What is the Berlin Wall. Who needed the Berlin Wall and why? What did the odious border look like?

Of the year

Contemporary
state Completely dismantled, only fragments remain. openness to
public No. Crossing by permission only. In control GDR GDR
East Berlin. Battles/wars Berlin Crisis of 1961 Events Quadrilateral status of Berlin
Treaty of Final Settlement with regard to Germany Media files at Wikimedia Commons

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

Story

The construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961 on the recommendation of the meeting of the secretaries of the communist and workers' parties of the Warsaw Pact countries (August 3-5, 1961) and on the basis of the decision of the People's Chamber of the GDR of August 11, 1961. During its existence, it was rebuilt and improved several times. The last major renovation took place in 1975.

By 1989, it was a complex complex, consisting of:

• concrete fence with a total length of 106 km and an average height of 3.6 meters;
• metal mesh fences with a length of 66.5 km;
• signal fence under electric voltage with a length of 127.5 km;
• earthen ditches with a length of 105.5 km;
• anti-tank fortifications in separate areas;
• 302 watchtowers and other border structures;
• strips 14 km long of sharp spikes and a control-track strip with constantly leveled sand.

There were no fences in places where the border passed along rivers and reservoirs. Initially, there were 13 border checkpoints, but by 1989 their number was reduced to three.

On November 9, 1989, under the influence of mass popular uprisings, the Government of the GDR lifted restrictions on communication with West Berlin, and on June 1, 1990, completely abolished border controls. During January - November 1990, all border installations were demolished, with the exception of a 1.3 km section, left as a monument to one of the most famous symbols of the Cold War (see Berlin Crisis 1961).

Prior to the construction of the wall, the border between western and eastern Berlin was relatively open. The 44.75 km dividing line (the total length of the border between West Berlin and the GDR was 164 km) ran straight through the streets and houses, canals and waterways. Officially, there were 81 street checkpoints, 13 crossings in the subway 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 drain of specialists to West Berlin. Many East Germans preferred to work in West Berlin, where wages were substantially higher.

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 (OVD) confirmed the intransigence of their positions in the "German Question". The West German government led by Konrad Adenauer enacted the "Halstein Doctrine" in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR. It categorically rejected the proposals of the East German side to create a confederation of German states, insisting instead on holding all-German elections. In turn, the GDR authorities announced in 1958 their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it was "in the territory of the GDR."

In November 1958, the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the 1945 Potsdam Accords. He announced the Soviet Union's cancellation 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 tone, 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 of 1959 ended in vain.

After N. Khrushchev's visit to the USA in September 1959, the Soviet ultimatum was postponed. But the parties stubbornly adhered to their former positions. In August 1960, the government of the GDR put into effect restrictions on visits by citizens of the FRG to East Berlin, citing the need to stop their "revanchist propaganda." In response, West Germany abandoned the trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an "economic war". After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was nevertheless put into effect on January 1, 1961. But this did not resolve the crisis. The leaders of the Warsaw Pact continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, the NATO foreign ministers confirmed in May 1961 their intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of the Western powers in the western part of the city and its "viability". Western leaders said they would defend "the freedom of West Berlin" with all their might.

Both blocs and both German states built up their armed forces and intensified propaganda against the enemy. The GDR authorities complained about Western threats and maneuvers, "provocative" violations of the country's borders (137 in 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 caused the inability to control the flow of people moving across the border.

The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The hard line of the 1st Chairman of the State Council of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, economic policy aimed at “catching up and overtaking the FRG”, and a corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization in 1957-1960, foreign policy Tensions and higher wages in West Berlin encouraged thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West. In total, over 207,000 people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, over 30,000 East Germans fled the country. They were predominantly young and skilled professionals. The indignant East German authorities accused West Berlin and the FRG of "human trafficking", "poaching" personnel and attempts to frustrate their economic plans. They assured that the economy of East Berlin was annually losing 2.5 billion marks because of this.

