The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced
[bɛʁˈliːnɐ ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] (listen)) was
a guarded concrete barrier that physically
and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961
to 1989.
Constructed by the German Democratic Republic
(GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August
1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin
from virtually all of surrounding East Germany
and East Berlin until government officials
opened it in November 1989.
Its demolition officially began on 13 June
1990 and finished in 1992.
The barrier included guard towers placed along
large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide
area (later known as the "death strip") that
contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds"
and other defenses.
The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting
its population from fascist elements conspiring
to prevent the "will of the people" in building
a socialist state in East Germany.
GDR authorities officially referred to the
Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection
Rampart (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall).
The West Berlin city government sometimes
referred to it as the "Wall of Shame", a term
coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference
to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement.
Along with the separate and much longer Inner
German border (IGB), which demarcated the
border between East and West Germany, it came
to symbolize physically the "Iron Curtain"
that separated Western Europe and the Eastern
Bloc during the Cold War.Before the Wall's
erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented
Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected
from the GDR, many by crossing over the border
from East Berlin into West Berlin; from there
they could then travel to West Germany and
to other Western European countries.
Between 1961 and 1989 the Wall prevented almost
all such emigration.
During this period over 100,000 people attempted
to escape and over 5,000 people succeeded
in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated
death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200
in and around Berlin.
In 1989 a series of revolutions in nearby
Eastern Bloc countries—Poland and Hungary
in particular—caused a chain reaction in
East Germany that ultimately resulted in the
demise of the Wall.
After several weeks of civil unrest, the East
German government announced on 9 November
1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West
Germany and West Berlin.
Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed
onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the
other side in a celebratory atmosphere.
Over the next few weeks, euphoric people and
souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the
Wall; the governments later used industrial
equipment to remove most of what was left.
The "fall of the Berlin Wall" paved the way
for German reunification, which formally took
place on 3 October 1990.
== Background ==
=== Post-war Germany ===
After the end of World War II in Europe, what
remained of pre-war Germany west of the Oder-Neisse
line was divided into four occupation zones
(as per the Potsdam Agreement), each one controlled
by one of the four occupying Allied powers:
the United States, the United Kingdom, France
and the Soviet Union.
The capital of Berlin, as the seat of the
Allied Control Council, was similarly subdivided
into four sectors despite the city's location,
which was fully within the Soviet zone.Within
two years, political divisions increased between
the Soviets and the other occupying powers.
These included the Soviets' refusal to agree
to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany
self-sufficient and to a detailed accounting
of the industrial plants, goods and infrastructure
already removed by the Soviets.
France, the United Kingdom, the United States
and the Benelux countries later met to combine
the non-Soviet zones of the country into one
zone for reconstruction and to approve the
extension of the Marshall Plan.
=== Eastern Bloc and the Berlin airlift ===
Following World War II, Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin headed a group of nations on his Western
border, the Eastern Bloc, that then included
Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which
he wished to maintain alongside a weakened
Soviet-controlled Germany.
As early as 1945, Stalin revealed to German
communist leaders that he expected to slowly
undermine the British position within the
British occupation zone, that the United States
would withdraw within a year or two, and that
nothing would then stand in the way of a united
communist Germany within the bloc.The major
task of the ruling communist party in the
Soviet zone was to channel Soviet orders down
to both the administrative apparatus and the
other bloc parties, which in turn would be
presented as internal measures.
Property and industry was nationalized in
the East German zone.
If statements or decisions deviated from the
described line, reprimands and (for persons
outside public attention) punishment would
ensue, such as imprisonment, torture and even
death.Indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism became
a compulsory part of school curricula, sending
professors and students fleeing to the West.
The East Germans created an elaborate political
police apparatus that kept the population
under close surveillance, including Soviet
SMERSH secret police.In 1948, following disagreements
regarding reconstruction and a new German
currency, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade,
preventing food, materials and supplies from
arriving in West Berlin.
The United States, the United Kingdom, France,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several
other countries began a massive "airlift",
supplying West Berlin with food and other
supplies.
The Soviets mounted a public relations campaign
against the Western policy change.
Communists attempted to disrupt the elections
of 1948, preceding large losses therein, while
300,000 Berliners demonstrated for the international
airlift to continue.
In May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade, permitting
the resumption of Western shipments to Berlin.The
German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
was declared on 7 October 1949.
By a secret treaty, the Soviet Ministry of
Foreign Affairs accorded the East German state
administrative authority, but not autonomy.
The Soviets permeated East German administrative,
military and secret police structures and
had full control.East Germany differed from
West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany),
which developed into a Western capitalist
country with a social market economy ("Soziale
Marktwirtschaft" in German) and a democratic
parliamentary government.
Continual economic growth starting in the
1950s fuelled a 20-year "economic miracle"
("Wirtschaftswunder").
As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard
of living steadily improved, many East Germans
wanted to move to West Germany.
=== Emigration westward in the early 1950s
===
After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe
at the end of World War II, the majority of
those living in the newly acquired areas of
the Eastern Bloc aspired to independence and
wanted the Soviets to leave.
Taking advantage of the zonal border between
occupied zones in Germany, the number of GDR
citizens moving to West Germany totaled 187,000
in 1950; 165,000 in 1951; 182,000 in 1952;
and 331,000 in 1953.
One reason for the sharp 1953 increase was
fear of potential further Sovietization, given
the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph
Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953.
226,000 had fled in just the first six months
of 1953.
== Erection of the inner German border ==
By the early 1950s, the Soviet approach to
controlling national movement, restricting
emigration, was emulated by most of the rest
of the Eastern Bloc, including East Germany.
The restrictions presented a quandary for
some Eastern Bloc states, which had been more
economically advanced and open than the Soviet
Union, such that crossing borders seemed more
natural—especially where no prior border
existed between East and West Germany.Up until
1952, the demarcation lines between East Germany
and the western occupied zones could be easily
crossed in most places.
On 1 April 1952, East German leaders met the
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Moscow; during
the discussions Stalin's foreign minister
Vyacheslav Molotov proposed that the East
Germans should "introduce a system of passes
for visits of West Berlin residents to the
territory of East Berlin [so as to stop] free
movement of Western agents" in the GDR.
Stalin agreed, calling the situation "intolerable".
He advised the East Germans to build up their
border defenses, telling them that "The demarcation
line between East and West Germany should
be considered a border—and not just any
border, but a dangerous one ... The Germans
will guard the line of defence with their
lives."Consequently, the inner German border
between the two German states was closed,
and a barbed-wire fence erected.
The border between the Western and Eastern
sectors of Berlin, however, remained open,
although traffic between the Soviet and the
Western sectors was somewhat restricted.
This resulted in Berlin becoming a magnet
for East Germans desperate to escape life
in the GDR, and also a flashpoint for tension
between the United States and the Soviet Union.In
1955, the Soviets gave East Germany authority
over civilian movement in Berlin, passing
control to a regime not recognized in the
West.
Initially, East Germany granted "visits" to
allow its residents access to West Germany.
However, following the defection of large
numbers of East Germans under this regime,
the new East German state legally restricted
virtually all travel to the West in 1956.
Soviet East German ambassador Mikhail Pervukhin
observed that "the presence in Berlin of an
open and essentially uncontrolled border between
the socialist and capitalist worlds unwittingly
prompts the population to make a comparison
between both parts of the city, which unfortunately
does not always turn out in favour of Democratic
[East] Berlin."
=== Berlin emigration loophole ===
With the closing of the inner German border
officially in 1952, the border in Berlin remained
considerably more accessible because it was
administered by all four occupying powers.
Accordingly, Berlin became the main route
by which East Germans left for the West.
On 11 December 1957, East Germany introduced
a new passport law that reduced the overall
number of refugees leaving Eastern Germany.It
had the unintended result of drastically increasing
the percentage of those leaving through West
Berlin from 60% to well over 90% by the end
of 1958.
Those caught trying to leave East Berlin were
subjected to heavy penalties, but with no
physical barrier and subway train access still
available to West Berlin, such measures were
ineffective.
