November 9 - the day of the fall of the Berlin Wall: Questions and answers. What is the Berlin Wall, when was it erected and when it was demolished, as well as what the Germans celebrate on November 9.

When I started learning German at school, the Berlin Wall had been gone for 4 years (and by the end of my studies - 10 years). But we learned from old Soviet textbooks, and the texts about Berlin, of course, were about its Eastern part. Therefore, Alexanderplatz, Treptower Park, the University of them were imprinted in my brain as the main attractions of Berlin. Humboldt and the central street Unter den Linden
Naturally, later I learned about the Berlin Wall, and about the Wiedervereinigung (reunification), and even about Ostalgie (Osten + Nostalgie - nostalgia for the GDR).

But only after visiting Berlin, seeing both its zoos, both universities and both opera houses (east and west), the western central Kurfürstendamm street, Potsdamerplatz square, which was closed during the existence of the wall, the remains of the wall itself - I realized that once Berlin was divided into two parts, and it is important that it is now a single city again.


- What is the Berlin Wall?

The Berlin Wall is called the border of the GDR with West Berlin, it is an engineering-equipped and fortified structure. By the way, the official name of the Berlin Wall was Antifaschistischer Schutzwall.

- Why and why was it erected?
From 1949 to 1961, more than 2.6 million inhabitants of the GDR fled to the FRG. Some fled from communist repression, others were simply looking for a better life in the West. The border between West and East Germany had been closed since 1952, but escapes through the open border sectors in Berlin were possible with little or no risk to the fugitives. The GDR authorities saw no other way out to stop the mass exodus to the West
- On August 13, 1961, they began the construction of the Berlin Wall.


- How long did the construction take?

On the night of 12-13 August 1961, the border between West and East Berlin was cordoned off in a few hours. It was a day off, and many Berliners were asleep when the GDR authorities began to close the border. In the early Sunday morning, the city was already divided by border barriers and rows of barbed wire. Some families were cut off almost overnight from their loved ones and friends living in the same city. And on August 15, the first section of the wall was already built. Construction continued for quite a long time in different stages. We can say that the wall expanded and completed until its fall in 1989.

- What was the size of the Berlin Wall?
155 km (around West Berlin), including 43.1 km within Berlin

- Why was the border open?
One can argue for a long time that a peaceful revolution in the GDR had been brewing for a long time, that the precondition for this was perestroika in the USSR. But the facts themselves are more striking. In fact, the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 was the result of errors in coordination and non-observance of orders. This evening, journalists asked the representative of the GDR government, Gunther Schabowski, about the new rules of foreign travel, what he wrongly replied that, "as far as he knows," they would come into effect "immediately, now."


Naturally, at the border checkpoints, where thousands of East Berliners began to flock that evening, there were no orders to open the border. Fortunately, the border guards did not use force against their compatriots, succumbed to pressure and opened the border. By the way, in Germany they are still grateful to Mikhail Gorbachev for the fact that he also did not use military force and withdrew troops from Germany.
- The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, then why is the Day of German Unity celebrated on October 3?Initially, the holiday was planned to be scheduled for November 9, but this day was associated with dark periods in the history of Germany (the Beer Hall putsch in 1923 and the November pogroms of 1938), so they chose a different date - October 3, 1990, when the actual unification of the two German states took place.

Aigul Berkheeva, Deutsch-online

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Updated 02.01. Views 3311 Comments 37

Initially, I was going to write an article just about ours, but in the end it somehow happened that all of it basically turned out only about one very touching and deeply impressed me personally. This is the famous Berlin Wall. I write "famous", but I'm ashamed of myself, because, imagine, before coming to Berlin, I just knew from history lessons that it was erected after World War II and divided Berlin into two parts, but why, when, by whom and for what ... never really interested. But I'll start in order.

