The Berlin Wall is the most odious and ominous symbol of the Cold War

As a result of World War II, Germany was divided into four occupation zones. The eastern lands went to the Soviet Union, and the British, Americans and French controlled the west of the former Reich. The same fate befell the capital. Divided Berlin was destined to become the real arena of the Cold War. After the proclamation of the German Democratic Republic on October 7, 1949, the eastern part of Berlin was declared its capital, and the western part became an enclave. Twelve years later, the city was surrounded by a wall that physically separated the socialist GDR from the capitalist West Berlin.

Nikita Khrushchev's difficult choice

Immediately after the war, Berliners were free to move from one part of the city to another. The division was practically not felt, except for the difference in living standards, which was visible to the naked eye. The store shelves in West Berlin were overflowing with goods, which could not be said about the capital of the GDR. In the capitalist enclave, the situation was better with wages, especially for qualified personnel - they were welcomed here with open arms.

As a result, a massive outflow of specialists from East Germany to the West began. The part of the common population that was dissatisfied with their life in the “socialist paradise” did not lag behind. In 1960 alone, more than 350 thousand of its citizens left the GDR. The East German and Soviet leadership were seriously concerned about such an outflow, in fact, a mass exodus of people. Everyone understood that if he was not stopped, the young republic would face inevitable collapse.

The appearance of the wall was also determined by the Berlin crises of 1948-1949, 1953 and 1958-1961. The last one was especially tense. By that time, the USSR had actually transferred its sector of the occupation of Berlin to the GDR. The western part of the city still remained under the rule of the Allies. An ultimatum was put forward: West Berlin must become a free city. The Allies rejected the demands, believing that this could in the future lead to the annexation of the enclave to the GDR.

The situation was aggravated by the East German government's domestic policies. The then leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, pursued a tough economic policy based on the Soviet model. In an effort to “catch up and overtake” the Federal Republic of Germany, the authorities did not disdain anything. They increased production standards and carried out forced collectivization. But wages and the overall standard of living remained low. This provoked the flight of East Germans to the west, as we mentioned above.

What to do in this situation? On August 3-5, 1961, the leaders of the Warsaw Pact member states urgently gathered in Moscow on this occasion. Ulbricht insisted: the border with West Berlin must be closed. The Allies agreed. But how to do that? The head of the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev, considered two options: an air barrier or a wall. We chose the second one. The first option threatened a serious conflict with the United States, perhaps even a war with America.

Splitting in two - in one night

On the night of August 12-13, 1961, GDR troops were brought to the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin. For several hours they blocked its sections within the city. Everything happened according to the declared alarm of the first degree. The military personnel, together with the police and workers' squads, simultaneously set to work, because the building materials for the construction of the barriers had been prepared in advance. Until the morning, the city of 3 million was cut into two parts.

193 streets were blocked with barbed wire. The same fate befell four Berlin metro lines and 8 tram lines. In places adjacent to the new border, power and telephone lines were cut off. They even managed to weld the pipes of all city communications here. Stunned Berliners gathered the next morning on both sides of the barbed wire. The order was given to disperse, but the people did not obey. Then they were dispersed within half an hour with the help of water cannons...

The entire perimeter of the West Berlin border was covered with barbed wire by Tuesday, August 15th. In the following days, it was replaced by the actual stone wall, the construction and modernization of which continued until the first half of the 70s. Residents from border houses were evicted, and their windows overlooking West Berlin were blocked with bricks. The border Potsdamer Platz was also closed. The wall acquired its final form only in 1975.

What was the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (in German Berliner Mauer) had a length of 155 kilometers, of which 43.1 km were within the city limits. German Chancellor Willy Brandt called it a “shameful wall,” and US President John Kennedy called it “a slap in the face to all humanity.” The official name adopted in the GDR: Anti-Fascist Defensive Wall (Antifaschischer Schutzwall).

The wall, which physically divided Berlin into two parts along houses, streets, communications and the Spree River, was a massive structure of concrete and stone. It was an extremely fortified engineering structure with movement sensors, mines, and barbed wire. Since the wall was a border, there were also border guards here who shot to kill anyone, even children, who dared to illegally cross the border into West Berlin.

But the wall itself was not enough for the GDR authorities. A special restricted area with warning signs was set up along it. The rows of anti-tank hedgehogs and the strip dotted with metal spikes looked especially ominous; it was called “Stalin’s lawn.” There was also a metal mesh with barbed wire. When trying to penetrate through it, signal flares went off, notifying the GDR border guards about an attempt to illegally cross the border.