The Berlin sector border was essentially a
"loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens
could still escape.
The 3.5 million East Germans who had left
by 1961 totalled approximately 20% of the
entire East German population.An important
reason that crossing the inner German border
was not stopped earlier was that doing so
would cut off much of the railway traffic
in East Germany.
Construction of a new railway bypassing West
Berlin, the Berlin outer ring, commenced in
1951.
Following the completion of the railway in
1961, closing the border became a more practical
proposition.
(See History of rail transport in Germany.)
=== Brain drain ===
The emigrants tended to be young and well-educated,
leading to the "brain drain" feared by officials
in East Germany.
Yuri Andropov, then the CPSU Director on Relations
with Communist and Workers' Parties of Socialist
Countries, wrote an urgent letter on 28 August
1958, to the Central Committee about the significant
50% increase in the number of East German
intelligentsia among the refugees.
Andropov reported that, while the East German
leadership stated that they were leaving for
economic reasons, testimony from refugees
indicated that the reasons were more political
than material.
He stated "the flight of the intelligentsia
has reached a particularly critical phase."An
East German SED propaganda booklet published
in 1955 dramatically described the serious
nature of 'flight from the republic':
Both from the moral standpoint as well as
in terms of the interests of the whole German
nation, leaving the GDR is an act of political
and moral backwardness and depravity.
Those who let themselves be recruited objectively
serve West German Reaction and militarism,
whether they know it or not.
Is it not despicable when for the sake of
a few alluring job offers or other false promises
about a "guaranteed future" one leaves a country
in which the seed for a new and more beautiful
life is sprouting, and is already showing
the first fruits, for the place that favours
a new war and destruction?
Is it not an act of political depravity when
citizens, whether young people, workers, or
members of the intelligentsia, leave and betray
what our people have created through common
labour in our republic to offer themselves
to the American or British secret services
or work for the West German factory owners,
Junkers, or militarists?
Does not leaving the land of progress for
the morass of an historically outdated social
order demonstrate political backwardness and
blindness?
...
[W]orkers throughout Germany will demand punishment
for those who today leave the German Democratic
Republic, the strong bastion of the fight
for peace, to serve the deadly enemy of the
German people, the imperialists and militarists.
By 1960, the combination of World War II and
the massive emigration westward left East
Germany with only 61% of its population of
working age, compared to 70.5% before the
war.
The loss was disproportionately heavy among
professionals: engineers, technicians, physicians,
teachers, lawyers and skilled workers.
The direct cost of manpower losses to East
Germany (and corresponding gain to the West)
has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion,
with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht
later claiming that West Germany owed him
$17 billion in compensation, including reparations
as well as manpower losses.
In addition, the drain of East Germany's young
population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion
marks in lost educational investment.
The brain drain of professionals had become
so damaging to the political credibility and
economic viability of East Germany that the
re-securing of the German communist frontier
was imperative.The exodus of emigrants from
East Germany presented two minor potential
benefits: an easy opportunity to smuggle East
German secret agents to West Germany, and
a reduction in the number of citizens hostile
to the communist regime.
Neither of these advantages, however, proved
particularly useful.
=== How Khrushchev–Kennedy relations affected
the construction of the wall ===
In April 1961, Khrushchev gained an impression
that Kennedy is not very smart when he saw
Washington supporting the failed invasion
of Cuba by anti-communist exiles which were
then left to their fate.
Khrushchev decided to alarm rather than appease
the president.
He soon revealed his intention of signing
the separate peace treaty with East Germany
that would abolish allied rights in West Berlin.
One of his intentions was therefore to get
the whole of Berlin.
However, this action had risks behind it.
The risks that we are taking are justified.
If we look at it in terms of a percentage,
there is more than a 95% chance that there
will be no war.
It meant that 5% was an actual chance of having
a war.
Khrushchev's assumptions about Kennedy were
false.
He made clear that the chance of having a
war was bigger than 5%.
He showed the unpredictability of US policy.
Although Soviet forces were not on high alert,
the plans were nonetheless changed to deal
with the consequences of Kennedy's actions.
It was then decided to block the access to
West Berlin from the East.
That is when the construction of the wall
started.
== Construction begins, 1961 ==
On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist
Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman
Walter Ulbricht stated in an international
press conference, "Niemand hat die Absicht,
eine Mauer zu errichten!"
(No one has the intention of erecting a wall!).
It was the first time the colloquial term
Mauer (wall) had been used in this context.The
transcript of a telephone call between Nikita
Khrushchev and Ulbricht on 1 August in the
same year, suggests that the initiative for
the construction of the Wall came from Khrushchev.
However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev
had initially been wary about building a wall,
fearing negative Western reaction.
What is beyond dispute, though, is that Ulbricht
had pushed for a border closure for quite
some time, arguing that East Germany's very
existence was at stake.Khrushchev had become
emboldened upon seeing US President John F.
Kennedy's youth and inexperience show as weakness
against Khrushchev's brutal, undiplomatic
aggression.
This feeling of miscalculation and failure
is admitted by Kennedy in the U.S. ambassador's
residence with New York Times columnist James
"Scotty" Reston.
Kennedy made the regrettable error of admitting
that the US would not actively oppose this
action in the Soviet sector of Berlin.
On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of
the GDR attended a garden party at a government
guesthouse in Döllnsee, in a wooded area
to the north of East Berlin.
There Ulbricht signed the order to close the
border and erect a wall.At midnight, the police
and units of the East German army began to
close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13
August, the border with West Berlin was closed.
East German troops and workers had begun to
tear up streets running alongside the border
to make them impassable to most vehicles and
to install barbed wire entanglements and fences
along the 156 kilometres (97 mi) around the
three western sectors, and the 43 kilometres
(27 mi) that divided West and East Berlin.
The date of 13 August became commonly referred
to as Barbed Wire Sunday in Germany.The barrier
was built inside East Berlin or East German
territory to ensure that it did not encroach
on West Berlin at any point.
Generally, the Wall was only slightly inside
East Berlin, but in a few places it was some
distance from the legal border, most notably
at Potsdamer Bahnhof and the Lenné Triangle
that is now much of the Potsdamer Platz development.
Later, the initial barrier was built up into
the Wall proper, the first concrete elements
and large blocks being put in place on 17
August.
During the construction of the Wall, National
People's Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of the
Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front
of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted
to defect.
Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields
and other obstacles were installed along the
length of East Germany's western border with
West Germany proper.
A huge no man's land was cleared to provide
a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.
=== Immediate effects ===
With the closing of the East-West sector boundary
in Berlin, the vast majority of East Germans
could no longer travel or emigrate to West
Germany.
Berlin soon went from being the easiest place
to make an unauthorized crossing between East
and West Germany to being the most difficult.
Many families were split, while East Berliners
employed in the West were cut off from their
jobs.
West Berlin became an isolated exclave in
a hostile land.
West Berliners demonstrated against the Wall,
led by their Mayor (Oberbürgermeister) Willy
Brandt, who strongly criticized the United
States for failing to respond.
Allied intelligence agencies had hypothesized
about a wall to stop the flood of refugees,
but the main candidate for its location was
around the perimeter of the city.
In 1961, Secretary of State Dean Rusk proclaimed,
"The Wall certainly ought not to be a permanent
feature of the European landscape.
I see no reason why the Soviet Union should
think it is—it is to their advantage in
any way to leave there that monument to communist
failure."United States and UK sources had
expected the Soviet sector to be sealed off
from West Berlin, but were surprised by how
long the East Germans took for such a move.
They considered the Wall as an end to concerns
about a GDR/Soviet retaking or capture of
the whole of Berlin; the Wall would presumably
have been an unnecessary project if such plans
were afloat.
Thus they concluded that the possibility of
a Soviet military conflict over Berlin had
decreased.The East German government claimed
that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective
rampart" (German: "antifaschistischer Schutzwall")
intended to dissuade aggression from the West.
Another official justification was the activities
of Western agents in Eastern Europe.
The Eastern German government also claimed
that West Berliners were buying out state-subsidized
goods in East Berlin.