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Berlin Wall

Once in Berlin, we, to our shame, realized that we didn't really know what to see, except for the Reichstag and the monument to the Russian soldier, which, by the way, we never got to. Somehow they didn't even think about the Berlin Wall. But, spinning around the city with a map, suddenly at some point we discovered that we were not far from Checkpoint Charlie, stopped, read the description in our mini-guidebook and, to put it mildly, we were hooked.

Later, when we tried to explain to ourselves why it touched us so much, we found a simple explanation for this - this is not only them, this is our common history! The Berlin Wall is, in fact, a symbol of the then political regime, it is a living personification of the Iron Curtain. In official documents, however, they often speak of the Cold War.

Having seriously become interested in this topic, I found many stories and photos on this topic, I dare to summarize here what shocked me the most, and post some photos of that time, from whose authors I apologize in advance.

But first I will explain a little: in 1948 Berlin was divided into two parts, one of which, the eastern one, was the capital of the GDR, and the second, the western one, was the American, French and British sectors of occupation. At first, the border could be crossed freely, which the residents of East Berlin happily did every day, going to West Berlin to work, to the store, to friends and relatives. But this did not quite well affect the economy of the GDR. There were other, no less weighty, in the opinion of the GDR government, political and economic reasons for which it was decided to enclose West Berlin with an impassable wall. As a result, over the night of August 13, 1961, the entire border with West Berlin was closed, and by August 15, it was completely surrounded by barbed wire, in the place of which the construction of the Berlin Wall began rather quickly. At first it was made of stone, but later it turned into a whole complex complex of reinforced concrete walls, ditches, metal mesh, watchtowers, etc.

Since the border was closed overnight, you can imagine how many people instantly lost their jobs, some friends, some relatives, some apartments ... And all at once - freedom. Many could not put up with this and almost immediately began to flee from East Berlin to West. It was not that difficult at first, but as the Berlin Wall complex grew and became stronger, escape methods became more and more ingenious and cunning.

You can read a lot about escape attempts on the Internet, I will not tell you about everything. I will only briefly describe those that were the most successful, original and memorable. Forgive me, I will write without names and dates. Several times, immediately after the construction of the Berlin Wall, they broke through it, ramming it with trucks. At the checkpoints, at high speed, they drove under the barriers in sports cars that were too low to touch the barrier; they swam across rivers and lakes, because this was the most unprotected section of the fence.


The border between West and East Berlin often passed right through the houses, and it turned out that the entrance was in the eastern territory, and the windows looked out to the West. When they just started to build the Berlin Wall, many residents of the house boldly jumped out of the windows into the street, where they were often caught by Western firefighters or simply happy city residents. But all these windows were walled up very soon. I wonder if the tenants were resettled, or did they live without daylight?


 The first shoots of the inhabitants of East Berlin

Tunnels were very popular, dozens of them were dug, and this was the most populous way of escape (20-50 people fled at a time). Later, especially enterprising Western businessmen even began to make money from this, placing advertisements in newspapers “Let's help with family problems”.
Tunnel through which dozens of people ran

There were also very original shoots: for example, two families made a homemade balloon and flew over the Berlin Wall on it, the brothers crossed to West Berlin, stretching a cable between houses and descending on it on a tape measure.


When, a few years later, Westerners were allowed to enter the territory of East Berlin with special permits to see relatives, sophisticated ways of transporting people in cars were invented. Sometimes very small cars were used, specially modified so that people could hide under the hood or in the trunk. The border guards did not even know that there might be a man instead of a motor. Many people hid in suitcases, sometimes they were put in two, there were slits between them, so the person fit completely, he did not have to fold.


Almost immediately, a decree was issued to shoot at all people who tried to escape. One of the most famous victims of this inhuman decree was a young boy named Peter Fechter, who, while trying to escape, was wounded in the stomach and left to bleed by the wall until he died. The unofficial figures of arrests for escape (3221 people), deaths (from 160 to 938 people) and injuries (from 120 to 260 people) while trying to overcome the Berlin Wall are simply terrifying!