Barbed wire was also strung over the odious structure. A high voltage current was passed through it. Observation towers and checkpoints were erected along the perimeter of the Berlin Wall. Including from West Berlin. One of the most famous is “Checkpoint Charlie,” which was under American control. Many dramatic events took place here related to the desperate attempts of GDR citizens to escape to West Germany.

The absurdity of the “Iron Curtain” idea reached its climax when it was decided to surround the Brandenburg Gate, the famous symbol of Berlin and all of Germany, with a wall. And from all sides. For the reason that they found themselves in the path of an odious structure. As a result, neither residents of the GDR capital nor residents of West Berlin could even get close to the gates until 1990. So the tourist attraction became a victim of political confrontation.

The fall of the Berlin Wall: how it happened

Hungary involuntarily played a significant role in the collapse of the Berlin Wall. Under the influence of perestroika in the USSR, it opened the border with Austria in May 1989. This became a signal for the citizens of the GDR, who flocked to other countries of the Eastern bloc to get to Hungary, from there to Austria and then to the Federal Republic of Germany. The leadership of the GDR lost control of the situation, and mass demonstrations began in the country. People demanded civil rights and freedoms.

The protests culminated in the resignation of Erich Honecker and other party leaders. The outflow of people to the West through other Warsaw Pact countries became so massive that the existence of the Berlin Wall lost all meaning. On November 9, 1989, Günter Schabowski, a member of the Politburo of the SED Central Committee, spoke on television. He announced a simplification of the rules for entry and exit from the country and the possibility of immediately obtaining visas to visit West Berlin and Germany.

For the East Germans this was a signal. They did not wait for the new rules to officially come into force and rushed to the border in the evening of the same day. The border guards initially tried to push the crowd back with water cannons, but then gave in to the pressure of the people and opened the border. On the other side, West Berliners had already gathered and rushed to East Berlin. What happened was reminiscent of a national holiday, people laughed and cried with happiness. Euphoria reigned until the morning.

On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate was opened for passage. The Berlin Wall still stood, but nothing remained of its ominous appearance. It was broken in places, it was painted with numerous graffiti and drawings and inscriptions were applied. Townspeople and tourists chipped off pieces of it as souvenirs. The wall was demolished a few months after the GDR joined the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990. The symbol of the Cold War and the division of Germany has lived on for a long time.

Berlin Wall: today

Accounts of those killed while crossing the Berlin Wall vary. In the former GDR they claimed that there were 125 of them. Other sources claim that there are 192 of them. Some media reports, citing Stasi archives, cited the following statistics: 1245. Part of the large Berlin Wall memorial complex, opened in 2010, is dedicated to the memory of the victims (the entire complex was completed two years later and occupies four hectares).

Currently, a fragment of the Berlin Wall, 1300 meters long, has been preserved. It has become a reminder of the most sinister symbol of the Cold War. The fall of the wall inspired artists from all over the world, who came here and painted the remaining area with their paintings. This is how the East Side Gallery appeared - an open-air gallery. One of the drawings, the kiss of Brezhnev and Honecker, was made by our compatriot, artist Dmitry Vrubel.

In November it will be 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is an event that changed the whole world. Today it is given great importance - not only because of its place in history, but also because of the legends, memories and interpretations surrounding the famous Wall. Many people remember the report of how jubilant Berliners danced on the Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate that evening, but what really happened and what the significance was is no longer clear to everyone. Let's clear up some misconceptions about this Cold War relic.

1. There was one Berlin Wall.

There were actually two walls. They were separated by a little more than 145 meters, and between them there was a so-called “death strip” with dogs, watchtowers, searchlights, barbed wire, anti-vehicle obstacles and armed guards ready to shoot to kill. This border separated democratic and capitalist West Berlin from the communist eastern part and adjacent areas of East Germany. Another barrier, approximately 1,368 kilometers long, was also erected along the entire border between East and West Germany, containing more than a million mines. It was needed not so that people could not get into the territory of East Germany, but so that no one could escape from it.

More than five thousand people managed to escape: they hid in secret compartments of cars driven by people from the western part, flew over the wall in hot air balloons, made their way through a tunnel that West Berliners dug under the wall, swam across the canals and rivers of the city. Some, by luck, managed to simply cross the border. However, hundreds and possibly thousands of Germans were killed trying to escape. Others were caught and sent to prison. German researchers are still studying how many people actually died at the border.

