens of acts of sabotage and arson. Great dissatisfaction with the leadership and police of East Germany was caused by the inability to control the flow of people moving across the border.
The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The hard course of the East German leader Walter Ulbricht, economic policies aimed at “catching up and overtaking the Federal Republic of Germany” and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization of 1957–1960, foreign policy tensions and higher wages in West Berlin encouraged thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West. In total, more than 207 thousand people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, more than 30 thousand East Germans fled the country. These were most often young and qualified specialists. Outraged East German authorities accused West Berlin and Germany of “human trafficking,” “poaching” personnel and trying to thwart their economic plans. They claimed that the economy of East Berlin annually loses 2.5 billion marks because of this.
In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the ATS countries decided to close the border. Rumors of such plans were in the air as early as June 1961, but the leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, then denied such intentions. In fact, at that time they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other members of the Eastern Bloc. From August 3 to 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the ATS states was held in Moscow, at which Ulbricht insisted on closing the border in Berlin. This time he received support from the Allies. On August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), a decision was made to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. On August 12, the Council of Ministers of the GDR adopted a corresponding resolution. The East Berlin police were put on full alert. At 1 a.m. on August 13, 1961, the Chinese Wall II project began. About 25 thousand members of paramilitary “battle groups” from GDR enterprises occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions covered parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was in a state of readiness.
Construction of the wall.
“The night came from 12 to 13 August 1961,” East German historians Hartmut and Ellen Mehls later described the events. – The thermometer showed 13 degrees Celsius. The sky was cloudy and a light breeze was blowing. Like every Saturday, most residents of the GDR capital went to bed late, hoping to sleep longer on August 13th. Until 0 o'clock this night in Berlin proceeded as usual. But shortly after midnight, the telephone rang in many apartments in the capital, and traffic rapidly increased. Functionaries of the SED, the state apparatus and economic departments were suddenly and urgently called to duty. The huge mechanism quickly and accurately began to move. At 1 hour 11 minutes the General German News Agency broadcast the statement of the Warsaw Pact states... When the morning of August 13 arrived, the border between the German Democratic Republic and West Berlin was under control. Security was ensured on it in the afternoon.” East German authorities closed checkpoints, housed and sealed border buildings, and erected barbed wire along the border.
On August 15, 1961, the SED Politburo announced the start of the “second stage” of ensuring “border security.” Soldiers and construction workers, guarded by border guards, began building a wall of pre-prepared concrete blocks around West Berlin. At that moment, 19-year-old border guard Konrad Schumann jumped over the barbed wire fence and became the first GDR citizen to flee to the West since August 13th. On June 19, 1962, construction of the second border wall began. The height of the wall that gradually surrounded West Berlin reached 6 meters. Anyone who might try to illegally cross the wall and thus end up in the “death strip” was ordered to open fire by the GDR border guards. On August 17, 1962, Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old construction worker from East Berlin, was shot and killed while trying to climb over the Berlin Wall. Since then, 92 people have died under similar circumstances; many were injured.
The construction of the Berlin Wall did not mean a complete blockade of West Berlin, as it did in the late 1940s. In December 1963, an agreement was signed allowing residents of the western part of the city to visit their relatives in East Berlin for Christmas and New Year. In 1968, the situation worsened again: the GDR introduced a passport and visa regime for transit travel for citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany and the West Berlin population. The passage of members and officials of the West German government, as well as German military personnel, through the territory of East Germany was suspended.
The detente in relations between the two German states after the government of Willy Brandt came to power in Germany in 1969, which proclaimed the “New Ostpolitik,” made it possible to take the next step. On September 3, 1971, Great Britain, the USSR, the USA and France signed a quadripartite agreement on Berlin. In December 1971, agreements were concluded between the authorities of the GDR and West Berlin that allowed West Berliners to receive permission to enter and visit East Germany one or more times a year (for a total stay of up to 30 days a year). In addition, permission to enter could be granted in cases of urgent "family or humanitarian reasons". Unimpeded transport links between Germany and West Berlin were guaranteed. Access to the city was by air, 8 railway lines, 5 streets and 2 waterways. However, the Berlin Wall continued to divide the city, passing through its very center. It turned into a kind of symbol of the split of Europe into opposing military-political blocs. The Wall was also one of Berlin's main attractions. Any visitor to the city was eager to see this structure made of gray and gloomy concrete, and in the western part of the city, tourists were sold postcards with its image and the inscription: “The wall must be removed!”