When I read all these stories about escapes from East Berlin, I had a question to which I could not find an answer anywhere, but where did all the escapes live in West Berlin? After all, he, too, was not rubber, and according to unconfirmed reports, one way or another, 5043 people managed to escape successfully.

Near Checkpoint Charlie there is a museum dedicated to the history of the Berlin Wall. In it, Rainer Hildebrandt, the founder of the museum, collected many of the tools that the East Berliners used to escape to West Berlin. Unfortunately, we did not get to the museum itself, but even postcards with the image of the Berlin Wall and photo sketches from everyday life of that time, sold in a nearby souvenir shop, aroused unusually strong emotions. And I was very touched by the request left on the very Chekpoit Charlie, an appeal to our president.

And life, meanwhile, went on as usual, the people of West Berlin had free access to the wall, could walk along it and use it for their needs. Many artists painted the western side of the Berlin Wall with graffiti, some of these images became famous all over the world, such as "The Kiss of Honecker and Brezhnev."


People often came to the wall to look at their loved ones at least from afar, wave a handkerchief to them, show the children, grandchildren, brothers-sisters. It's terrible, families, loved ones, relatives, loved ones, separated by concrete and someone's complete indifference. After all, even if it was so necessary for the economy and / or politics, then it could have been provided so that people would not suffer so much, to give the opportunity to reunite at least to relatives ...


The fall of the Berlin Wall happened on November 9, 1989. The reason for this significant event was that one of the countries of the socialist camp, Hungary, opened its borders with Austria, and about 15 thousand citizens of the GDR left the country to get to West Germany. The remaining East German residents took to the streets with demonstrations and demands for their civil rights. And on November 9, the head of the GDR announced that it would be possible to leave the country with a special visa. However, the people did not wait for this, millions of citizens simply poured out onto the street and headed for the Berlin Wall. The border guards could not contain such a crowd, and the borders were open. On the other side of the wall, West German residents greeted their compatriots. An atmosphere of joy and happiness reigned from the reunion.


There is an opinion that when the general jubilation passed, the inhabitants of different Germany began to feel a huge ideological gap between themselves. It is said to be felt to this day, and East Berliners do differ from West Berliners. But we have not yet had a chance to verify this. Now, sometimes no, no, but a rumor is slipping that some Germans are convinced that life under the Berlin Wall was better than it is now. Although, maybe this is what those who generally think that earlier the sun was brighter, and the grass is greener, and life is better.

In any case, there was such a terrible phenomenon in history, and its remnants are still preserved in Berlin. And when you walk down the street and under your feet you see the marks where the Berlin Wall used to pass, when you can touch its fragments, and you understand how much pain, excitement and fear this structure has brought, you begin to feel your involvement in this story.


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The fall of the Berlin Wall brought not only one people together, but families separated by borders. This event marked the unification of the nation. The slogans at the demonstrations were: "We are one people." The year of the fall of the Berlin Wall is considered to be the year of the beginning of a new life in Germany.

Berlin Wall

The fall of the Berlin Wall, whose construction began in 1961, symbolized the end of the Cold War. During the construction, wire fences were first extended, which subsequently grew into a 5-meter concrete fortification, complemented by watchtowers and barbed wire. The main purpose of the wall is to reduce refugees from the GDR to (before that, 2 million people had already managed to get over). The wall stretched for several hundred kilometers. The indignation of the FRG and the GDR was transmitted to the Western countries, but no protests and rallies could influence the decision to install the fence.

28 years behind the fence

It stood a little more than a quarter of a century - 28 years. During this time, three generations were born. Of course, many were unhappy with this state of affairs. People were striving for a new life, from which they were separated by a wall. One can only imagine what they felt for her - hatred, contempt. The inhabitants were imprisoned, as if in a cage, and they tried to escape to the west of the country. However, according to official figures, about 700 people were shot dead. And these are only documented cases. Today, you can also visit the Berlin Wall Museum, which keeps stories about the tricks people had to resort to in order to overcome it. For example, one child was literally catapulted through a fence by his parents. One family was airlifted by balloon.