2. The construction of the Berlin Wall was the main move of the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

In 1952, the Soviet Union closed the East German border, but since all of Berlin was under the control of the four powers (USA, USSR, UK and France), the city itself had to be left alone. When the western part of Berlin began to turn into a refuge for disgruntled easterners, the leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, proposed closing the border. The Soviets then said that this step, firstly, would make them look like a monster in front of other powers, and secondly, it was technically impossible.

For eight years, East German leaders tried to “push” this idea to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. And they secretly began preparations in case he suddenly agreed. They stockpiled barbed wire and cement piles and created a top-secret task force that planned the closure of streets, railroads, and underground tunnels. In the summer of 1961, when more than a thousand GDR residents were leaving the country every day through West Berlin, Khrushchev finally gave the go-ahead and was very surprised when he learned how well prepared Ulbricht was.

3. The wall fell thanks to President Reagan.

Many Americans believe that their President Ronald Reagan's speech in Berlin in 1987 (“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”) caused the wall to fall in 1989. However, Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet bloc and the actions of the East Germans themselves were much more important than the speech of the American president.

When demolition of the wall began on November 9, 1989, it was a mistake. In light of mass protests against the regime and because thousands of GDR residents were seeking refuge in West German embassies in Eastern Europe, the GDR leaders decided to abandon the old visa rules, under which visas were only issued to those with compelling reasons: a funeral or wedding of a family member. Under the new rules, people still had to apply for a visa to leave the country, but they were granted them quickly and without any special requirements.

Communist Party member Guenter Schabowski, who announced these changes, was absent from most of the important meetings about the changes in the on-site regime and came unprepared to the November 9 conference. In response to questions from journalists about when the new law would come into force, he replied: “Right now, without any delay.” Schabowski gave people the impression that they could cross the border immediately, when all he meant was that they could start applying for visas in an orderly manner.

Over the next few hours, thousands of East Berliners gathered near checkpoints along the wall. Since the leaders of the GDR did not intend to completely open the borders, the border guards did not receive new instructions. Harald Jaeger, the senior officer at the Bornholmer Street checkpoint, was trying to contact his superiors to get orders for further action and instructions on what to do with the growing crowd of angry East Berliners who wanted to go to the western part of the city. Finally, at 11:30 p.m. local time, Jäger gave in and allowed the men to pass. Border guards at other checkpoints followed his example. After this, the East German regime was never able to fully regain control over the population.

4. The wall fell on November 9, 1989.

That night and the following weeks, East German authorities dismantled parts of the wall to create more checkpoints. Countless people came with their hammers and carvers to take home pieces of the wall. But most of it still remained untouched.

Official demolition of the wall began in the summer of 1990. It took almost two years to remove all the border fortifications around Berlin and four years along the former border separating the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. There are still hundreds of undiscovered mines in the ground near the internal border. Parts of the wall still remain in Berlin, but today much more of its sections can be found in the United States than in Germany.

5. The Germans rejoice at the fall of the wall no less than residents of other countries.

In fact, the people of Germany reacted very differently to the fall of the wall. After all, at one time they killed their own compatriots to prevent them from leaving East Germany. And for many Germans, especially in the east, reunification was more difficult than expected, creating high unemployment and a sense of resentment that has persisted since the 1990s. There is another factor that prevents us from rejoicing at the fall of the wall. This date, November 9, has another meaning in the history of the country. On this day in 1938, the Nazis destroyed Jewish shops, synagogues and homes. This event is called the Night of Broken Glass or Kristallnacht. Because of the heavy burden of the Nazi past, many Germans turn to their own history with little enthusiasm.

It took 20 years for the fall of the wall to become a positive thing for the Germans. Politician Wolfgang Thierse urged his colleagues in 2007: “We Germans must muster the courage to remember that there are bright moments in the history of our country, and now is one of them.” On November 9, 2014, Germany will celebrate 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Part of the wall in central Berlin will be restored in the form of a light installation consisting of 8,000 balloons that form the so-called “border of light”. On this day, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former Polish President Lech Walesa and former USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as thousands of German residents will watch the balloons soar into the sky to the sounds of “Ode to Joy” from Ludwig’s Ninth Symphony van Beethoven.

The author of the article is an associate professor at George Washington University, a historian and specialist in international relations, and the author of the book “After the Berlin Wall: Memory and the Making of the New Germany, 1989-present.” 1989 to the Present").

On the night of Sunday, August 13, 1961, a first-degree alert was declared in East Berlin. Military personnel, police and workers' squads took up the indicated positions, where building materials for the construction of barriers were prepared in advance. By morning, the city of three million was cut into two parts. Barbed wire blocked 193 streets, 8 tram tracks and 4 metro lines. In places close to the border, with German punctuality, water and gas pipes were welded shut, electric and telephone cables were cut, and sewer tunnels were blocked with bricks. The dividing line ran through squares, bridges, boulevards, cemeteries, vacant lots, ponds, and parks. Early in the morning, Berliners learned that from now on they live in two different cities... .