In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries decided to close the border. Rumors of such plans were in the air as early as June 1961, but GDR leader Walter Ulbricht then denied such intentions. In fact, at that time they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other participants in the Eastern Bloc. From August 3 to August 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the Warsaw Pact 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 FRG. On August 12, the corresponding resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the GDR. The East Berlin Police were put on full alert. At 1 am on August 13, 1961, the project began. About 25 thousand members of paramilitary "battle groups" from the enterprises of the GDR occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions were covered by parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was in a state of readiness.

wall construction

Work of public and automobile transport

Immediately after the start of work on the construction of the wall, a large number of transport systems and corridors that previously connected the Western sector with the Eastern one were blocked. Among them is the city's subway (U-bahn), which was divided into two operating autonomous systems. A dozen and a half metro stations in the city stopped their work and were closed for the next three decades. Twelve of them in the Eastern Sector became transit ones, through which trains from the Western to the Western part of the city ran without stopping. Most of the city metro lines remained in the west. The city's surface electric train (S-bahn) system was also split, with most of the lines remaining in the east. Within the boundaries of the wall, several tram lines were blocked, and the tram system was also divided. By the end of the 60s, the tram in West Berlin was eliminated and remained only in the Eastern Sector.

To visit the Eastern Sector (for example, by Western tourists on buses), border checkpoints were set up, which were controlled by the border guards of the GDR. A very thorough search was carried out here, especially before leaving East Berlin, since there were repeated cases of fugitives being transported by vehicles in hiding places, and some cases were quite successful.

Berlin's public transport remained separated by a wall until the beginning of 1990, and in fact, it took several more years to restore the former unified transport infrastructure.

border crossing

To visit West Berlin, citizens of the GDR required special permission. Only pensioners had the right of free passage.
The most well-known cases of escapes from the GDR in the following ways: 28 people left along the 145-meter long tunnel dug by them themselves, flights were made on a hang glider, in a balloon made of nylon fragments, along a rope thrown between the windows of neighboring houses, using a bulldozer to ram the wall.
Between 13 August 1961 and 9 November 1989 there were 5,075 successful escapes to West Berlin or the FRG, including 574 desertions.

Crossing the border for money

During the Cold War, there was a practice in the GDR of letting citizens go to the West for money. Such operations were handled by Wolfgang Vogel, a lawyer from the GDR. From 1964 to 1989, he arranged the border crossing for a total of 215,000 East Germans and 34,000 political prisoners from East German prisons. West Germany, their release cost 3.5 billion marks (2.7 billion dollars).

Runaways and their victims

Memorial to the victims of the Wall. Photo taken in 1982.

The Potsdam Research Center, which counts the victims of the Berlin Wall at the request of the German Federal Government, documented, as of 2006, the death of 125 people as a result of an attempt to overcome the wall. As of 2017, the number of documented victims increased to 140 people.

Persons who tried to illegally cross the Berlin Wall in the opposite direction, from West Berlin to East Berlin, are called "Berlin Wall jumpers", and among them there were also victims, although according to the instructions, firearms were not used by the border guards of the GDR against them.

For attempting to illegally cross the Berlin Wall, there was an article in the criminal code of the GDR that provided for up to 10 years in prison.

"Mr. Gorbachev, destroy this wall!"

On June 12, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan, delivering a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in honor of the 750th anniversary of Berlin, called on General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev to demolish the Wall, thus symbolizing the desire of the Soviet leadership for change:

We hear from Moscow about the new policy of reforms and glasnost. Some political prisoners were released. Certain foreign news broadcasts are no longer jammed. Some economic enterprises were allowed to operate with greater freedom from state control. Is this the beginning of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are these symbolic gestures that should create false hopes in the West and strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome perestroika and glasnost because we believe that freedom and security go together, that the progress of human freedom can only bring world peace. There is one move that the Soviets can make that would be infallible, that would be a symbol of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you are looking for peace, if you are looking for prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you are looking for liberalization: come here! Mr. Gorbachev, open these gates! Mr. Gorbachev, destroy this wall!