Fall of the Berlin Wall - 1989

The communist regime of the GDR fell. It was followed by the fall of the Berlin Wall, the date of this high-profile incident - 1989, November 9. These events immediately triggered a reaction from people. And the joyful Berliners began to destroy the wall. In a very short time, most of the pieces became souvenirs. November 9 is also called the "Holiday of All Germans". The fall of the Berlin Wall became one of the most notorious events of the 20th century and was taken as a sign. In the same 1989, no one yet knew what course of events was in store for fate. (the leader of the GDR) at the beginning of the year claimed that the wall would stand for at least half a century, or even the whole century. The opinion that she is indestructible prevailed both among the ruling circles and among ordinary residents. However, May of the same year showed the opposite.

The fall of the Berlin Wall - how it happened

Hungary removed its "wall" with Austria, and therefore there was no point in the Berlin Wall. According to eyewitnesses, even a few hours before the fall, many still had no idea what would happen. A huge mass of people, when news of the simplification of the access control reached her, moved to the wall. The border guards on duty, who did not have an order on exact actions in this situation, attempted to push people back. But the pressure of the inhabitants was so great that they had no choice but to open the border. On this day, thousands of West Berliners went out to meet the East Berliners to meet them and congratulate them on their "liberation." November 9 was indeed a national holiday.

15th anniversary of the destruction

In 2004, marking the 15th anniversary of the destruction of the Cold War symbol, a large-scale ceremony was held in the German capital to commemorate the unveiling of the Berlin Wall monument. It is the restored part of the former fence, but now its length is only a few hundred meters. The monument is located where there was previously a checkpoint called "Charlie", which served as the main connection between the two parts of the city. Here you can also see 1,065 crosses installed as a memory of those who were killed from 1961 to 1989 for trying to escape from the eastern part of Germany. However, there is no exact information on the number of people killed, since different resources report completely different data.

25th anniversary

On November 9, 2014, the people of Germany celebrated the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The festive event was attended by the President of Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel. Foreign guests also visited it, including Mikhail Gorbachev (former president of the USSR). On the same day, a concert and a solemn meeting took place in the Konzerthaus hall, which was also attended by the President and the Federal Chancellor. Mikhail Gorbachev expressed his opinion on the events that took place, saying that Berlin is saying goodbye to the wall, because there is a new life and history ahead. On the occasion of the holiday, an installation of 6880 balloons was installed that glow. In the evening, filled with gel, they flew into the darkness of the night, being a symbol of the destruction of the barrier and separation.

Europe's reaction

The fall of the Berlin Wall was the event that the whole world was talking about. A large number of historians argue that the country would come to unity if in the late 80s, as it happened, it means a little later. But this process was inevitable. Before that, there were lengthy negotiations. By the way, Mikhail Gorbachev also played a role in advocating the unity of Germany (for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize). Although some assessed these events from another point of view - as a loss of geopolitical influence. Despite this, Moscow has demonstrated that it can be trusted to negotiate difficult and fairly fundamental issues. It is worth noting that some European leaders were against German reunification, such as Margaret Thatcher (British Prime Minister) and (French President). Germany in their eyes was a political and economic rival, as well as an aggressor and military enemy. They were worried about the reunification of the German people, and Margaret Thatcher even tried to convince Mikhail Gorbachev to retreat from his position, but he was adamant. Some European leaders saw Germany as a future adversary and were openly afraid of him.

End of the Cold War?

After November, the wall was still standing (it was not completely destroyed). And in the mid-nineties, it was decided to demolish it. Only a small "segment" was left intact in memory of the past. The world community perceived the day of the fall of the Berlin Wall as a union not only of Germany. And all of Europe.