40 years ago, Khrushchev said about West Berlin: “This is a bone in the throat of the Soviet Union.” Apparently, the Secretary General knew what he was saying. By 1961, it became clear to everyone: the dull counter of the GDR socialism could not withstand any competition with the showcase of capitalist Germany bursting with goods. The worst thing is that anyone could be convinced of this - go to the western side and jostle along crowded boulevards, look into busy restaurants, study the content of advertisements, sniff the mouth-watering aromas that come from the open doors of shops. It doesn’t matter that you don’t even have money for a glass of beer, it’s enough just to look at how people live. They seem to be the same Germans, only they have everything. And on free sale, without cards and queues...

Berlin was divided into 4 sectors at the beginning of 1945, when it became clear that victory over fascism was a matter of time. The highest governing body of the city became the Union Commandant's Office, which included representatives of all countries. Over time, the USSR broke all agreements, resigned from the allied governing body, declaring East Berlin the capital of the GDR and telling the heads of the three Western powers that they must leave West Berlin and turn it into a demilitarized city. The Western powers rejected the ultimatum. During the Vienna meeting in 1961, the following dialogue took place between Kennedy and Khrushchev:

Khrushchev: War or peace - now everything depends on you. If you send one division to Berlin, I will send two there.

Kennedy: You want to achieve change at any cost, but I don't.

Khrushchev: A peace treaty with the GDR with all the ensuing consequences will be signed by December of this year.

Kennedy: If this is true, then we are in for a cold winter.

By “peace treaty,” Nikita Sergeevich meant the establishment of a real border between the two Germanys under the control of Soviet troops. He later recalled: “What was I supposed to do? In July 1961 alone, more than 30 thousand residents, including the best and most diligent, left the GDR. It was not difficult to calculate that the East German economy would collapse if we did not take some measures against the exodus. There were only two possibilities: an air barrier or a wall. An air barrier would lead to a serious conflict with the United States, and possibly even war. So, there was a wall left.”

And here is a recording of Kennedy’s thoughts: “Having lost East Germany, the Soviet Union would have lost Poland, and indeed all of Eastern Europe. He must do something to stop the flow of refugees. Maybe a wall? We won't be able to oppose it. I can unite the alliance (NATO) to protect West Berlin, but I cannot keep East Berlin open.”

At a meeting of the Political Consultative Committee of the Warsaw Pact states held in Moscow in March 1961, the idea of ​​closing the border with West Berlin was rejected. For the next four months, the leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, convinced the leaders of the socialist camp of the need to build a barrier between the Germans. At a meeting of the general secretaries of the communist parties of the socialist countries on August 5, 1961, the GDR received the necessary consent from the Eastern European countries, and on the 7th, at a closed meeting of the Politburo of the SED Central Committee, day “X” was appointed, in other words, the day of the construction of the wall, which became August 13.

...Huge crowds gathered on both sides of the barbed wire. People were confused. The wedding party, which was noisy until the morning, went to the bride's parents to finish the walk - and was stopped by armed border guards a few steps from the house. The postman never delivered the correspondence home, the kindergarten was left without a teacher, the conductor did not appear at the concert, the doctor tried until the evening to explain that he was needed at the hospital. A certain Peter Zelle found himself in the most absurd position - they refused to allow his legal wife to visit him in the western part of the city. After many unsuccessful attempts to reunite his family through official means, he decided to take a desperate step - he found a woman in Germany who was exactly like his wife and tried to use her passport. As the GDR press noted, vigilant border guards stopped this “ill-fated provocation.”

The luckiest ones were those who lived in houses through which the border between sectors passed, for example on Bernauer Strasse. In the first hours they jumped from the windows into the free territory. West Berliners stretched tents and blankets under the windows and caught those jumping, but border guards began to break into apartments and brick up the windows. The wall was brought to perfection for another 10 years - first they built a stone one, and then began to replace it with reinforced concrete. Even the magician Copperfield would have been unable to get through such a machine. The wall seemed like a completely impregnable structure. But the dream of freedom sharpens ingenuity, and some attempts to break through the wall ended successfully. Hundreds, if not thousands of people tried to overcome it. Many fled with non-existent UN passports. One family managed to throw a cable from the roof of their house and move to the other side on a roller. Circus performer Renata Hagen escaped with the help of a Western diplomat, hiding in an amplifier speaker. One day, the sailors got the captain drunk and fled under bullets on a ship sailing along the Spree. In October 1964, after breaking through an underground passage 145 meters long and 60 centimeters high, 57 people escaped: from the eastern side they climbed into the box, three at a time, from the western side they pulled it by a rope. Since diving equipment was not sold in the GDR, one man made a submarine suit himself, using fire equipment, an oxygen bag and a welding hose. He plunged into the water and was gone. Two friends - an electrical engineer and a truck driver - built a hot air balloon, put their wives and children on board (8 people in total) and flew to the west side at night.