East Germans and others greeted such statements
with skepticism, as most of the time, the
border was only closed for citizens of East
Germany traveling to the West, but not for
residents of West Berlin travelling to the
East.
The construction of the Wall had caused considerable
hardship to families divided by it.
Most people believed that the Wall was mainly
a means of preventing the citizens of East
Germany from entering or fleeing to West Berlin.
=== Secondary response ===
The National Security Agency was the only
American intelligence agency that was aware
that East Germany was to take action to deal
with the brain drain problem.
On 9 August 1961, the NSA intercepted an advance
warning information of the Socialist Unity
Party's plan to close the intra-Berlin border
between East and West Berlin completely for
foot traffic.
The interagency intelligence Berlin Watch
Committee assessed that this intercept "might
be the first step in a plan to close the border."
This warning did not reach U.S. President
John F. Kennedy until noon on 13 August 1961,
while he was vacationing in his yacht off
the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
While Kennedy was angry that he had no advance
warning, he was relieved that the East Germans
and the Soviets had only divided Berlin without
taking any action against West Berlin's access
to the West.
However, he denounced the Berlin Wall, whose
erection worsened the relations between the
United States and the Soviet Union.In response
to the erection of the Berlin Wall, a retired
general, Lucius D. Clay, was appointed by
Kennedy as his special advisor and sent to
Berlin with ambassadorial rank.
Clay had been the Military Governor of the
US Zone of Occupation in Germany during the
period of the Berlin Blockade and had ordered
the first measures in what became the Berlin
Airlift.
He was immensely popular with the residents
of West Berlin, and his appointment was an
unambiguous sign that Kennedy would not compromise
on the status of West Berlin.
Clay and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson
arrived at Tempelhof Airport on the afternoon
of Saturday, 19 August 1961.They arrived in
a city defended by three Allied brigades —one
each from the UK (Berlin Infantry Brigade),
the US (Berlin Brigade), and France(Forces
Françaises à Berlin).
On 16 August, Kennedy had given the order
for them to be reinforced.
Early on 19 August, the 1st Battle Group,
18th Infantry (commanded by Colonel Glover
S. Johns Jr.) was alerted.On Sunday morning,
U.S. troops marched from West Germany through
East Germany, bound for West Berlin.
Lead elements—arranged in a column of 491
vehicles and trailers carrying 1,500 men,
divided into five march units—left the Helmstedt-Marienborn
checkpoint at 06:34.
At Marienborn, the Soviet checkpoint next
to Helmstedt on the West German-East German
border, US personnel were counted by guards.
The column was 160 kilometres (99 mi) long,
and covered 177 kilometres (110 mi) from Marienborn
to Berlin in full battle gear.
East German police watched from beside trees
next to the autobahn all the way along.The
front of the convoy arrived at the outskirts
of Berlin just before noon, to be met by Clay
and Johnson, before parading through the streets
of Berlin in front of a large crowd.
At 04:00 on 21 August, Lyndon Johnson left
West Berlin in the hands of General Frederick
O. Hartel and his brigade of 4,224 officers
and men.
"For the next three and a half years, American
battalions would rotate into West Berlin,
by autobahn, at three month intervals to demonstrate
Allied rights to the city".The creation of
the Wall had important implications for both
German states.
By stemming the exodus of people from East
Germany, the East German government was able
to reassert its control over the country:
in spite of discontent with the Wall, economic
problems caused by dual currency and the black
market were largely eliminated.
The economy in the GDR began to grow.
But, the Wall proved a public relations disaster
for the communist bloc as a whole.
Western powers portrayed it as a symbol of
communist tyranny, particularly after East
German border guards shot and killed would-be
defectors.
Such fatalities were later treated as acts
of murder by the reunified Germany.
== Structure and adjacent areas ==
=== Layout and modifications ===
The Berlin Wall was more than 140 kilometres
(87 mi) long.
In June 1962, a second, parallel fence was
built some 100 metres (110 yd) farther into
East German territory.
The houses contained between the fences were
razed and the inhabitants relocated, thus
establishing what later became known as the
death strip.
The death strip was covered with raked sand
or gravel, rendering footprints easy to notice,
easing the detection of trespassers and also
enabling officers to see which guards had
neglected their task; it offered no cover;
and, most importantly, it offered clear fields
of fire for the Wall guards.
Through the years, the Berlin Wall evolved
through four versions:
Wire fence and concrete block wall (1961)
Improved wire fence (1962–1965)
Improved concrete wall (1965–1975)
Grenzmauer 75 (Border Wall 75) (1975–1989)The
"fourth-generation Wall", known officially
as "Stützwandelement UL 12.11" (retaining
wall element UL 12.11), was the final and
most sophisticated version of the Wall.
Begun in 1975 and completed about 1980, it
was constructed from 45,000 separate sections
of reinforced concrete, each 3.6 metres (12
ft) high and 1.2 metres (3.9 ft) wide, and
cost DDM16,155,000 or about US$3,638,000.
The concrete provisions added to this version
of the Wall were done to prevent escapees
from driving their cars through the barricades.
At strategic points, the Wall was constructed
to a somewhat weaker standard, so that East
German and Soviet armored vehicles could easily
break through in the event of war.The top
of the wall was lined with a smooth pipe,
intended to make it more difficult to scale.
The Wall was reinforced by mesh fencing, signal
fencing, anti-vehicle trenches, barbed wire,
dogs on long lines, "beds of nails" (also
known as "Stalin's Carpet") under balconies
hanging over the "death strip", over 116 watchtowers,
and 20 bunkers with hundreds of guards.
This version of the Wall is the one most commonly
seen in photographs, and surviving fragments
of the Wall in Berlin and elsewhere around
the world are generally pieces of the fourth-generation
Wall.
The layout came to resemble the inner German
border in most technical aspects, except that
the Berlin Wall had no landmines nor spring-guns.
Maintenance was performed on the outside of
the wall by personnel who accessed the area
outside it either via ladders or via hidden
doors within the wall.
These doors could not be opened by a single
person, needing two separate keys in two separate
keyholes to unlock.As was the case with the
inner German border, an unfortified strip
of Eastern territory was left outside the
wall.
This outer strip was used by workers to paint
over graffiti and perform other maintenance
on the outside of the wall Unlike the inner
German border, however, the outer strip was
usually no more than four meters wide, and,
in photos from the era, the exact location
of the actual border in many places appears
not even to have been marked.
Also in contrast with the inner German border,
little interest was shown by East German law
enforcement in keeping outsiders off the outer
strip; sidewalks of West Berlin streets even
ran inside it.Despite the East German government's
general policy of benign neglect, vandals
were not unknown to have been pursued in the
outer strip, and even arrested.
In 1986, defector and political activist Wolfram
Hasch and four other defectors were standing
inside the outer strip defacing the wall when
East German personnel emerged from one of
the hidden doors to apprehend them.
All but Hasch escaped back into the western
sector.
Hasch himself was arrested, dragged through
the door into the death strip, and later convicted
of illegally crossing the de jure border outside
the wall.
Graffiti artist Thierry Noir has reported
having often been pursued there by East German
soldiers.
While some graffiti artists were chased off
the outer strip, others, such as Keith Haring,
were seemingly tolerated.
=== Surrounding municipalities ===
Besides the sector-sector boundary within
Berlin itself, the Wall also separated West
Berlin from the present-day state of Brandenburg.
The following present-day municipalities,
listed in counter-clockwise direction, share
a border with former West Berlin:
Oberhavel : Mühlenbecker Land (partially),
Glienicke/Nordbahn, Hohen Neuendorf, Hennigsdorf
Havelland : Schönwalde-Glien, Falkensee,
Dallgow-Döberitz
Potsdam (urban district)
Potsdam-Mittelmark : Stahnsdorf, Kleinmachnow,
Teltow
Teltow-Fläming : Großbeeren, Blankenfelde-Mahlow
Dahme-Spreewald : Schönefeld (partially)
== Official crossings and usage ==
There were nine border crossings between East
and West Berlin.