Wall fall

As a result of mass protests, the SED leadership resigned (October 24 - Erich Honecker, November 7 - Willy Shtof, November 13 - Horst Zinderman, Egon Krenz, who replaced Erich Honecker as General Secretary of the SED Central Committee and Chairman of the State Council of the GDR, was also removed 3 December 1989). Gregor Gysi became chairman of the SED, Manfred Gerlach became chairman of the State Council of the GDR, and Hans Modrow became chairman of the Council of Ministers.

The complete Berlin Wall complex, which occupies four hectares, was completed in 2012. The Senate of Berlin - an analogue of the state government - has invested 28 million euros in the construction.

The memorial is located on Bernauer Strasse, along which the border between the GDR and West Berlin passed (the buildings themselves were in the eastern sector, and the sidewalk adjacent to them was in the western sector).

The Chapel of Reconciliation, built in 2000 on the foundation of the Church of Reconciliation, which was blown up in 1985, became part of the Berlin Wall memorial complex. The initiator and active participant in the creation of the memorial on Bernauer Strasse was Manfred Fischer, who is called the "pastor of the Berlin Wall".

In culture

Fine Arts and Architecture.

If it was impossible to get close to it from the “eastern” side of the wall to the very end, then in the West it became a platform for the work of numerous artists, both professional and amateur. By 1989 it had turned into a multi-kilometer exhibition of graffiti, including highly artistic ones. After the destruction of the wall, its fragments quickly turned into objects of trade. Many fragments of the wall ended up in the United States, for example, at the Microsoft office, the CIA headquarters in Langley, at the Ronald Reagan Museum, in Fatima, etc. In 2009, Germany bought a fragment of the Berlin Wall to be installed in front of the German embassy in Kiev as part of celebrating the 20th anniversary of its destruction. In 2017, Oleg Goncharenko, a radical member of the Ukrainian Rada, wrote “Nein” on a fragment of a wall near the German embassy in the capital of Ukraine.

Music

• A song by the pop-rock band Tokio Hotel - World Behind My Wall, dedicated to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• Udo Lindenberg's song is "Wir wollen einfach nur zusammen sein".
• The Dokken album Back for the Attack (1987) contains the song Lost Behind The Wall, which tells about life "on the other side of the wall". And in the lyrics of the song there is a line "Die Mauer muss weg", which means "the wall must disappear" in German.
• On July 21, 1990, after the demolition of the Wall, but before the reunification of Germany, a grand performance "The Wall" in Berlin took place on Potsdamer Platz, based on the album of the rock band Pink Floyd, organized by Roger Waters.
• A year before the release of the song "Wind of change" (literally - "Wind of Change") by the group Scorpions, the Berlin Wall was destroyed, and the Soviet Union soon collapsed, so the track was and is perceived as the anthem of Perestroika, Glasnost and the end of the Cold War, as a symbol of peace between the peoples of Germany and Russia, peace throughout the world. Klaus said: “Our fathers came to Russia with tanks. We're coming to you with guitars"
• 1985 single by Elton John - Nikita.
• Song by progressive rock band Camel - West Berlin
• In the 1977 song Holidays in the Sun, punk rock band the Sex Pistols call for the Berlin Wall to be torn down.
• Song of the bard Nicholas Nick. Brown "Berlin Wall" in 1990 with the question: "When will we destroy the idols of lies?".
• The title of Queen's album, Jazz, and the artwork on its cover were taken from a painting on the Berlin Wall near Checkpoint Charlie, which the musicians saw while visiting East Berlin.
• Mike Mareen - composition Germany, just about the wall. 1987 album Let's Start Now
• The song of the group "Bi-2" "Farewell Berlin" tells about the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• The Pigott Brothers - song "Berlin Wall", 2012, album The Age of Peace.