The fall of the Berlin Wall, while still an employee of the KGB representative office in the GDR, supported the unification of Germany. He also starred in a documentary dedicated to the event, which was premiered on the 20th anniversary of the reunification of the German people. By the way, it was he who persuaded the demonstrators not to smash the KGB office building. V.V. Putin was not invited to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the wall (Dmitry Medvedev was present on the 20th anniversary) - after the "Ukrainian events", many world leaders, like Angela Merkel, who hosted the meeting, considered his presence inappropriate.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was a good sign for the whole world. Unfortunately, however, history shows that fraternal peoples can be fenced off from each other without tangible walls. Cold wars exist between states in the 21st century.

Story

Berlin Crisis of 1961

Before the wall was built, the border between western and eastern 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 81 street checkpoints, 13 subway and city railway crossings officially. 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 border between the zones led to frequent conflicts and a massive leak of specialists to the FRG. East Germans preferred to receive education 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 irreconcilability of their positions in the "German question". The West German government, headed by Konrad Adenauer, put into effect in 1957 the "Hallstein Doctrine", which provided for the automatic severing 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 authorities of the GDR announced in the city of their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it is "on 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 agreements. He announced the cancellation of the international status of Berlin by the Soviet Union and characterized 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 hold negotiations on this topic within six months (Berlin Ultimatum (1958)). This demand was rejected by the Western powers. The talks of their foreign ministers with the head of the USSR Foreign Ministry in Geneva in the spring and summer of the year ended in vain.

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 government of the GDR introduced restrictions on visits by citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany to East Berlin, citing the need to suppress their "revanchist propaganda". In response, West Germany abandoned the trade agreement between the two 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, but this did not resolve the crisis. OVD leaders continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, the NATO foreign ministers confirmed in May 1961 the intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of the Western powers in the western part of the city and its "viability". The leaders of the West announced that they would do their utmost to defend the "freedom of West Berlin."

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 May - July 1961), the activities of anti-communist groups. They accused the "agents of the Federal Republic of Germany" 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 flows of people moving across the border.

The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The tough course of the East German leader Walter Ulbricht, economic policy aimed at "catching up and overtaking the FRG", and a corresponding increase in production norms, economic difficulties, forced collectivization - years, foreign policy tensions and higher wages labor in West Berlin prompted thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West. In total, over 207 thousand people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, more than 30,000 East Germans fled the country. They were mostly young and qualified specialists. The outraged authorities in East Germany accused West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany of "human trafficking", "enticing" personnel and attempts to thwart their economic plans. They assured that the economy of East Berlin annually loses because of this 2.5 billion marks.

In conditions of 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 back in June 1961, but the leader of the GDR Walter Ulbricht then denied such intentions. In fact, then they had not yet received the 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 Unified 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 Chinese Wall II project began. About 25,000 members of paramilitary "battle groups" from GDR factories occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions covered parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was on alert.

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, flights on a hang glider, in a balloon made of nylon fragments, on a rope thrown between the windows of neighboring houses, in a car with a reclining top, using a bulldozer to ram the wall.

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

Victims of the wall

According to some estimates, 645 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989. However, as of 2006, only 125 people were able to document violent deaths as a result of an attempt to overcome the wall.

The first to be shot when trying to escape from East Berlin was 24-year-old Gunter Litfin (German. Günter Litfin) (August 24, 1961). On August 17, 1962, Peter Fechter died at the border crossing from blood loss after the GDR border guards opened fire on him. On October 5, 1964, while trying to detain a large group of 57 fugitives, border guard Egon Schultz, whose name was elevated to a cult in the GDR, was killed (later documents were published according to which his colleagues shot him by mistake). In 1966, the border guards of the GDR shot 40 shots at 2 children (10 and 13 years old). 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 by up to 8 years of imprisonment in accordance with paragraph 213 of the GDR criminal law. Those who were armed, tried to destroy border facilities, or were at the time of their capture a soldier or intelligence officer, were sentenced to at least five years in prison. Helping to escape from the GDR was the most dangerous - such brave souls 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 in the GDR, there was a practice of releasing citizens to the West for money. These operations were handled by Wolfgang Vogel, a lawyer from the GDR. From 1964 to 1989, he arranged border crossings for a total of 215,000 East Germans and 34,000 political prisoners from East German prisons. West Germany cost 3.5 billion marks ($ 2.7 billion) to free them.