These allowed visits by West Berliners, other
West Germans, Western foreigners and Allied
personnel into East Berlin, as well as visits
by GDR citizens and citizens of other socialist
countries into West Berlin, provided that
they held the necessary permits.
These crossings were restricted according
to which nationality was allowed to use it
(East Germans, West Germans, West Berliners,
other countries).
The most famous was the vehicle and pedestrian
checkpoint at the corner of Friedrichstraße
and Zimmerstraße, also known as Checkpoint
Charlie, which was restricted to Allied personnel
and foreigners.Several other border crossings
existed between West Berlin and surrounding
East Germany.
These could be used for transit between West
Germany and West Berlin, for visits by West
Berliners into East Germany, for transit into
countries neighbouring East Germany (Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Denmark), and for visits by
East Germans into West Berlin carrying a permit.
After the 1972 agreements, new crossings were
opened to allow West Berlin waste to be transported
into East German dumps, as well as some crossings
for access to West Berlin's exclaves (see
Steinstücken).
Four autobahns connected West Berlin to West
Germany, the most famous being the Berlin-Helmstedt
autobahn, which entered East German territory
between the towns of Helmstedt and Marienborn
(Checkpoint Alpha), and which entered West
Berlin at Dreilinden (Checkpoint Bravo for
the Allied forces) in southwestern Berlin.
Access to West Berlin was also possible by
railway (four routes) and by boat for commercial
shipping via canals and rivers.Non-German
Westerners could cross the border at Friedrichstraße
station in East Berlin and at Checkpoint Charlie.
When the Wall was erected, Berlin's complex
public transit networks, the S-Bahn and U-Bahn,
were divided with it.
Some lines were cut in half; many stations
were shut down.
Three western lines traveled through brief
sections of East Berlin territory, passing
through eastern stations (called Geisterbahnhöfe,
or ghost stations) without stopping.
Both the eastern and western networks converged
at Friedrichstraße, which became a major
crossing point for those (mostly Westerners)
with permission to cross.
=== Crossing ===
West Germans and citizens of other Western
countries could generally visit East Germany,
often after applying for a visa at an East
German embassy several weeks in advance.
Visas for day trips restricted to East Berlin
were issued without previous application in
a simplified procedure at the border crossing.
However, East German authorities could refuse
entry permits without stating a reason.
In the 1980s, visitors from the western part
of the city who wanted to visit the eastern
part had to exchange at least DM 25 into East
German currency at the poor exchange rate
of 1:1.
It was forbidden to export East German currency
from the East, but money not spent could be
left at the border for possible future visits.
Tourists crossing from the west had to also
pay for a visa, which cost DM 5; West Berliners
did not have to pay this.West Berliners initially
could not visit East Berlin or East Germany
at all – all crossing points were closed
to them between 26 August 1961 and 17 December
1963.
In 1963, negotiations between East and West
resulted in a limited possibility for visits
during the Christmas season that year (Passierscheinregelung).
Similar, very limited arrangements were made
in 1964, 1965 and 1966.In 1971, with the Four
Power Agreement on Berlin, agreements were
reached that allowed West Berliners to apply
for visas to enter East Berlin and East Germany
regularly, comparable to the regulations already
in force for West Germans.
However, East German authorities could still
refuse entry permits.East Berliners and East
Germans could not, at first, travel to West
Berlin or West Germany at all.
This regulation remained in force essentially
until the fall of the Wall, but over the years
several exceptions to these rules were introduced,
the most significant being:
Elderly pensioners could travel to the West
starting in 1965
Visits of relatives for important family matters
People who had to travel to the West for professional
reasons (for example, artists, truck drivers,
musicians, writers, etc.)For each of these
exceptions, GDR citizens had to apply for
individual approval, which was never guaranteed.
In addition, even if travel was approved,
GDR travellers could exchange only a very
small amount of East German Marks into Deutsche
Marks (DM), thus limiting the financial resources
available for them to travel to the West.
This led to the West German practice of granting
a small amount of DM annually (Begrüßungsgeld,
or welcome money) to GDR citizens visiting
West Germany and West Berlin to help alleviate
this situation.Citizens of other East European
countries were in general subject to the same
prohibition of visiting Western countries
as East Germans, though the applicable exception
(if any) varied from country to country.Allied
military personnel and civilian officials
of the Allied forces could enter and exit
East Berlin without submitting to East German
passport controls, purchasing a visa or being
required to exchange money.
Likewise, Soviet military patrols could enter
and exit West Berlin.
This was a requirement of the post-war Four
Powers Agreements.
A particular area of concern for the Western
Allies involved official dealings with East
German authorities when crossing the border,
since Allied policy did not recognize the
authority of the GDR to regulate Allied military
traffic to and from West Berlin, as well as
the Allied presence within Greater Berlin,
including entry into, exit from, and presence
within East Berlin.The Allies held that only
the Soviet Union, and not the GDR, had authority
to regulate Allied personnel in such cases.
For this reason, elaborate procedures were
established to prevent inadvertent recognition
of East German authority when engaged in travel
through the GDR and when in East Berlin.
Special rules applied to travel by Western
Allied military personnel assigned to the
Military Liaison Missions accredited to the
commander of Soviet forces in East Germany,
located in Potsdam.Allied personnel were restricted
by policy when travelling by land to the following
routes:
Transit between West Germany and West Berlin
Road: the Helmstedt-Berlin autobahn (A2) (checkpoints
Alpha and Bravo respectively).
Soviet military personnel manned these checkpoints
and processed Allied personnel for travel
between the two points.
Military personnel were required to be in
uniform when traveling in this manner.
Rail: Western Allied military personnel and
civilian officials of the Allied forces were
forbidden to use commercial train service
between West Germany and West Berlin, because
of GDR passport and customs controls when
using them.
Instead, the Allied forces operated a series
of official (duty) trains that traveled between
their respective duty stations in West Germany
and West Berlin.
When transiting the GDR, the trains would
follow the route between Helmstedt and Griebnitzsee,
just outside West Berlin.
In addition to persons traveling on official
business, authorized personnel could also
use the duty trains for personal travel on
a space-available basis.
The trains traveled only at night, and as
with transit by car, Soviet military personnel
handled the processing of duty train travelers.
(See History of the Berlin S-Bahn.)Entry into
and exit from East Berlin
Checkpoint Charlie (as a pedestrian or riding
in a vehicle)As with military personnel, special
procedures applied to travel by diplomatic
personnel of the Western Allies accredited
to their respective embassies in the GDR.
This was intended to prevent inadvertent recognition
of East German authority when crossing between
East and West Berlin, which could jeopardize
the overall Allied position governing the
freedom of movement by Allied forces personnel
within all Berlin.
Ordinary citizens of the Western Allied powers,
not formally affiliated with the Allied forces,
were authorized to use all designated transit
routes through East Germany to and from West
Berlin.
Regarding travel to East Berlin, such persons
could also use the Friedrichstraße train
station to enter and exit the city, in addition
to Checkpoint Charlie.
In these instances, such travelers, unlike
Allied personnel, had to submit to East German
border controls.
=== Defection attempts ===
During the years of the Wall, around 5,000
people successfully defected to West Berlin.
The number of people who died trying to cross
the Wall, or as a result of the Wall's existence,
has been disputed.
The most vocal claims by Alexandra Hildebrandt,
Director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum
and widow of the Museum's founder, estimated
the death toll to be well above 200.
A historic research group at the Center for
Contemporary Historical Research (ZZF) in
Potsdam has confirmed at least 140 deaths.
Prior official figures listed 98 as being
killed.
The East German government issued shooting
orders (Schießbefehl) to border guards dealing
with defectors, though such orders are not
the same as "shoot to kill" orders.
GDR officials denied issuing the latter.
In an October 1973 order later discovered
by researchers, guards were instructed that
people attempting to cross the Wall were criminals
and needed to be shot: "Do not hesitate to
use your firearm, not even when the border
is breached in the company of women and children,
which is a tactic the traitors have often
used".Early successful escapes involved people
jumping the initial barbed wire or leaping
out of apartment windows along the line, but
these ended as the Wall was fortified.