Books

• Humorous story by Mikhail Kazovsky "Psych, or an unsuccessful attempt to cross the wall" (2008).
• In the book by Oleksandr Irvanets "Rivne / Rovno (Stina)" the wall passes through the Ukrainian city, dividing it into eastern and western sectors. The protagonist receives permission to visit his family in eastern Rivne.
• In the novel by the Russian writer Ilya Stogov "mASIAfucker" (2002), the main character recalls his visit to Berlin to his mistress during the destruction of the wall. He is focused on his experiences and is not able to empathize with the general enthusiasm of people on the streets of the city.
• The story of the Soviet and Russian writer Yuri Polyakov "Apothege" (1989) describes the trip of a group of Moscow Komsomol functionaries to Berlin with a "visit" to the Berlin Wall.
• In the novel by Mark Levy "Those words that we did not say to each other" (2008), the events that took place in Germany in November 1989 are described, and the main characters meet on the day the Berlin Wall fell.

Games

• Each box of the Collector's Edition of the World in Conflict video game contained a piece of the Berlin Wall, the authenticity of which was confirmed by the attached certificate.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer features the Berlin Wall map, which takes place at Checkpoint Charlie.
• In the game "Ostalgie: the Berlin wall", the wall is automatically destroyed depending on your actions.

Movies

• Film "Tunnel, 2001" The day before the construction of the Berlin Wall, swimming champion Harry crosses the border with a fake passport. In West Berlin, he meets with a group of dissidents who are planning to dig a 145-meter tunnel.
• Movie "

Story

Berlin Crisis 1961

Before the construction of the wall, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was open. The 44.75 km dividing line (the total length of the border between West Berlin and the GDR was 164 km) ran straight through the streets and houses, canals and waterways. Officially, there were 81 street checkpoints, 13 subway and city rail crossings. 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 drain of specialists in Germany. East Germans preferred to be educated in the GDR, where it was free, and to work in the FRG.

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 (OVD) confirmed the intransigence of their positions in the "German Question". The West German government, led by Konrad Adenauer, enacted the "Halstein Doctrine" in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR. It categorically rejected the proposals of the East German side to create a confederation of German states, insisting instead on holding all-German elections. In turn, the GDR authorities announced in the city their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it was located "in the territory of the GDR."

In November 1958 the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the 1945 Potsdam Accords. He announced the Soviet Union's cancellation 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 tone, 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 USA in September 1959, the Soviet ultimatum was postponed. But the parties stubbornly adhered to their former positions. In August, the government of the GDR put into effect restrictions on visits by citizens of the FRG to East Berlin, citing the need to stop their "revanchist propaganda." In response, West Germany abandoned the trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an "economic war". After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was nonetheless put into effect on January 1. But the crisis was not resolved by this. The leaders of the Warsaw Pact continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, the NATO foreign ministers confirmed in May 1961 their intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of the 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 built up their armed forces and intensified propaganda against the enemy. The GDR authorities complained about Western threats and maneuvers, "provocative" violations of the country's borders (137 in 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 caused the inability to control the flow of people moving across the border.

The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The hard line of the East German leader Walter Ulbricht, the economic policy aimed at "catching up and overtaking the FRG", and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization - gg., foreign political tensions and higher wages Labor in West Berlin encouraged thousands of citizens of the GDR to leave for the West. In total, over 207,000 people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, over 30,000 East Germans fled the country. They were predominantly young and skilled professionals. The indignant East German authorities accused West Berlin and the FRG of "trafficking in human beings", "poaching" personnel and attempts to frustrate their economic plans. They assured that the economy of East Berlin was annually losing 2.5 billion marks because of this.

In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the Warsaw Pact countries decided to close the border. Rumors of such plans were in the air as early as June 1961, but GDR leader Walter Ulbricht then denied such intentions. In fact, at that time they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other participants in the Eastern Bloc. From August 5 to August 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the Warsaw Pact 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 FRG. On August 12, the corresponding resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the GDR. The East Berlin Police were put on full alert. At 1 am on August 13, 1961, the project "Chinese Wall II" began. About 25 thousand members of paramilitary "battle groups" from the enterprises of the GDR occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions were covered by parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was in a state of readiness.

wall construction

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

The most famous cases of escapes from the GDR in the following ways: a mass exodus through a tunnel 145 meters long, flying on a hang glider, in a balloon made of nylon fragments, along a rope thrown between the windows of neighboring houses, in a car with a folding top, using a bulldozer to ram the wall.