Some of the citizens of the GDR believed that by erecting a concrete rampart, the East Germans had reliably protected their freedom from outside attacks and could now build a new, happy life in a calm environment. Others realized that they were locked in a stone cage. “What kind of socialism is this that forces itself to be walled up so that its people do not run away?” — German dissident Stefan Heim wrote bitterly.

...But the years take their toll. Over time, people get used to everything - so the wall already seemed like an unshakable stronghold. Erich Honecker never tired of repeating: “The wall will stand for another 50 and 100 years - until the reasons that led to its construction are eliminated.” But he was wrong... The breath of perestroika is beginning to blow across the Soviet Union. On June 8, 1987, during a rock concert near the Reichstag building in Berlin, major riots occur. US President Reagan, addressing the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the USSR, utters his significant phrase: “Mr. Gorbachev, destroy this wall!” Events begin to unfold at lightning speed, and two years later the climax comes.

A few days before the fortieth anniversary of the GDR, the people's police disperse a demonstration in Leipzig. When Gorbachev arrived in Berlin to celebrate his anniversary, people greeted him with posters: “Gorbi, help us!” Mikhail Sergeevich sees a crowd of thousands, draws conclusions and works with GDR leaders. Immediately after this, 6 thousand GDR citizens who had received asylum in the German embassies in Prague and Warsaw were transported by special train to West Germany. On October 27, the State Council of the GDR announces an amnesty to all those convicted of attempting to escape to the West. On November 9, 1989, a new law on border crossings was read out on television, containing some relaxations. Party Secretary Günter Schabowski makes a reservation at a press conference: “From now on, the border is practically open.” What he meant by “practically” is still unclear. What is known is that by 10 pm many East Germans had gathered at the wall on Bornholmer Strasse. "What's happened?" - asked the border guards. “The wall is gone,” the people answered. "Who said?" - “It was announced on TV!” The border guards scratched their heads: “If they announced it on TV, then we have nothing to do here.” The rumor spread throughout the city. What started here! Throughout the next week, world television played the same stories: people were climbing over the wall, dancing, fraternizing and breaking off pieces from the fallen barrier. The multi-thousand-ton wall of concrete and iron crumbled overnight. This is the consequence that just one accidental slip can have.

Today's Berlin is no longer the same city it was 12 years ago. Its total area is 889 square kilometers, which approximately corresponds to the area of ​​Moscow. The employment problem is being solved thanks to a gigantic construction project that has engulfed the entire center - in the new century, Berlin will become the true capital with the parliament and government of Germany. The Reichstag building, which had undergone alterations, now has a glass dome created by the English architect Norman Foster. A commission for processing Stasi materials has settled on Normanstrasse - people come to the reading room and study their files. Musicians play and acrobats perform at the Brandenburg Gate, boys roller skate on Alexanderplatz, beer and sausages are sold near the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. Here is the legendary “Checkpoint Charlie”. Before the fall of the wall, there was a checkpoint between the West and the East. Only embassy workers and citizens of countries allied to the anti-Hitler coalition were allowed to enter - except the USSR. Outdated billboards warn: “Attention! You are leaving the American sector! Now on the site of the checkpoint there is a museum of the Berlin Wall. The wall itself, where it is still preserved, is also a museum - the longest gallery in the world (a 1.3-kilometer segment from the Oberbaumbrücke bridge to the Central Station). In 1990, 118 artists from 21 countries received a fragment of it and painted the gray hulk - each in their own style. The most important symbol of this project was the work of Russian Dmitry Vrubel.

He used as a sample a historical photo published in 1988 in the Pari-Match magazine: the kiss of Brezhnev and Honecker. I primed a piece of the wall and transferred the image using acrylic paints. “My work went around the leading publications around the world, it was printed on T-shirts, posters, postcards, disks, badges,” said Dmitry. Success was the result of a coincidence of historical circumstances.