East German authorities no longer permitted
apartments near the Wall to be occupied, and
any building near the Wall had its windows
boarded and later bricked up.
On 15 August 1961, Conrad Schumann was the
first East German border guard to escape by
jumping the barbed wire to West Berlin.On
22 August 1961, Ida Siekmann was the first
casualty at the Berlin Wall: she died after
she jumped out of her third floor apartment
at 48 Bernauer Strasse.
The first person to be shot and killed while
trying to cross to West Berlin was Günter
Litfin, a twenty-four-year-old tailor.
He attempted to swim across the Spree to West
Berlin on 24 August 1961, the same day that
East German police had received shoot-to-kill
orders to prevent anyone from escaping.Another
dramatic escape was carried out on April 1963
by Wolfgang Engels, a 19-year-old civilian
employee of the Nationale Volksarmee (NVA).
Engels stole a Soviet armored personnel carrier
from a base where he was deployed and drove
it right into the Wall.
He was fired at and seriously wounded by border
guards.
But a West German policeman intervened, firing
his weapon at the East German border guards.
The policeman removed Engels from the vehicle,
which had become entangled in the barbed wire.
East Germans successfully defected by a variety
of methods: digging long tunnels under the
Wall, waiting for favorable winds and taking
a hot air balloon, sliding along aerial wires,
flying ultralights and, in one instance, simply
driving a sports car at full speed through
the basic, initial fortifications.
When a metal beam was placed at checkpoints
to prevent this kind of defection, up to four
people (two in the front seats and possibly
two in the boot) drove under the bar in a
sports car that had been modified to allow
the roof and windscreen to come away when
it made contact with the beam.
They lay flat and kept driving forward.
The East Germans then built zig-zagging roads
at checkpoints.
The sewer system predated the Wall, and some
people escaped through the sewers, in a number
of cases with assistance from the Unternehmen
Reisebüro.An airborne escape was made by
Thomas Krüger, who landed a Zlin Z 42M light
aircraft of the Gesellschaft für Sport und
Technik, an East German youth military training
organization, at RAF Gatow.
His aircraft, registration DDR-WOH, was dismantled
and returned to the East Germans by road,
complete with humorous slogans painted on
it by airmen of the Royal Air Force, such
as "Wish you were here" and "Come back soon".
DDR-WOH is still flying today, but under the
registration D-EWOH.If an escapee was wounded
in a crossing attempt and lay on the death
strip, no matter how close they were to the
Western wall, Westerners could not intervene
for fear of triggering engaging fire from
the 'Grepos', the East Berlin border guards.
The guards often let fugitives bleed to death
in the middle of this ground, as in the most
notorious failed attempt, that of Peter Fechter
(aged 18).
He was shot and bled to death, in full view
of the Western media, on 17 August 1962.
Fechter's death created negative publicity
worldwide that led the leaders of East Berlin
to place more restrictions on shooting in
public places, and provide medical care for
possible "would-be escapers".
The last person to be shot and killed while
trying to cross the border was Chris Gueffroy
on 6 February 1989, while the final person
to die in an escape attempt was Winfried Freudenberg
who was killed when his homemade natural gas-filled
balloon crashed on 8 March 1989.
The Wall gave rise to a widespread sense of
desperation and oppression in East Berlin,
as expressed in the private thoughts of one
resident, who confided to her diary "Our lives
have lost their spirit…we can do nothing
to stop them."
== 
Concerts by Western artists and growing anti-Wall
sentiment ==
Every stone bears witness to the moral bankruptcy
of the society it encloses
— Margaret Thatcher commenting about the
wall, West Berlin, 1982
=== David Bowie, 1987 ===
On 6 June 1987, David Bowie, who earlier for
several years lived and recorded in West Berlin,
played a concert close to the Wall.
This was attended by thousands of Eastern
concertgoers across the Wall, followed by
violent rioting in East Berlin.
According to Tobias Ruther, these protests
in East Berlin were the first in the sequence
of riots that led to those of November 1989.
Although other factors were probably more
influential in the fall of the Wall, on his
death, the German Foreign Office tweeted "Good-bye,
David Bowie.
You are now among #Heroes.
Thank you for helping to bring down the #wall."
=== Bruce Springsteen, 1988 ===
On 19 July 1988, 16 months before the Wall
came down, Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street
Band, played Rocking the Wall, a live concert
in East Berlin, which was attended by 300,000
in person and broadcast delayed on television.
Springsteen spoke to the crowd in German,
saying: "I'm not here for or against any government.
I've come to play rock 'n' roll for you in
the hope that one day all the barriers will
be torn down".
East Germany and its FDJ youth organization
were worried they were losing an entire generation.
They hoped that by letting Springsteen in,
they could improve their sentiment among East
Germans.
However, this strategy of "one step backwards,
two steps forwards" backfired and the concert
only made East Germans hungrier for more of
the freedoms that Springsteen epitomized.
While John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan delivered
their famous speeches from the safety of West
Berlin, Springsteen's speaking out against
the Wall in the middle of East Berlin added
to the euphoria.
=== David Hasselhoff, 1989 ===
On 31 December 1989, American TV actor and
pop music singer David Hasselhoff was the
headlining performer for the Freedom Tour
Live concert, which was attended by over 500,000
people on both sides of the Wall.
The live concert footage was directed by music
video director Thomas Mignone and aired on
broadcast television station Zweites Deutsches
Fernsehen ZDF throughout Europe.
During shooting film crew personnel pulled
people up from both sides to stand and celebrate
on top of the wall.
Hasselhoff sang his number one hit song "Looking
For Freedom" on a platform at the end of a
twenty-meter steel crane that swung above
and over the Wall adjacent to the Brandenburg
Gate.
== "Ich bin ein Berliner" and "Mr. Gorbachev,
tear down this Wall."
==
On 26 June 1963, 22 months after the erection
of the Berlin Wall, U.S. President John F.
Kennedy visited West Berlin.
Speaking from a platform erected on the steps
of Rathaus Schöneberg for an audience of
450,000 he declared in his Ich bin ein Berliner
speech the support of the United States for
West Germany and the people of West Berlin
in particular:
Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast
was civis romanus sum ["I am a Roman citizen"].
Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest
boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner!"...
All free men, wherever they may live, are
citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free
man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein
Berliner!"
The message was aimed as much at the Soviets
as it was at Berliners and was a clear statement
of U.S. policy in the wake of the construction
of the Berlin Wall.
The speech is considered one of Kennedy's
best, both a notable moment of the Cold War
and a high point of the New Frontier.
It was a great morale boost for West Berliners,
who lived in an exclave deep inside East Germany
and feared a possible East German occupation.
In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate commemorating
the 750th anniversary of Berlin on 12 June
1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan challenged
Mikhail Gorbachev, then the General Secretary
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union,
to tear down the Wall as a symbol of increasing
freedom in the Eastern Bloc:
We welcome change and openness; for we believe
that freedom and security go together, that
the advance of human liberty can only strengthen
the cause of world peace.
There is one sign the Soviets can make that
would be unmistakable, that would advance
dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace,
if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union
and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization,
come here to this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this Wall!
== Fall of the Berlin Wall ==
In June 1989 the Hungarian government began
dismantling the electrified fence along its
border with Austria (with Western TV crews
present), and then, in September, more than
13,000 East German tourists escaped through
Hungary to Austria.
This set up a chain of events.
The Hungarians prevented many more East Germans
from crossing the border and returned them
to Budapest.
These East Germans flooded the West German
embassy and refused to return to East Germany.The
East German government responded by disallowing
any further travel to Hungary, but allowed
those already there to return to East Germany.
This triggered similar events in neighboring
Czechoslovakia.
This time, however, the East German authorities
allowed people to leave, provided that they
did so by train through East Germany.
This was followed by mass demonstrations within
East Germany itself.
Protest demonstrations spread throughout East
Germany in September 1989.
Initially, protesters were mostly people wanting
to leave to the West, chanting "Wir wollen
raus!"
("We want out!").
Then protestors began to chant "Wir bleiben
hier!"
