fuenmayorr568

· 08 Jul 2021

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The Berlin Wall

#history
Between 1949 and 1961, about 2.7 million people had left the GDR and East Berlin: about half of that migratory flow was made up of young people under 25 years old and this was a major problem for the management of SED. Around half a million people crossed the border every day in both directions and thus, they could compare the living conditions on both sides. In 1960 alone, about 200,000 people permanently moved to the west. The GDR was on the brink of social and economic collapse.

Even on June 15, 1961, the president of the GDR Council of State, Walter Ulbricht, declared that no one intended to build a wall. On 12 August 1961, the GDR Council of Ministers announced that: “To put an end to the hostile revanchism and militarism activities of West Germany and West Berlin, they will settle in the German Democratic Republic, including the border with the western occupation sectors of Berlin, as is usual in any Sovereign State.“What the minister did not mention is that this measure was directed, in the first place, against the population of their own who would, in the future, be prohibited from crossing the border.

In the early hours of the morning of August 13, 1961, on the border of the Soviet sector towards West Berlin, temporary barriers were erected and the cobblestones were ripped out of the streets. Units of the People's Police and Transport Police, as well as so-called workers' combat groups, prohibited any type of traffic at the border between sectors. In fact, it was no accident that the SED party leadership chose a Sunday during the summer break to perform that action.

In the following days, construction workers in East Berlin replaced, under the strict supervision of GDR border guards, the rolls of barbed wire that had been stretched on the border with West Berlin with a wall constructed of concrete panels and large stones. The facades of the houses of some streets, such as Bernauer Straße, where sidewalks belonged to the Wedding district (West Berlin) and houses in the Mitte district (East Berlin) were included in the border facilities. Very quickly, the GDR government had the front entrances and windows on the lower floors of the houses covered, so that its inhabitants could only access them from the courtyard, located in East Berlin. Already in 1961, many other houses were forcibly evicted, both on Bernauer Straße and other bordering streets.

From one day to the next, streets, squares and houses were divided and, due to the construction of the Wall, urban transport was interrupted. On the night of August 13, Mayor Willy Brandt told the Chamber of Deputies: “(..) The Berlin Senate accuses to the world community, illegal and inhumane measures practiced by those who are dividing Germany, oppressing East Berlin and threatening West Berlin (..)”.

On 25 October 1961, American and Soviet tanks were facing each other in front of the “border crossing for foreigners” in the Friedrichstraße (Checkpoint Charlie). GDR border guards had first tried to control the documentation of representatives of Eastern allies who wanted to cross into the Soviet sector. From the American point of view, this measure violated the current right of free movement throughout the city enjoyed by members of the allied forces. The tanks of the two major nuclear forces remained so for 16 hours, separated by only a few meters. For those who lived through this situation there was a great danger of war breaking out. A day later there was the withdrawal of both sides. Thanks to a diplomatic initiative by Kennedy, President of the United States., Chruschtschow, the Soviet and party head of state, confirmed the status of the four powers throughout Berlin.

In the following period, border facilities continued to be expanded and rebuilt and the border control system was improved. The wall that ran through the city centre and separating East Berlin from West Berlin was 43.1 kilometers long. The border facilities separating West Berlin from the rest of the GDR were 111.9 kilometers long. Between 1961 and 1988, more than 100,000 GDR citizens tried to flee across the inter-German border or the Berlin Wall. More than 600 people were shot down by GDR border soldiers or died otherwise while trying to flee. On the Berlin Wall alone, there were at least 140 deaths between 1961 and 1989.