Fall of the wall.
When in May 1989, under the influence of perestroika in the Soviet Union, the GDR's Warsaw Pact partner, Hungary, destroyed fortifications on the border with its western neighbor Austria, the GDR leadership had no intention of following its example. But it soon lost control of the rapidly unfolding events. Thousands of GDR citizens flocked to other Eastern European countries in the hope of getting from there to West Germany. Already in August 1989, the diplomatic missions of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin, Budapest and Prague were forced to stop receiving visitors due to the influx of East German residents seeking entry into the West German state. Hundreds of East Germans fled to the West through Hungary. When the Hungarian government announced the opening of borders on September 11, 1989, the Berlin Wall lost its meaning: within three days, 15 thousand citizens left the GDR through Hungarian territory. Mass demonstrations demanding civil rights and freedoms began in the country.
On November 9, 1989 at 19:34, speaking at a press conference broadcast on television, GDR government representative Günter Schabowski announced new rules for exiting and entering the country. He spoke in a heavy, official language, as if he were talking about some minor technical matter, such as repairing transport routes. According to the decisions taken, from the next day, citizens of the GDR could receive visas to immediately visit West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans, without waiting for the appointed time, rushed to the border on the evening of November 9. The border guards, who had not received orders, first tried to push the crowd back, using water cannons, but then, yielding to the massive pressure, they were forced to open the border. Thousands of West Berliners came out to greet the guests from the East. What was happening was reminiscent of a national holiday. The feeling of happiness and brotherhood washed away all state barriers and obstacles. West Berliners, in turn, began to cross the border, breaking into the eastern part of the city. “...Spotlights, hustle and bustle, jubilation. A group of people had already burst into the border crossing corridor, before the first lattice barrier. Behind him are five embarrassed border guards,” recalled a witness to what was happening, Maria Meister from West Berlin. – From the watchtowers, already surrounded by a crowd, soldiers look down. Applause for every Trabant, for every group of pedestrians approaching shyly... Curiosity drives us forward, but there is also fear that something terrible might happen. Do the GDR border guards realize that this is a super-secure border now violated?... We move on... The legs move, the mind warns. Detente comes only at the crossroads... We are just in East Berlin, people help each other with coins on the phone. Faces laugh, the tongue refuses to obey: madness, madness. The light display shows the time: 0 hours 55 minutes, 6 degrees Celsius." Night from November 9 to 10, 1989. ("Volkszeitung", 1989, November 17. No. 47).
So the Berlin Wall fell under the pressure of the people. “We have been waiting for this day for almost 30 years! - said the address to the citizens of the GDR by the country's leading social movement "New Forum". - Sick of the wall, we shook the bars of the cage. Young people grew up with the dream of one day becoming free and exploring the world. This dream will now come true: this is a holiday for all of us! "
Over the next three days, more than 3 million people visited the West. On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate opened for passage, through which the border between East and West Berlin was drawn. The Berlin Wall still stood, but only as a symbol of the recent past. It was broken, painted with numerous graffiti, drawings and inscriptions; Berliners and visitors to the city tried to take away pieces of the once powerful structure as souvenirs. In October 1990, the lands of the former GDR entered the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Berlin Wall was demolished within a few months. It was decided to preserve only small parts of it as a monument for subsequent generations.
(Berliner Mauer) - a complex of engineering and technical structures that existed from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989 on the border of the eastern part of the territory of Berlin - the capital of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the western part of the city - West Berlin, which had, as a political unit, special international status.
The Berlin Wall is one of the most famous symbols of the Cold War.
After World War II, Berlin was divided between the victorious powers (USSR, USA, France and Great Britain) into four occupation zones. The eastern zone, the largest, almost half the territory of the city, went to the USSR - as the country whose troops occupied Berlin.