("We are staying here!").
This was the start of what East Germans generally
call the "Peaceful Revolution" of late 1989.
The protest demonstrations grew considerably
by early November.
The movement neared its height on 4 November,
when half a million people gathered to demand
political change, at the Alexanderplatz demonstration,
East Berlin's large public square and transportation
hub.The longtime leader of East Germany, Erich
Honecker, resigned on 18 October 1989 and
was replaced by Egon Krenz that day.
Honecker had predicted in January of that
year that the Wall would stand for 50 or 100
more years if the conditions that had caused
its construction did not change.
The wave of refugees leaving East Germany
for the West kept increasing.
By early November refugees were finding their
way to Hungary via Czechoslovakia, or via
the West German Embassy in Prague.
This was tolerated by the new Krenz government,
because of long-standing agreements with the
communist Czechoslovak government, allowing
free travel across their common border.
However this movement of people grew so large
it caused difficulties for both countries.
To ease the difficulties, the politburo led
by Krenz decided on 9 November to allow refugees
to exit directly through crossing points between
East Germany and West Germany, including between
East and West Berlin.
Later the same day, the ministerial administration
modified the proposal to include private,
round-trip, travel.
The new regulations were to take effect the
next day.Günter Schabowski, the party boss
in East Berlin and the spokesman for the SED
Politburo, had the task of announcing the
new regulations.
However, he had not been involved in the discussions
about the new regulations and had not been
fully updated.
Shortly before a press conference on 9 November,
he was handed a note announcing the changes,
but given no further instructions on how to
handle the information.
These regulations had only been completed
a few hours earlier and were to take effect
the following day, so as to allow time to
inform the border guards.
But this starting time delay was not communicated
to Schabowski.At the end of the press conference,
Schabowski read out loud the note he had been
given.
One of the reporters, ANSA's Riccardo Ehrman,
asked when the regulations would take effect.
After a few seconds' hesitation, Schabowski
assumed it would be the same day based on
the wording of the note and replied, "As far
as I know, it takes effect immediately, without
delay".
After further questions from journalists,
he confirmed that the regulations included
the border crossings through the Wall into
West Berlin, which he had not mentioned until
then.Excerpts from Schabowski's press conference
were the lead story on West Germany's two
main news programs that night—at 7:17 p.m.
on ZDF's heute and at 8 p.m. on ARD's Tagesschau.
As ARD and ZDF had broadcast to nearly all
of East Germany since the late 1950s and had
become accepted by the East German authorities,
the news was broadcast there as well simultaneously.
Later that night, on ARD's Tagesthemen, anchorman
Hanns Joachim Friedrichs proclaimed, "This
9 November is a historic day.
The GDR has announced that, starting immediately,
its borders are open to everyone.
The gates in the Wall stand open wide."After
hearing the broadcast, East Germans began
gathering at the Wall, at the six checkpoints
between East and West Berlin, demanding that
border guards immediately open the gates.
The surprised and overwhelmed guards made
many hectic telephone calls to their superiors
about the problem.
At first, they were ordered to find the "more
aggressive" people gathered at the gates and
stamp their passports with a special stamp
that barred them from returning to East Germany—in
effect, revoking their citizenship.
However, this still left thousands of people
demanding to be let through "as Schabowski
said we can".It soon became clear that no
one among the East German authorities would
take personal responsibility for issuing orders
to use lethal force, so the vastly outnumbered
soldiers had no way to hold back the huge
crowd of East German citizens.
Finally, at 10:45 p.m., Harald Jäger, the
commander of the Bornholmer Straße border
crossing yielded, allowing for the guards
to open the checkpoints and allowing people
through with little or no identity checking.
As the Ossis swarmed through, they were greeted
by Wessis waiting with flowers and champagne
amid wild rejoicing.
Soon afterward, a crowd of West Berliners
jumped on top of the Wall, and were soon joined
by East German youngsters.
They danced together to celebrate their new
freedom.
Another border crossing to the south may have
been opened earlier.
An account by Heinz Schäfer indicates that
he also acted independently and ordered the
opening of the gate at Waltersdorf-Rudow a
couple of hours earlier.
This may explain reports of East Berliners
appearing in West Berlin earlier than the
opening of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing.
=== Demolition ===
The fall of the Berlin Wall (German: Mauerfall)
began the evening of 9 November 1989 and continued
over the following days and weeks, with people
nicknamed Mauerspechte (wall woodpeckers)
using various tools to chip off souvenirs,
demolishing lengthy parts in the process,
and creating several unofficial border crossings.Television
coverage of citizens demolishing sections
of the Wall on 9 November was soon followed
by the East German regime announcing ten new
border crossings, including the historically
significant locations of Potsdamer Platz,
Glienicker Brücke, and Bernauer Straße.
Crowds gathered on both sides of the historic
crossings waiting for hours to cheer the bulldozers
that tore down portions of the Wall to reconnect
the divided roads.
While the Wall officially remained guarded
at a decreasing intensity, new border crossings
continued for some time, including the Brandenburg
Gate on 22 December 1989.
Initially the East German military attempted
repairing damage done by the "Wall peckers";
gradually these attempts ceased, and guards
became more lax, tolerating the increasing
demolitions and "unauthorized" border crossing
through the holes.West Germans and West Berliners
were allowed visa-free travel starting 23
December.
Until then, they could only visit East Germany
and East Berlin under restrictive conditions
that involved application for a visa several
days or weeks in advance and obligatory exchange
of at least 25 DM per day of their planned
stay, all of which hindered spontaneous visits.
Thus, in the weeks between 9 November and
23 December, East Germans could actually travel
more freely than Westerners.On 13 June 1990,
the East German military officially began
dismantling the Wall, beginning in Bernauer
Straße and around the Mitte district.
From there, demolition continued through Prenzlauer
Berg/Gesundbrunnen, Helligensee and throughout
the city of Berlin until that December 1990.
According to estimates by the border troops,
a total of around 1.7 million tonnes of building
rubble was produced by the demolition.
Unofficially, the demolition of the Bornholmer
Straße began because of construction work
on the railway.
This involved a total of 300 GDR border guards
and - after 3 October 1990 - 600 Pioneers
of the Bundeswehr.
These were equipped with 175 trucks, 65 cranes,
55 excavators and 13 bulldozers.
Virtually every road that was severed by the
Berlin Wall, every road that once linked from
West Berlin to East Berlin, was reconstructed
and reopened by 1 August 1990.
In Berlin alone, 184 km of wall, 154 km border
fence, 144 km signal systems and 87 km barrier
ditches were removed.
What remained were six sections that were
to be preserved as a memorial.
Various military units dismantled the Berlin/Brandenberg
border wall, completing the job in November
1991.
Painted wall segments with artistically valuable
motifs were put up for auction in 1990 in
Berlin and Monte Carlo.On 1 July, the day
East Germany adopted the West German currency,
all de jure border controls ceased, although
the inter-German border had become meaningless
for some time before that.The fall of the
Wall marked the first critical step towards
German reunification, which formally concluded
a mere 339 days later on 3 October 1990 with
the dissolution of East Germany and the official
reunification of the German state along the
democratic lines of the West German Basic
Law.
=== Opposition ===
In some European capitals at the time, there
was a deep anxiety over prospects for a reunified
Germany.
In September 1989, British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher pleaded with Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev not to let the Berlin Wall
fall and confided that she wanted the Soviet
leader to do what he could to stop it.
"We do not want a united Germany.
This would lead to a change to postwar borders
and we cannot allow that because such a development
would undermine the stability of the whole
international situation and could endanger
our security," Thatcher told Gorbachev.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, French
President François Mitterrand warned Thatcher
that a unified Germany could make more ground
than Adolf Hitler ever had and that Europe
would have to bear the consequences.
=== Celebrations ===
On 21 November 1989, Crosby, Stills & Nash
performed the song "Chippin' Away" from Graham
Nash's 1986 solo album Innocent Eyes in front
of the Brandenburg Gate.On 25 December 1989,
Leonard Bernstein gave a concert in Berlin
celebrating the end of the Wall, including
Beethoven's 9th symphony (Ode to Joy) with
the word "Joy" (Freude) changed to "Freedom"
(Freiheit) in the lyrics sung.