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

Victims of the wall

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

The first to be shot while trying to escape from East Berlin was 24-year-old Günter Litfin (Ger. Gunter Litfin) (August 24, 1961). On August 17, 1962, Peter Fechter died at the border crossing from loss of blood, after the border guards of the GDR opened fire on him. On October 5, 1964, while trying to detain a large group of fugitives of 57 people, the border guard Egon Schulz died, whose name was elevated to a cult in the GDR (later documents were published, according to which he was shot by mistake by colleagues). In 1966, the border guards of the GDR shot 2 children (10 and 13 years old) with 40 shots. The last victim of the regime operating in the border areas was Chris Geffroy, 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 in accordance with paragraph 213 of the criminal law of the GDR by deprivation of liberty for up to 8 years. Those who were armed, attempted to destroy border installations, or were at the time of capture a soldier or member of the security services were sentenced to at least five years in prison. Helping to escape from the GDR was the most dangerous - such daredevils were threatened with 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 1245 people.

Human trafficking

During the Cold War, there was a practice in the GDR of letting citizens go to the West for money. Such operations were handled by Wolfgang Vogel, a lawyer from the GDR. From 1964 to 1989, he arranged the border crossing for a total of 215,000 East Germans and 34,000 political prisoners from East German prisons. West Germany, their release cost 3.5 billion marks (2.7 billion dollars).

Wall fall

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 quarters	Mitte Spreeinsel Nikolaiviertel
Streets, squares and boulevards	Gendarmenmarkt Unter den Linden Paris 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 TV 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 Liberator Warrior
Monasteries, cathedrals and temples

Older people who remember well the events of the so-called "perestroika", the collapse of the Soviet Union and rapprochement with the West, probably know the famous Berlin Wall. Its destruction has become a real symbol of those events, their visible embodiment. The Berlin Wall, the history of the creation and destruction of this object can tell a lot about the turbulent European changes of the middle and the end of the 20th century.

Historical context

It is impossible to understand the history of the Berlin Wall without refreshing the memory of the historical background that led to its creation. As you know, the Second World War in Europe ended with the Act of Surrender of Nazi Germany. The consequences of the war for this country were deplorable: Germany was divided into zones of influence. The eastern part was controlled by the Soviet military-civilian administration, the western part went under the control of the administration of the allies: the USA, Great Britain and France.

Some time later, on the basis of these zones of influence, two independent states arose: the FRG - in the west, with its capital in Bonn, and the GDR - in the east, with its capital in Berlin. West Germany became part of the "camp" of the United States, the east turned out to be part of the socialist camp controlled by the Soviet Union. And since the Cold War was already in full swing between yesterday's allies, the two Germanys found themselves, in fact, in hostile organizations separated by ideological contradictions.

But even earlier, in the first post-war months, an agreement was signed between the USSR and the Western allies, according to which Berlin, the pre-war capital of Germany, was also divided into zones of influence: western and eastern. Accordingly, the western part of the city was supposed to actually belong to the FRG, and the eastern part to the GDR. And everything would be fine if it were not for one important feature: the city of Berlin was located deep inside the territory of the GDR!

That is, it turned out that West Berlin turned out to be an enclave, a piece of Germany, surrounded on all sides by the territory of “pro-Soviet” East Germany. While relations between the USSR and the West were relatively good, the city continued to live a normal life. People moved freely from one part to another, worked, went to visit. Everything changed when the Cold War gained momentum.

Construction of the Berlin Wall

By the beginning of the 60s of the 20th century, it became obvious that relations between the two Germanys were hopelessly damaged. The world was facing the threat of a new global war, tension between the West and the USSR was growing. In addition, a huge difference in the pace of economic development of the two blocs became apparent. Simply put, it was clear to the layman: living in West Berlin is much more comfortable and convenient than in East. People rushed to West Berlin, and additional NATO troops were transferred here. The city could become a "hot spot" in Europe.