...Now the wall can no longer be taken apart for souvenirs. Only in one place (the Heimatmuseum in the residential East Berlin district of Treptow) was the last block left to be torn to pieces. And in the center of the city, the few remaining pieces are fenced off with barriers on which it is written: “It is prohibited to approach.”

If from a physical point of view the wall is long gone, then psychologically it still remains in the minds of many Germans. It is difficult to call the relations that have developed between Western and Eastern citizens fraternal. “Westerners” complain that neighbors from the East have turned the city into something resembling a garbage dump and have introduced smoking on subway platforms. And East Berliners accuse Westerners of moral decay and arrogance. According to public opinion polls, every 11th resident of East Germany would like to return to the days of the GDR. There are also many who would like to see the wall restored. The most popular joke of the last decade: “Do you know why the Chinese smile all the time? They didn't knock down their wall."

Story

Berlin crisis of 1961

Before the construction of the wall, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was open. The dividing line with a length of 44.75 km (the total length of the border between West Berlin and the GDR was 164 km) ran right through the streets and houses, canals and waterways. There were officially 81 street checkpoints, 13 crossings in the metro and on the city railway. In addition, there were hundreds of illegal routes. Every day, from 300 to 500 thousand people crossed the border between both parts of the city for various reasons.

The lack of a clear physical boundary between the zones led to frequent conflicts and a massive outflow of specialists to Germany. East Germans preferred to receive education in the GDR, where it was free, and to work in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The construction of the Berlin Wall was preceded by a serious aggravation of the political situation around Berlin. Both military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) confirmed the irreconcilability of their positions on the “German Question”. The West German government, led by Konrad Adenauer, introduced the “Halstein Doctrine” in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR. It categorically rejected proposals from the East German side to create a confederation of German states, insisting instead on holding all-German elections. In turn, the GDR authorities declared in the city their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it is located “on the territory of the GDR.”

In November 1958, the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the Potsdam Agreements of 1945. He announced the Soviet Union's abolition of Berlin's international status and described the entire city (including its western sectors) as the "capital of the GDR". The Soviet government proposed turning West Berlin into a “demilitarized free city” and, in an ultimatum, demanded that the United States, Great Britain and France negotiate on this topic within six months (Berlin Ultimatum (1958)). This demand was rejected by the Western powers. Negotiations between their foreign ministers and the head of the USSR Foreign Ministry in Geneva in the spring and summer ended without results.

After N. Khrushchev's visit to the United States in September 1959, the Soviet ultimatum was postponed. But the parties stubbornly adhered to their previous positions. In August, the GDR government introduced restrictions on visits by German citizens to East Berlin, citing the need to stop them from conducting “revanchist propaganda.” In response, West Germany refused a trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an “economic war.” After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was finally put into effect on January 1. But the crisis was not resolved. ATS leaders continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, the foreign ministers of NATO countries confirmed in May 1961 their intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of Western powers in the western part of the city and its “viability”. Western leaders declared that they would defend “the freedom of West Berlin” with all their might.

Both blocs and both German states increased their armed forces and intensified propaganda against the enemy. The GDR authorities complained about Western threats and maneuvers, “provocative” violations of the country’s border (137 for May - July 1961), and the activities of anti-communist groups. They accused “German agents” of organizing dozens of acts of sabotage and arson. Great dissatisfaction with the leadership and police of East Germany was caused by the inability to control the flow of people moving across the border.

The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The hard course of the East German leader Walter Ulbricht, economic policies aimed at “catching up and overtaking the Federal Republic of Germany”, and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization - gg., foreign policy tensions and higher levels of pay labor in West Berlin encouraged thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West. In total, more than 207 thousand people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, more than 30 thousand East Germans fled the country. These were predominantly young and qualified specialists. Outraged East German authorities accused West Berlin and Germany of “human trafficking,” “poaching” personnel and trying to thwart their economic plans. They claimed that the East Berlin economy loses 2.5 billion marks annually because of this.

In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the ATS countries decided to close the border. Rumors of such plans were in the air as early as June 1961, but the leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, then denied such intentions. In fact, at that time they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other members of the Eastern Bloc. From August 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the ATS states was held in Moscow, at which Ulbricht insisted on closing the border in Berlin. This time he received support from the Allies. On August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), a decision was made to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. On August 12, the Council of Ministers of the GDR adopted a corresponding resolution. The East Berlin police were put on full alert. At 1 a.m. on August 13, 1961, the Chinese Wall II project began. About 25 thousand members of paramilitary “battle groups” from GDR enterprises occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions covered parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was in a state of readiness.