The poet Schiller may have originally written
"Freedom" and changed it to "Joy" out of fear.
The orchestra and choir were drawn from both
East and West Germany, as well as the United
Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the
United States.
On New Year's Eve 1989, David Hasselhoff performed
his song "Looking for Freedom" while standing
atop the partly demolished wall.Roger Waters
performed the Pink Floyd album The Wall just
north of Potsdamer Platz on 21 July 1990,
with guests including Bon Jovi, Scorpions,
Bryan Adams, Sinéad O'Connor, Cyndi Lauper,
Thomas Dolby, Joni Mitchell, Marianne Faithfull,
Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Van Morrison.
Over the years, there has been a repeated
controversial debate as to whether 9 November
would make a suitable German national holiday,
often initiated by former members of political
opposition in East Germany, such as Werner
Schulz.
Besides being the emotional apogee of East
Germany's peaceful revolution, 9 November
is also the date of the 1918 abdication of
Kaiser Wilhelm II and declaration of the Weimar
Republic, the first German republic.
However, 9 November is also the anniversary
of the execution of Robert Blum in following
the 1848 Vienna revolts, the 1923 Beer Hall
Putsch and the infamous Kristallnacht pogroms
of the Nazis in 1938.
Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel criticized the
first euphoria, noting that "they forgot that
9 November has already entered into history—51
years earlier it marked the Kristallnacht."
As reunification was not official and complete
until 3 October, that day was finally chosen
as German Unity Day.
=== 20th anniversary celebrations ===
On 9 November 2009, Berlin celebrated the
20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin
Wall with a "Festival of Freedom" with dignitaries
from around the world in attendance for an
evening celebration around the Brandenburg
Gate.
A high point was when over 1,000 colourfully
designed foam domino tiles, each over 8 feet
(2.4 m) tall, that were stacked along the
former route of the Wall in the city center
were toppled in stages, converging in front
of the Brandenburg Gate.A Berlin Twitter Wall
was set up to allow Twitter users to post
messages commemorating the 20th anniversary.
The Chinese government quickly shut down access
to the Twitter Wall after masses of Chinese
users began using it to protest the Great
Firewall of China.In the United States, the
German Embassy coordinated a public diplomacy
campaign with the motto "Freedom Without Walls",
to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the
fall of the Berlin Wall.
The campaign was focused on promoting awareness
of the fall of the Berlin Wall among current
college students.
Students at over 30 universities participated
in "Freedom Without Walls" events in late
2009.
First place winner of the Freedom Without
Walls Speaking Contest Robert Cannon received
a free trip to Berlin for 2010.An international
project called Mauerreise (Journey of the
Wall) took place in various countries.
Twenty symbolic Wall bricks were sent from
Berlin starting in May 2009, with the destinations
being Korea, Cyprus, Yemen, and other places
where everyday life is characterised by division
and border experience.
In these places, the bricks will become a
blank canvas for artists, intellectuals and
young people to tackle the "wall" phenomenon.To
commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Fall
of the Berlin Wall, Twinity reconstructed
a true-to-scale section of the Wall in virtual
Berlin.
The MTV Europe Music Awards, on 5 November,
had U2 and Tokio Hotel perform songs dedicated
to, and about the Berlin Wall.
U2 performed at the Brandenburg Gate, and
Tokio Hotel performed "World Behind My Wall".
Palestinians in the town of Kalandia, West
Bank pulled down parts of the Israeli West
Bank barrier, in a demonstration marking the
20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin
Wall.The International Spy Museum in Washington
DC hosted a Trabant car rally where 20 Trabants
gathered in recognition of the 20th anniversary
of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Rides were raffled every half-hour and a Trabant
crashed through a Berlin Wall mock up.
The Trabant was the East German people's car
that many used to leave DDR after the collapse.The
Allied Museum in the Dahlem district of Berlin
hosted a number of events to mark the Twentieth
Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
The museum held a Special Exhibition entitled
"Wall Patrol – The Western Powers and the
Berlin Wall 1961–1990" which focused on
the daily patrols deployed by the Western
powers to observe the situation along the
Berlin Wall and the fortifications on the
GDR border.
A sheet of "Americans in Berlin" Commemorative
Cinderella stamps designed by T.H.E.
Hill, the author of Voices Under Berlin, was
presented to the Museum by David Guerra, Berlin
veteran and webmaster of the site www.berlinbrigade.com.
The stamps splendidly illustrate that even
twenty years on, veterans of service in Berlin
still regard their service there as one of
the high points of their lives.
== Legacy ==
Little is left of the Wall at its original
site, which was destroyed almost in its entirety.
Three long sections are still standing: an
80-metre-long (260 ft) piece of the first
(westernmost) wall at the Topography of Terror,
site of the former Gestapo headquarters, halfway
between Checkpoint Charlie and Potsdamer Platz;
a longer section of the second (easternmost)
wall along the Spree River near the Oberbaumbrücke,
nicknamed East Side Gallery; and a third section
that is partly reconstructed, in the north
at Bernauer Straße, which was turned into
a memorial in 1999.
Other isolated fragments, lampposts, other
elements, and a few watchtowers also remain
in various parts of the city.
The former leadership in the Schlesischen
Busch in the vicinity of the Puschkinallee—the
listed, twelve-meter high watchtower stands
in a piece of the wall strip, which has been
turned into a park, near the Lohmühleninsel
The former "Kieler Eck" (Kieler Eck) on Kieler
Strasse in Mitte, close to the Berlin-Spandau
Schifffahrtskanal—the tower is protected
as a historic monument and now surrounded
on three sides by new buildings.
It houses a memorial site named after the
Wallopfer Günter Litfin, who was shot at
Humboldthafen in August 1961.
The memorial site, which is run by the initiative
of his brother Jürgen Liftin, can be viewed
after registration.
The former management office at Nieder Neuendorf,
in the district of Hennigsdorf of the same
name—here is the permanent exhibition on
the history of the border installations between
the two German states.
The former management station at Bergfelde,
today the district of Hohen Neuendorf—The
tower is located in an already reforested
area of the border strip and is used together
with surrounding terrain as a nature protection
tower by the Deutschen Waldjugend.
The only one of the much slimmer observation
towers (BT-11) in the Erna-Berger-Strasse
also in Mitte—however, was moved by a few
meters for construction work and is no longer
in the original location; There is an exhibition
about the wall in the area of the Potsdamer
Platz in planning.Nothing still accurately
represents the Wall's original appearance
better than a very short stretch at Bernauer
Straße associated with the Berlin Wall Documentation
Center.
Other remnants are badly damaged by souvenir
seekers.
Fragments of the Wall were taken and some
were sold around the world.
Appearing both with and without certificates
of authenticity, these fragments are now a
staple on the online auction service eBay
as well as German souvenir shops.
Today, the eastern side is covered in graffiti
that did not exist while the Wall was guarded
by the armed soldiers of East Germany.
Previously, graffiti appeared only on the
western side.
Along some tourist areas of the city centre,
the city government has marked the location
of the former Wall by a row of cobblestones
in the street.
In most places only the "first" wall is marked,
except near Potsdamer Platz where the stretch
of both walls is marked, giving visitors an
impression of the dimension of the barrier
system.After the fall of Berlin Wall, there
were initiatives that they want to preserve
the death strip walkways and redevelop it
into a hiking and cycling area, known as Berliner
Mauerweg.
It is part of the initiative by Berlin Senate
since 2005.
=== Cultural differences ===
For many years after reunification, people
in Germany talked about cultural differences
between East and West Germans (colloquially
Ossis and Wessis), sometimes described as
Mauer im Kopf (The wall in the head).
A September 2004 poll found that 25 percent
of West Germans and 12 percent of East Germans
wished that East and West should be separated
again by a "Wall".
A poll taken in October 2009 on the occasion
of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the
Wall indicated, however, that only about a
tenth of the population was still unhappy
with the unification (8 percent in the East;
12 percent in the West).
