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Berlin Wall
 [^]   [^]  The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic, starting on 13 August 1961,
the Wall cut off 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 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. 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, 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.
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,
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 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 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, which developed into a Western capitalist country with a social market economy and a democratic parliamentary government.
Continual economic growth starting in the 1950s fuelled a 20-year "economic miracle". As West Germany's economy grew, and its standard of living steadily improved, many East Germans wanted to move to West Germany.
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.
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': 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 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 than 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 whole of the Berlin. However, this action had risks behind it. The risks that we are taking is justified. If we look at it in the 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 that 5%. He showed the unpredictability of US's policy. All though Soviet forces were not on high alert,
the plans were nonetheless changed to deal with the consequences of the Kennedy's actions. It was then decided to block the access of the 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.
It was the first time the colloquial term 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, in a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There 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 km around the three western sectors,
and the 43 km 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
and Combat Groups of the Working Class 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 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"
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.
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