Construction of the wall

Berlin map. The wall is marked with a yellow line, red dots are checkpoints.

The most well-known cases of escapes from the GDR in the following ways: a mass exodus through a 145-meter long tunnel, flights on a hang glider, in a balloon made of nylon fragments, along a rope thrown between the windows of neighboring houses, in a convertible car, using a bulldozer to ram a wall.

GDR citizens required special permission to visit West Berlin. Only pensioners had the right of free passage.

Victims of the wall

According to some estimates, 645 people died trying to overcome the Berlin Wall from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989. However, as of 2006, only 125 people have been documented to have suffered violent deaths as a result of attempting to scale the wall.

The first to be shot while trying to escape from East Berlin was 24-year-old Günter Litfin (German). Günter Litfin) (August 24, 1961). On August 17, 1962, Peter Fechter died at a border crossing from loss of blood after GDR border guards opened fire on him. On October 5, 1964, while trying to detain a large group of fugitives of 57 people, border guard Egon Schultz, whose name was elevated to a cult in the GDR, was killed (documents were later published according to which he was shot by mistake by fellow soldiers). In 1966, GDR border guards shot 2 children (10 and 13 years old) with 40 shots. The last victim of the regime operating in the border areas was Chris Gueffroy, who was shot on February 6, 1989.

Historians estimate that a total of 75,000 people were sentenced for attempting to escape from the GDR. Escape from the GDR was punishable according to paragraph 213 of the criminal law of the GDR by imprisonment for up to 8 years. Those who were armed, tried to destroy border structures, or were a soldier or intelligence officer at the time of capture were sentenced to no less than five years in prison. Helping to escape from the GDR was the most dangerous - such daredevils faced life imprisonment.

Order dated October 1, 1973

According to the latest data, the total number of people killed while trying to escape from the GDR to the West is 1,245 people.

Human trafficking

During the Cold War, the GDR practiced releasing citizens to the West for money. Such operations were carried out by Wolfgang Vogel, a lawyer from the GDR. From 1964 to 1989, he arranged border crossings for a total of 215 thousand East Germans and 34 thousand political prisoners from East German prisons. Their liberation cost West Germany 3.5 billion marks ($2.7 billion).

Fall of the wall

The location of the wall is plotted on a modern satellite image

Links

• Section "Berlin Wall" on the official website of Berlin
• Berlin Wall (German)

Notes

Links

Sights of Berlin
Districts and neighborhoods	Mitte Spreeinsel Nikolaiviertel
Streets, squares and boulevards	Gendarmenmarkt Unter den Linden Paris Square Kurfürstendamm Alexanderplatz Schlossplatz Friedrichstrasse Monbijou Bridge Potsdamer Platz Neptune Fountain
Palaces and estates	Ephraim Palace Charlottenburg Bellevue Palace Köpenick Palace
Public buildings and facilities	Reichstag Berlin Wall Brandenburg Gate Television Tower Office of the Federal Chancellor of Germany Checkpoint Charlie Red Town Hall
Museums and monuments	Pergamon Museum Art Gallery Egyptian Museum New National Gallery Old National Gallery Old Museum Victory Column Soldier Liberator
Monasteries, cathedrals and temples

On November 9, Germany will celebrate the reunification of the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. It was on this day in 1989 that the Berlin Wall fell. The English-language website RT has prepared a number of facts about the creation and history of the wall.

1 . Between 1945 and 1961, more than three million East Germans fled to West Germany, accounting for a third of the GDR's population. These were predominantly young, educated people, which displeased Moscow, and the future Soviet leader Yuri Andropov told the leadership of the GDR that it was not capable of speaking the language of the intelligentsia.

2 . 50,000 Berliners commuted to work in the western part of the city every day, earning higher wages and living in subsidized housing. The Western Deutschmark was six times more expensive than the Eastern one. The exchange rate difference was also so large because of the socialist model of the Eastern economy, which subsidized key goods, and also because of the high demand for Western currency. Thanks to this, residents of West Berlin could exchange money on the black market and buy goods at low prices in East Germany; naturally, they were ready to give up Adidas sneakers or Volkswagen cars.

3 . The division was not only economic, but also ideological. To imagine West Berlin in the center of a communist camp was comparable to placing half of Seoul in the center of Pyongyang or part of London in Tehran. The difference was so great that it clearly showed the shortcomings of each mode.

4 . The mayor of Berlin and future Chancellor of Germany, Social Democrat Willy Brandt, dubbed the structure the “Wall of Shame,” which was quickly picked up by Western media.