On June 21, 1948, the USA, England and France carried out a monetary reform in the western zones without the consent of the USSR, introducing a new German mark into circulation. To prevent the influx of money, the Soviet administration blocked West Berlin and cut off all ties with the western zones. During the Berlin crisis, in July 1948, projects for the creation of a West German state began to appear.
As a result, on May 23, 1949, the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was proclaimed. During the same period, the formation of the German state in the Soviet zone also took place. On October 7, 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was formed. The eastern part of Berlin became the capital of the GDR.
Germany chose the market path of economic development and in the political sphere began to focus on the largest Western countries. Prices have stopped rising in the country and the unemployment rate has decreased.
Construction and renovation of the wall continued from 1962 to 1975. On June 19, 1962, construction of the parallel wall began. Another one was added to the existing wall, 90 meters behind the first, all buildings between the walls were demolished, and the gap was turned into a control strip.
The world-famous concept of the “Berlin Wall” meant the front barrier wall closest to West Berlin.
In 1965, the construction of the wall from concrete slabs began, and in 1975 the last reconstruction of the wall began. The wall was built from 45 thousand concrete blocks measuring 3.6 by 1.5 meters, rounded at the top to make it difficult to escape.
By 1989, the Berlin Wall was a complex complex of engineering and technical structures. The total length of the wall was 155 km, the intra-city border between East and West Berlin was 43 km, the border between West Berlin and the GDR (outer ring) was 112 km. Closer to West Berlin, the front barrier wall reached a height of 3.60 meters. It encircled the entire western sector of Berlin. In the city itself, the Wall divided 97 streets, six metro lines and ten districts of the city.
The complex included 302 observation posts, 20 bunkers, 259 devices for guard dogs and other border structures.
The wall was constantly patrolled by special units subordinate to the GDR police. The border guards were armed with small arms and had at their disposal trained service dogs, modern tracking equipment, and alarm systems. In addition, the guards had the right to shoot to kill if the border violators did not stop after warning shots.
The heavily guarded "no man's land" between the wall and West Berlin came to be called the "death strip".
There were eight border crossings, or checkpoints, between East and West Berlin where West Germans and tourists could visit East Germany.
This article will examine the Berlin Wall. The history of the creation and destruction of this complex illustrates the confrontation between superpowers and is the embodiment of the Cold War.
You will learn not only the reasons for the appearance of this multi-kilometer monster, but also get acquainted with interesting facts related to the existence and fall of the “Anti-Fascist Defense Wall”.
Germany after World War II
Before we figure out who built the Berlin Wall, we should talk about the current situation in the state at that time.
After defeat in World War II, Germany found itself under occupation by four states. Its western part was occupied by the troops of Great Britain, the USA and France, and the five eastern lands were controlled by the Soviet Union.
Next we will talk about how the situation gradually escalated during the Cold War. We will also discuss why the development of the two states, founded in the western and eastern zones of influence, followed completely different paths.
GDR
It was created in October 1949. It was formed almost six months after the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The GDR occupied the territory of five lands that came under Soviet occupation. These included Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Subsequently, the history of the Berlin Wall will illustrate the gulf that can form between two warring camps. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, West Berlin differed from East Berlin as much as London at that time differed from Tehran or Seoul from Pyongyang.
Germany
In May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was formed. The Berlin Wall will separate it from its eastern neighbor in twelve years. In the meantime, the state is quickly recovering with the help of countries whose troops were on its territory.
So, the former French, American and British occupation zones, four years after the end of World War II, turn into the Federal Republic of Germany. Since the division between the two parts of Germany took place in Berlin, Bonn became the capital of the new state.
However, this country subsequently becomes the subject of a dispute between the socialist bloc and the capitalist West. In 1952, Joseph Stalin proposed the demilitarization of the Federal Republic of Germany and its subsequent existence as a weak but united state.
The United States rejects the project and, with the help of the Marshall Plan, turns West Germany into a rapidly developing power. Over the fifteen years since 1950, a powerful boom has occurred, which in historiography is called an “economic miracle.”
But the confrontation between the blocs continues.