Although differences are still perceived between
East and West, Germans make similar distinctions
between North and South.A 2011 poll conducted
by Russia's VTsIOM, found that more than half
of all Russians do not know who built the
Berlin Wall.
Ten percent of people surveyed thought Berlin
residents built it themselves.
Six percent said Western powers built it and
four percent thought it was a "bilateral initiative"
of the Soviet Union and the West.
Fifty-eight percent said they did not know
who built it, with just 24 percent correctly
naming the Soviet Union and its then-communist
ally East Germany.
=== Wall segments around the world ===
Not all segments of the Wall were ground up
as the Wall was being torn down.
Many segments have been given to various institutions
in the world.
They can be found, for instance, in presidential
and historical museums, lobbies of hotels
and corporations, at universities and government
buildings, and in public spaces in different
countries of the world.
=== 50th anniversary commemoration ===
On 13 August 2011, Germany marked the 50th
anniversary of East Germany beginning the
erection of the Berlin Wall.
Chancellor Angela Merkel joined with President
Christian Wulff and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit
at the Bernauer Straße memorial park to remember
lives and liberty.
Speeches extolled freedom and a minute of
silence at noon honored those who died trying
to flee to the West.
"It is our shared responsibility to keep the
memory alive and to pass it on to the coming
generations as a reminder to stand up for
freedom and democracy to ensure that such
injustice may never happen again," entreated
Mayor Wowereit.
"It has been shown once again: Freedom is
invincible at the end.
No wall can permanently withstand the desire
for freedom", proclaimed President Wulff."
== Related media ==
Documentary films specifically about the Berlin
Wall:
The Tunnel, a NBC News Special documentary
film broadcast in December 1962
The Road to the Wall, a 1962 documentary film
Something to Do with the Wall, 1991 documentary
about the fall of the Berlin Wall by Ross
McElwee and Marilyn Levine, originally conceived
as a commemoration of the 25th anniversary
of its construction.
Rabbit à la Berlin, a 2009 documentary film,
directed by Bartek Konopka, told from point
of view of a group of wild rabbits that inhabited
the zone between the two walls
Fictional films featuring the Berlin Wall
have included:
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, 1965 – Cold
War classic set on both sides of The Wall,
from the book by John le Carré, directed
by Martin Ritt
The Boy and the Ball and the Hole in the Wall,
Spanish-Mexican co-production, 1965
Funeral in Berlin, 1966 – Spy movie starring
Michael Caine, directed by Guy Hamilton
Casino Royale, 1967 – featuring a segment
centred on a house apparently bisected by
the Wall.
The Wicked Dreams of Paula Schultz, 1968 – Cold
War spy farce about an Olympic athlete who
defects.
Director George Marshall
Berlin Tunnel 21, 1981 – A made-for-TV movie
about a former American officer leading an
attempt to build a tunnel underneath The Wall
as a rescue route.
The Soldier, 1982 – A renegade KGB team
put nuclear weapons in Saudi Arabia to force
America to make the Israelis pull out of the
West Bank or the bomb will make 50% of the
world's oil radioactive for decades.
The title character of the movie has a team
break into a missile silo in Smith Center,
Kansas to obtain independent launch capability,
then he and an Israeli security agent drive
an automobile from West Germany over the Berlin
Wall into East Germany where he informs the
KGB agents that if the nuke goes off in Saudi
Arabia, his team in Kansas will nuke Moscow.
The Innocent, 1993 – About the joint CIA/MI6
operation to build a tunnel under East Berlin
in the 1950s.
Directed by John Schlesinger
The Tunnel, 2001 – Dramatization of a collaborative
tunnel under the Wall.
Film by Roland Suso Richter
In the 2015 film Bridge of Spies, Frederic
Pryor, an American economics graduate student,
visits his German girlfriend in East Berlin
just as the Berlin Wall is being built.
He tries to bring her back into West Berlin,
but is stopped by Stasi agents and arrested
as a spy.
Some novels specifically about the Berlin
Wall:
John le Carré, The Spy Who Came in from the
Cold, 1963 – Classic Cold War spy fiction
Len Deighton, Berlin Game, 1983 – Classic
Cold War spy fiction
T.H.E.
Hill, The Day Before the Berlin Wall: Could
We Have Stopped It?
– An Alternate History of Cold War Espionage,
2010 – based on a legend told in Berlin
in the 1970s
John Marks, The Wall, 1999 NYT Review – an
American spy defects to the East just hours
before the Wall falls
Marcia Preston, West of the Wall (published
as Trudy's Promise in North America), 2008
– Left behind in East Berlin, the heroine
waits for news of her husband after he makes
his escape over the Berlin Wall
Peter Schneider, The Wall Jumper, 1984 (German:
Der Mauerspringer, 1982) – the Wall plays
a central role in this novel set in Berlin
of the 1980s
Music related to the Berlin Wall
"West of the Wall, a 1962 top 40 hit by Toni
Fisher, told the tale of two lovers separated
by the newly-built Berlin Wall.
"Holidays in the Sun", a song by the English
punk rock band The Sex Pistols prominently
mentions the Wall, specifically singer Johnny
Rotten's fantasy of digging a tunnel under
it.
David Bowie's "Heroes" was inspired by the
image of a couple kissing at the Berlin Wall
(in reality, the couple was his producer Tony
Visconti and backup singer Antonia Maaß).
The song (which, along with the album of the
same name, were recorded in Berlin), makes
lyrical references to the kissing couple,
and to the "Wall of Shame" ("the shame was
on the other side").
Upon his death, the German Foreign Office
paid homage to Bowie on Twitter,: see also
above
Over de muur, a 1984 song by Dutch pop band
Klein Orkest, about the differences between
East and West Berlin during the period of
the Berlin Wall.
"Chippin' Away", a song by Tom Fedora, as
performed by Crosby, Stills & Nash on the
Berlin Wall appeared on Graham Nash's 1986
solo album Innocent Eyes.
The music video for Liza Fox's song "Free"
(2013) contain video clips of the fall of
the Berlin Wall.
Art related to the Berlin Wall
In the year 1982 the West-German artist Elsner
created about 500 artworks along the former
border strip around West-Berlin as part of
his work series "Border Injuries".
On one of his actions he even tore down a
large part of the Wall, installed a prepared
foil of 3x2m in it and finished the painting
there before the border soldiers on patrol
could detect him.
This performance was even recorded on video.
His actions are well-documented both in newspapers
from that time and in recent scientific publications.
Video games related to the Berlin Wall
1999's SimCity 3000 featured a scenario taking
place at the end of the Cold War, where the
player must demolish the wall and re-unite
East and West Berlin, being given 5 years
in the game to complete the task.
The longer it takes to complete the goals
results in riots in the city.
The "First Strike" downloadable content pack
for 2010s Call of Duty: Black Ops includes
a multiplayer map that takes place at the
Berlin Wall ("Berlin Wall")
The introductory video to the Rise and Fall
expansion for Civilization VI depicts a woman
striking the wall with a sledgehammer.
In April 2018 game publisher Playway S.A.
announced that Polish game studio K202 is
working on The Berlin Wall game that will
be published in December 2018.
== See also ==
== References ==
Notes
Bibliography
Further reading
== External links ==
Official website
"Berlin Wall Memorial".
Berlin Wall Foundation.
"Chronicle of the Berlin Wall".
Deutschlandradio.
"The Berlin Wall: a Multimedia Story".
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RRB).
"Berlin Wall collected news and commentary".
The New York Times.
Works about Berlin Wall in libraries (WorldCat
catalog)
"Berlin Wall (newsreel archives)" (Adobe Flash
video)).
Multimedia.
British Pathe.
Berlin Wall on OpenStreetMap (zoomable and
scrollable)
Other resources:
Berlin Wall at Curlie
Berlin Wall image group on Flickr
Berlin Wall Online, historical chronicle
Nail, Norbert.
"Meine Mauer – Deutsche Bilder aus der Vergangenheit"
[My Wall—German Pictures from the past]
(in German).
University of Marburg.