5 . On August 13, 1961, residents of both parts of Berlin woke up to find the dividing line cordoned off and preparations for the construction of a permanent structure in full swing. People in the east looked at all this in confusion and realized that they would no longer be able to escape.

6 . Some statistics: by the end of its existence in 1989, the length of the wall was 155 km, of which 127.5 km were with electric or sound alarms. The structure had 302 observation towers, 259 dog parks, 20 bunkers, which were guarded by more than 11 thousand soldiers.

7 . The wall was not built as a pre-designed single structure. It consisted of a series of four different walls, starting with two barbed wire fences and then two concrete walls.

8 . The so-called “death strip”, which was laid across East Berlin, ranged from 30 to 150 meters in width. It was equipped with searchlights and guarded by soldiers with dogs. Signal wires, barbed wire, and spikes were used as obstacles. Next came a trench and anti-tank hedgehogs, which were installed in case of an armed conflict. There were also strips of sand along which no one could pass unnoticed.

9 . Ironically, in the path of the wall stood a 19th century temple called the Church of Reconciliation. Since the authorities decided that it blocked the view from the watchtowers, the temple was blown up in 1985. After the fall of the wall, the church was restored in its original place as a symbol of a united Berlin.

10 . The first person to be shot while trying to cross the wall from east to west was Günther Litfin, an apprentice tailor and member of the Christian Democratic Union, which was banned in the GDR. Litfin worked in West Berlin, rented an apartment there and planned to move permanently. Gunther had to postpone the move after his father's death in order to support the family. But after construction began, the walls of his hopes collapsed. Litfin tried to cross the railroad tracks, but was spotted by the police and shot in the head. The GDR authorities first tried to hush up the death, and after rumors spread throughout the city, they said that Litfin was a homosexual who fled because of his crimes.

Günther Litfin became an iconic figure for the West - one of the 136 victims of the "East German manhunters" who died trying to cross the wall.

11 . The wall guards themselves tried to take advantage of their official position and move to the West when no one was looking. In the first two years of the structure's existence, when locks had not yet been installed, which required several people to open, more than 1,300 soldiers from the GDR illegally crossed the border.

Subsequently, security was entrusted only to the most loyal soldiers and complex security systems were installed.

12 . It is estimated that during the existence of the wall, approximately 10,000 people tried to escape, and approximately five thousand succeeded.

13 . We can say that the fall of the wall in 1989 was already purely symbolic, since it ceased to fulfill its function. The first breach in the Iron Curtain was made earlier in the year by the Hungarian authorities when they opened the border with Austria.

14 . According to reports, Mikhail Gorbachev was sleeping peacefully in Moscow at the time of the wall's destruction. The Soviet leader witnessed the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and had no intention of invading Eastern Europe. Earlier, he told the leader of the GDR, Erich Honecker, that he was not keeping up with the times.

During his visit to Germany in 1989, Gorbachev said that every nation has the right to choose its own political and social system, and Moscow will respect the right of citizens to self-determination. In addition, in the summer, the leaders of the USSR and the USA held negotiations, during which Moscow was promised economic support in exchange for non-interference in events in Eastern Europe.

15 . The Berlin Wall ceased to exist in some sense due to an accident. The official representative of the East German regime, Günther Schabowski, announced the liberalization of the travel regime at a press conference on November 9, 1989 at 18:53. When asked about the timing, he replied: “Immediately!”

Later that day, the East German government tried to roll back the situation by declaring that residents should report to the immigration office in an organized manner the next morning. But it was already too late.

West German media broadcast Schabowski's press conference live and interpreted his words literally, as did thousands of people on both sides of the wall.

16 . Both residents of East and West Berlin came to dismantle the checkpoint. The border guards were so unprepared for the situation that the authorities decided to simply open the gates.

17 . After the fall of the wall in the East, everyone expected rapid economic growth, abundance, large numbers of marriages and a baby boom. But the forecasts turned out to be far from reality. Nine months after divided citizens were able to move freely, the birth rate in East Germany had fallen by 40% and did not reach its previous levels until 1994. The euphoria of the first days turned into failure.

18 . Today, only a few original sections of the wall remain on the streets of Berlin. One of them was turned into the largest piece of street art in the world.

19 . To mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall, two German artists, the Bauder brothers, decided to recreate it with the help of 8 thousand illuminated balloons, simultaneously released into the air along the most significant segments of the wall. The action is scheduled for November 9.

20 . In a poll last month, three-quarters of eastern Germans said their lives had improved since the wall fell, while only 15% said they had not. By comparison, only half of West Germans believe they benefited from the historic reunification.