1961
After the onset of some “thaw” in the Cold War, confrontation begins again. The next reason was the downing of an American reconnaissance aircraft over the territory of the Soviet Union.
Another conflict broke out, the result of which was the Berlin Wall. The year of construction of this monument to perseverance and stupidity is 1961, but in fact it has existed for a long time, even if not in its material embodiment.
So, the Stalinist period led to a large-scale arms race, which temporarily stopped with the mutual invention of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Now, in the event of war, no superpower had nuclear superiority.
Since the Korean conflict, tensions have been rising again. Peak moments were the Berlin and Caribbean crises. For the purposes of this article, we are interested in the first one. It occurred in August 1961, and its result was the creation of the Berlin Wall.
After World War II, as we have already mentioned, Germany was divided into two states - capitalist and socialist. During a period of particularly intense passions, in 1961, Khrushchev transferred control of the occupied sector of Berlin to the GDR. The part of the city that belonged to Germany was under blockade by the United States and its allies.
Nikita Sergeevich's ultimatum concerned West Berlin. The leader of the Soviet people demanded its demilitarization. Western opponents of the socialist bloc responded with disagreement.
The situation had been in a state of flux for several years, and it seemed necessary to defuse the situation. However, the incident with the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft put an end to the possibility of mitigating the confrontation.
The result was fifteen hundred additional American troops in West Berlin and the construction of a wall stretching across the entire city and even beyond its borders on the GDR side.
Construction of the wall
So, the Berlin Wall was built on the border of the two states. The history of the creation and destruction of this monument to stubbornness will be discussed further.
In 1961, in two days (from August 13 to 15), barbed wire was stretched, suddenly dividing not only the country, but also the families and destinies of ordinary people. This was followed by lengthy construction, ending only in 1975.
In total, this shaft lasted twenty-eight years. At the final stage (in 1989), the complex included a concrete wall about three and a half meters high and more than a hundred kilometers long. In addition, it included sixty-six kilometers of metal mesh, more than one hundred and twenty kilometers of signal electric fencing and one hundred and five kilometers of ditches.
The structure was also equipped with anti-tank fortifications, border buildings, including three hundred towers, as well as a control strip, the sand of which was constantly leveled.
Thus, the maximum length of the Berlin Wall, according to historians, was more than one hundred and fifty-five kilometers.
It was reconstructed several times. The most extensive work was carried out in 1975. Notably, the only gaps were at checkpoints and rivers. At first, they were often used by the most courageous and desperate emigrants “to the capitalist world.”
Border crossing
In the morning, the Berlin Wall opened to the eyes of the expectant civilians of the capital of the GDR. The history of the creation and destruction of this complex clearly shows the real face of the warring states. Millions of families were divided overnight.
However, the construction of the rampart did not prevent further emigration from East German territory. People made their way through rivers and made tunnels. On average (before the construction of the fence), about half a million people traveled from the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany every day for various reasons. And in the twenty-eight years since the wall was built, only 5,075 successful illegal crossings have been made.
For this purpose, they used waterways, tunnels (145 meters underground), balloons and hang gliders, rams in the form of cars and bulldozers, and even moved along a rope between buildings.
The following feature was interesting. People received free education in the socialist part of Germany, and started working in Germany, because there were higher salaries.
Thus, the length of the Berlin Wall allowed young people to track its uninhabited areas and escape. For pensioners, there were no obstacles in crossing checkpoints.
Another opportunity to get to the western part of the city was cooperation with the German lawyer Vogel. From 1964 to 1989, he negotiated a total of $2.7 billion in contracts, purchasing a quarter of a million East Germans and political prisoners from the East German government.
The sad fact is that when trying to escape, people were not only arrested, but also shot. Officially, 125 victims were counted; unofficially, this number increases significantly.
Statements by American Presidents
After the Cuban Missile Crisis, the intensity of passions gradually decreases and the crazy arms race stops. Since that time, some American presidents have begun to make attempts to call the Soviet leadership for negotiations and come to a settlement in relations.
In this way they tried to point out to those who built the Berlin Wall their erroneous behavior. The first of these speeches was John Kennedy's speech in June 1963. The American president spoke to a large gathering near the Schöneberg town hall.
