On April 1, 1952, East German leaders met Joseph Stalin in Moscow to discuss or stop the free movement of West Berliners into East Berlin. Stalin agreed to do something to stop this ‘intolerable’ situation. He advised the leaders to build up their border defences. He said: “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 first line of defence and we will put Russian troops on the second line.” He advised them to build the “Berlin Wall”. Then a leader Walter Ulbricht came up with the idea and Nikita Khrushchev approved. But later on Ulbricht’s proposal to a second air blockade was refused. The wall was first a line of barbed wire; it was then built into a wall.
In August 12, 1961, the construction of the Berlin Wall or as the people of Berlin call it ‘The Barbed Wire of Berlin’ was started. It was built slightly inside the East German territory to ensure that it did not affect the West Berliners at any point. A rapid effect was followed soon after the whole West Berlin parted with the East. Many families were split up and some people were cut off from their jobs and from chances for financial improvement. Lots of West Berliners were revolting. They were led by Mayor Willy Brandt who criticised the Americans for failing to respond. But the Allied intelligence told him that they need the wall to stop the ‘flood of refugees’ from fleeing from where they belong.
After it was finished, it was over 155 kilometres long. Then in June 1962, another wall was started but this time it was 91 metres into the East German Territory. In the middle of the two walls, a no man’s land was created and also known as the death strip. It was booby-trapped all over and the ground was made up of gravel so that tracks were easily seen. Also, there were only 8 border crossings between East and West Berlin.
5,000 successful escapes were made even through this dangerous wall. They were crazy enough to lead you to your death but still, they made it through. Some died in the attempt; they were all shot at by guards. The East German authorities told the guards: “People attempting to cross the border are all criminals and they are 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.” In this quote, they are making murderers. People who were wounded while attempting to cross the death strip are usually left by the guards to bleed to death. Peter Fechter who was only 18 was filmed by the western media while he bled to his death on August 17, 1962. But the last person to be killed was Chris Gueffroy on February 6, 1989.
On August 23, 1989, the borders between Hungary and Austria were removed. The people of West Berlin used this as a demonstration against the government in East Berlin. It all started in October 1989. Erich Honecker, a long-time leader who said in January of that year, “This wall will stand a hundred more years if the conditions which had caused its construction did not change,” and then he resigned and were replaced by Egon Krenz in October 18, 1989.
Egon Krenz was a good guy who allowed refugees both West and East Berliners, to exit directly through the crossing points on November 9, 1989. He started doing this because millions of people are now gathering in Alexanderplatz, East Berlin and are protesting. Then on November 10, Gunter Schabowski, an East German Minister of Prpaganda, passed a note shortly before a press conference (November 9, 1989). It said that East Berliners should be able to travel freely between the borders. He also said that these changes would take the following day so that there would be time to inform the guards. But he was on live East German TV, so as soon as the East Berliners heard about this, they all flooded the nearest checkpoints. The East German authorities didn’t advise the guards to do anything, and they were outnumbered so they just gave up and opened to gates and let the East Berliners through. They were greeted by the West Berliners with a celebratory atmosphere. So therefore, November 9 was the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Few weeks later, people started bringing sledgehammers to the wall in order to chip some bits of the wall to keep for souvenirs. These people were nicknamed ‘Mauerspechte’ (wall woodpeckers).
