On August 13, 1961, the communist regime in the GDR, headed by Walter Ulbricht, begins construction of its ugliest creation – The Berlin Wall.
It became part of the border between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic from 13 August 1961 to 9 November 1989, separating West Berlin from the eastern part of the city and the territory of the GDR. /p>
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It became one of the most famous symbols of the Cold War. Between 136 and 206 GDR citizens fleeing to the West die trying to cross the Berlin Wall. The site desebg.com recalls the most important facts of her history. After World War II, Berlin was divided between the victorious countries (USSR, USA, Great Britain and France) into four occupation zones. The eastern zone, captured by Soviet troops, subsequently became the capital of the German Democratic Republic.
The division of Berlin
In the three western zones, control was exercised, respectively, by the occupation authorities of the USA, Great Britain and France. The absence of a physical border between the zones leads to conflict and mass migration of specialists and citizens from East Berlin to the FRG.
On August 13, 1961, in a period of intense opposition and worsening relations between the USSR and the USA, the construction of the wall began. The order for its construction was signed by Walter Ulbricht, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the German United Socialist Party (GESP) and Chairman of the State Council of the GDR.
The then communist leader of the GDR praised the wall with the words: “Here, at the Brandenburg Gate, the working class of the GDR, together with our allies, laid the foundations of peace.”
Building an “iron ring around Berlin”
A document recently discovered in the state archives in Moscow by historian Matthias Uhl of the Institute for German History in Munich sheds light on the decision to build the wall. It is about a transcript discovered in the Soviet archives of a conversation between the then leader of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, and the East German Walter Ulbricht, held on August 1, 1961.
By then the preparations for the construction of the wall had already started. It is understood from the document that Khrushchev sent the Soviet ambassador to Berlin to Walter Ulbricht to convey to him the Soviet leader's intention to build an “iron ring around Berlin”.
The Soviet leader was motivated by the departure of many engineers from the GDR, and measures should be taken against the leakage of personnel.
In the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, the accounts of a rapid economic rise of the GDR, as in the late 1940s in Moscow and East Berlin imagined the future, turned out to be a failure. East Germany was unable to catch up with West Germany and realize the propaganda promises of a better life than that of the West.
The economic failure of the GDR
For the economic failure, Ulbricht justified Poland and Bulgaria, which did not fulfill their obligations regarding coal and steel supplies.
Khrushchev then advised the GESP leader to draw up a communique announcing that crossing into West Berlin would be prohibited, that security and checkpoints would be set up, and that crossing the border would only take place with special permits.
>According to the Soviet leader, the citizens of the GDR would be understanding if they were told that the wall was their defense against Western spies.
The existence of the wall effectively violated the post-war agreement of the victorious countries, according to which Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States and France had equal rights over the administration of all of Berlin.
The Construction of the Wall
Construction and remodeling of the wall continued from 1962 to 1975. The fully constructed wall consisted of 45,000 concrete blocks 3.6 by 1.5 meters, with a rounded top, the purpose of which was to make escape attempts difficult.
As other protective measures, the construction of various facilities such as wire nets, strip, steel blocks against vehicles, bunkers. East Berlin allocates 12,000 border troops to guard the wall.
However, over 5,000 people managed to escape to the West. The most famous cases are – the mass escape through a 149-meter-long tunnel, a hang-glider flight, breaking through the windows of two neighboring apartments.
Kennedy: I'm a Berliner!
On June 26, 1963, American President Kennedy delivered his famous speech in West Berlin, containing the key phrase: “Ich bin ein Berliner!” ("I'm a Berliner!").
With these words, Kennedy protested the division of Germany and the ominous Berlin Wall.
Reagan urges Gorbachev to tear down the wall
On June 12, 1987, another American president - Ronald Reagan spoke to the citizens of West Berlin the words: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this door! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”. Reagan says this in front of the Brandenburg Gate, near the Berlin Wall. His words were also heard on the other side of the wall controlled by the communists.
On 23 August 1989, Hungary lifted restrictions on its border with Austria, and a large number of refugees from the GDR took advantage of this. In September 1989, GDR leader Erich Honecker resigned.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
On November 9, GDR Prime Minister Gunther Schabowski announced the lifting of restrictions on exit from the German Democratic Republic. A large number of East Berliners invaded West Berlin. The dismantling of the citizenship wall begins.
Only a few sections of the wall are preserved in the Potsdamer Platz area, not far from the Spree (East Side Gallery) and Bernauer Strasse.
The Berlin Wall remains perhaps the ugliest symbol of communism to this day. After 1989, it became a kilometer-long “exhibition” of graffiti, including many of them of high artistic value.
After its destruction, fragments of it quickly became an object of trade. Parts of the Berlin Wall were bought in the USA, for example, from the Microsoft Corporation, the headquarters of the CIA and others.