From this speech there is still a famous phrase: “I am one of the Berliners.” By distorting the translation, today it is often interpreted as being said by mistake: “I am a Berlin donut.” In fact, every word of the speech was verified and learned, and the joke is based only on the ignorance of the intricacies of the German language by audiences in other countries.
Thus, John Kennedy expressed support for the population of West Berlin.
The second president to openly address the issue of the ill-fated fence was Ronald Reagan. And his virtual opponent was Mikhail Gorbachev.
The Berlin Wall was a vestige of an unpleasant and outdated conflict.
Reagan told the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee that if the latter was looking for liberalization of relations and a happy future for socialist countries, he should come to Berlin and open the gates. “Tear down the wall, Mr. Gorbachev!”
Fall of the wall
Soon after this speech, as a result of the march of “perestroika and glasnost” across the countries of the socialist bloc, the Berlin Wall began to fall. The history of the creation and destruction of this fortification is discussed in this article. Earlier we recalled its construction and unpleasant consequences.
Now we will talk about eliminating the monument to stupidity. After Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall became. Previously, in 1961, this city was the cause of conflict on the path of socialism to the West, but now the wall prevented the strengthening of friendship between the once warring blocs.
The first country to destroy its section of the wall was Hungary. In August 1989, near the town of Sopron, on the border of this state with Austria, a “European Picnic” took place. The foreign ministers of the two countries began the liquidation of the fortification.
Then the process could no longer be stopped. At first, the government of the German Democratic Republic refused to support this idea. However, after fifteen thousand East Germans crossed the territory of Hungary to the Federal Republic of Germany in three days, the fortification became completely unnecessary.
The Berlin Wall on the map runs from north to south, crossing the city of the same name. On the night of October 9-10, 1989, the border between the western and eastern parts of the German capital officially opens.
Wall in culture
Over the course of two years, starting in 2010, the memorial complex “Berlin Wall” was built. On the map it occupies about four hectares. Twenty-eight million euros were invested to create the memorial.
The monument consists of a “Window of Memory” (in honor of the Germans who fell to their death while jumping from East German windows onto the pavement of Bernauer Strasse, which was already in the Federal Republic of Germany). In addition, the complex includes the Chapel of Reconciliation.
But this is not the only cultural thing that makes the Berlin Wall famous. The photo clearly illustrates what is probably the largest open-air graffiti gallery in history. While it was impossible to approach the fortification from the east, the western side is all decorated with highly artistic drawings by street artists.
In addition, the theme of the “wave of dictatorship” can be seen in many songs, literary works, films and computer games. For example, the song “Wind of Change” by the Scorpions group and the film “Goodbye Lenin!” are dedicated to the mood of the night of October 9, 1989. Wolfgang Becker. And one of the maps in the game Call of Duty: Black Ops was created in memory of the events at Checkpoint Charlie.
Data
The importance cannot be overstated. This protection of the totalitarian regime was perceived by the civilian population as clearly hostile, although over time the majority came to terms with the existing situation.
Interestingly, in the early years the most frequent defectors were East German soldiers guarding the wall. And there were neither more nor less of them - eleven thousand.
The Berlin Wall was especially beautiful on the twenty-fifth anniversary of its liquidation. The photo illustrates the view of the illumination from above. The two Bauder brothers were the authors of the project, which consisted of creating a continuous strip of luminous lanterns along the entire length of the former wall.
Judging by the polls, residents of the GDR were more satisfied with the fall of the rampart than the FRG. Although in the first years there was a huge flow in both directions. East Germans abandoned their apartments and went to a richer and more socially protected Germany. And enterprising people from Germany sought to move to the cheap GDR, especially since a lot of housing was abandoned there.
During the years of the Berlin Wall, a stamp was worth six times less in the east than in the west.
Each World in Conflict (Collector's Edition) video game box included a wall piece with a certificate of authenticity.
So, in this article we got acquainted with the manifestation of the economic, political and ideological division of the world in the second half of the twentieth century.
Good luck to you, dear readers!