To stop such a development of events, the GDR authorities decided to block off the city with a wall that would make it impossible for all kinds of contacts between the inhabitants of the once single settlement. After careful preparation, consultations with the allies and mandatory approval from the USSR, on the last night of August 1961, the entire city was divided in two!

In the literature, you can often find the words that the wall was built in one night. Actually this is not true. Of course, such a grandiose structure cannot be erected in such a short time. On that memorable night for Berliners, only the main transport arteries connecting East and West Berlin were blocked. Somewhere across the street they raised high concrete slabs, somewhere they simply put up barbed wire barriers, in some places barriers with border guards were installed.

The metro was stopped, the trains of which used to move between the two parts of the city. The astonished Berliners found in the morning that they would no longer be able to go to their work, study or just visit friends, as they had done before. Any attempt to penetrate West Berlin was considered a violation of the state border and severely punished. That night, indeed, the city was divided into two parts.

And the wall itself, as an engineering structure, was built more than one year in several stages. Here it must be remembered that the authorities had not only to separate West Berlin from East, but also to protect it from all sides, because it turned out to be a “foreign body” inside the territory of the GDR. As a result, the wall acquired the following parameters:

• 106 km of concrete fence, 3.5 meters high;
• almost 70 km of metal mesh with barbed wire;
• 105.5 km of deep earthen ditches;
• 128 km of signal fence, energized.

And also - a lot of watchtowers, anti-tank pillboxes, firing points. Do not forget that the wall was considered not only as an obstacle to ordinary citizens, but also as a military fortification in case of an offensive by a NATO military group.

When the Berlin Wall was torn down

As long as it existed, the wall remained a symbol of the separation of the two world systems. The attempts to overcome it did not stop. Historians have proven at least 125 deaths while trying to cross the wall. About 5 thousand more attempts were crowned with success, and, among the lucky ones, GDR soldiers prevailed, called upon to protect the wall from crossing by their own fellow citizens.

By the end of the 1980s, so many grandiose changes had already taken place in Eastern Europe that the Berlin Wall looked like a complete anachronism. Moreover, by that time Hungary had already opened its borders with the Western world, and tens of thousands of Germans freely left through it to the FRG. Western leaders pointed out to Gorbachev the need to dismantle the wall. The whole course of events clearly showed that the days of the ugly structure were numbered.

And it happened on the night of October 9-10, 1989! Another mass demonstration of residents of two parts of Berlin ended with the soldiers opening the barriers at the checkpoints and crowds of people rushing towards each other, although the official opening of the checkpoints was to take place the next morning. People did not want to wait, besides, everything that happened was filled with special symbolism. Many TV companies broadcasted this unique event live.

On the same night, enthusiasts began to destroy the wall. At first, the process was spontaneous, looked like amateur performance. Parts of the Berlin Wall stood for some time, completely painted with graffiti. People were photographed near them, and television people filmed their stories. Subsequently, the wall was dismantled with the help of equipment, but in some places its fragments remained as a memorial. The days when the Berlin Wall was destroyed are considered by many historians to be the end of the Cold War in Europe.

Germany is celebrating a quarter-century anniversary since the destruction of the wall that divided the country into two parts. During this time, the country was cut by a reinforced concrete fence 155 kilometers long, including within the boundaries of Berlin about - 43 kilometers. The Berlin Wall was erected on August 13, 1961 on the recommendation of the secretaries of the communist and workers' parties of the Warsaw Pact countries (USSR, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Albania) and based on the decision of the People's Chamber.

ON THIS TOPIC

After the end of World War II and until 1961 more than three million fled to West Germany East Germans (this accounted for a third of the population of the GDR). 50,000 Berliners commuted every day to work in the western part of the city. The division of Germany into two parts was not only symbolic. It was primarily economic and ideological in nature. The Western mark cost six times more than the Eastern mark.

On August 13, 1961, residents of both parts of Berlin saw that the dividing line was cordoned off. The construction of a permanent fence began. Many East Berliners understood that they are unlikely to be able to escape. By 1975, the wall had acquired its final form, turning into a complex fortification.

By the time of the demolition, the wall was not just a fence, but a whole complex of fortifications, which included a concrete fence itself, about 3.5 meters high, in some places a metal mesh fence, an electric signal fence, a moat (length 105 kilometers), anti-tank fortifications were set up in some areas and bands of sharp thorns. Along the entire length of the wall there were about 300 watchtowers.

However, there were desperate ones who made attempts to escape to the West. People left through an underground tunnel, tried to fly away on a hang glider, a balloon, climb over a rope thrown between neighboring houses. They also practiced the transition from the eastern part of Berlin to the western for money. During the existence of the Berlin Wall, more than 5 thousand successful escapes to West Berlin.

The first person to be shot while trying to cross the wall from east to west was Günter Litfin, a tailor's apprentice and member of the Christian Democratic Union, banned in the GDR. He tried to cross the railroad tracks, but was seen by the police and shot dead. Litfin was one of 136 people who died trying to cross the wall.

The fall of the wall in 1989 was largely symbolic, as the structure ceased to fulfill its function. The fall of the Iron Curtain began a little earlier, in the same year, when the Hungarian authorities opened the border with Austria.

On November 9, 1989, under pressure from mass popular uprisings, the GDR government lifted restrictions on communication with West Berlin, and on July 1, 1990, completely abolished border controls. During January - November 1990 all border structures were demolished.

When the Berlin Wall was torn down, many parts of it were donated to cultural, educational and other institutions around the world. So, part of the wall is stored in the European Parliament in Brussels. Today, several sections of the wall remain on the streets of Berlin, one of which has been turned into the world's largest object of street art.

The Cold War, which began after the end of the bloodiest World War II in history, was a long conflict between the USSR on the one hand and Europe and the United States on the other. Western politicians viewed the communist regime as the most dangerous possible adversary, and the possession of nuclear weapons on both sides only increased tensions.

After the end of World War II, the winners divided the territory of Germany among themselves. The Soviet Union inherited five provinces, from which the German Democratic Republic was formed in 1949. The capital of the new state was East Berlin, which, according to the terms of the Yalta Treaty, also fell into the zone of influence of the USSR. The conflict between East and West, as well as the uncontrolled migration of residents to West Berlin, led to the fact that in 1961 the Warsaw Pact countries (a socialist alternative to NATO) came to the decision that it was necessary to build a concrete structure delimiting the western and eastern parts of the city.

Border in the center of Berlin

As soon as possible after the decision to close the border was made, the wall project was implemented. The total length of the Berlin Wall was over 150 kilometers, although in Berlin itself there were only about 40 kilometers. To protect the border, in addition to the directly three-meter wall, wire fences, electric current, earthen ditches, anti-tank fortifications, watchtowers and even control strips were used. All these security measures were used only from the eastern side of the wall - in West Berlin, any resident of the city could approach it.

The ransom of the East Germans cost the German government a total of almost three billion US dollars.

The wall not only divided the city into two parts, rather absurdly (metro stations were closed, windows facing the west had to be bricked up in houses), but also became a symbol of confrontation between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries. Until the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1990, there were many attempts to illegally cross the border, including undermining, a bulldozer, a hang glider and a balloon. In total, more than five thousand successful escapes were made from the GDR to the FRG. In addition, approximately two hundred and fifty thousand people were released for money.

According to the official point of view of the GDR, during the entire years of the existence of the wall, 125 people were killed trying to cross the border.

In 1989, the beginning of perestroika was announced in the USSR, which prompted Hungary, neighboring the GDR, to open the border with Austria. The existence of the Berlin Wall became meaningless, since everyone who wanted to get to the West could do it through Hungary. After some time, the government of the GDR, under public pressure, was forced to provide its citizens with free access abroad, and in 1990 the already useless Berlin Wall was demolished. However, several of its fragments remained as a memorial complex.