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 (edit)

Links

This article will look at the Berlin Wall. The history of the creation and destruction of this complex illustrates the confrontation between the superpowers and is the embodiment of the Cold War.

You will learn not only the reasons for the appearance of this multi-kilometer monster, but also get acquainted with interesting facts related to the existence and fall of the Anti-Fascist Defensive Wall.

Germany after WWII

Before you understand who built the Berlin Wall, you should talk about the situation in the state at that time.

After being defeated in World War II, Germany found itself under the occupation of four states. Its western part was occupied by the troops of Great Britain, the United States and France, and the five eastern lands were controlled by the Soviet Union.

Next, we will talk about how the situation gradually escalated during the Cold War. We will also discuss why the development of the two states, based in the western and eastern zones of influence, proceeded in completely different ways.

GDR

In October 1949, it was created. It was formed almost six months after the formation of the FRG.

The GDR occupied the territory of five lands that were under Soviet occupation. These included Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Subsequently, the history of the Berlin Wall will illustrate the gulf that can form between two warring camps. According to the recollections of contemporaries, West Berlin differed from East as London of that time was from Tehran or Seoul from Pyongyang.

FRG

In May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany was formed. The Berlin Wall will separate it from its eastern neighbor in twelve years. In the meantime, the state is quickly recovering with the help of countries whose troops were on its territory.

So, the former French, American and British occupation zones, four years after the end of the Second World War, are turning into the Federal Republic of Germany. Since the division between the two parts of Germany took place in Berlin, Bonn became the capital of the new state.

However, later this country becomes the subject of a dispute between the socialist bloc and the capitalist West. In 1952, Joseph Stalin proposed the demilitarization of the FRG and its subsequent existence as a weak but united state.

The US rejects the project and, with the help of the Marshall Plan, turns West Germany into a fast-growing power. For fifteen years, starting in 1950, there has been a powerful boom, which in historiography is called an "economic miracle."
But the confrontation between the blocs continues.

1961 year

After a certain "thaw" in the Cold War, confrontation begins again. Another reason was the American reconnaissance aircraft shot down over the territory of the Soviet Union.

Another conflict broke out, the result of which was the Berlin Wall. The year of the erection of this monument to perseverance and stupidity is 1961, but in fact it has existed for a long time, even if not in its material embodiment.

So the Stalinist period led to a massive arms race that came to a halt with the mutual invention of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Now, in the event of war, no superpower had nuclear superiority.
Tensions have grown again since the Korean conflict. The peaks were the Berlin and Cuban missile crises. Within the framework of the article, we are interested in the first one. It took place in August 1961 and resulted in the creation of the Berlin Wall.

After World War II, as we have already mentioned, Germany was divided into two states - capitalist and socialist. During a period of particular heat of passion, in 1961, Khrushchev transferred control of the occupied sector of Berlin to the GDR. The part of the city, which belonged to the FRG, was blockaded by the United States and its allies.

Nikita Sergeevich's ultimatum concerned West Berlin. The leader of the Soviet people demanded its demilitarization. Western opponents of the socialist bloc responded with disagreement.

For several years the situation seemed to have to defuse the situation. However, the incident with the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft put a big cross on the possibility of mitigating the confrontation.

The result was an additional 1,500 additional American troops in West Berlin and the construction of a wall that stretched across the city and even beyond, from the GDR.

Wall construction

So, the Berlin Wall was built on the border of the two states. The history of the creation and destruction of this monument to stubbornness will be discussed later.

In 1961, in two days (from 13 to 15 August), a barbed wire was drawn, suddenly dividing not only the country, but also the families and destinies of ordinary people. This was followed by a lengthy construction, which ended only in 1975.

In total, this shaft existed for twenty-eight years. At the final stage (in 1989), the complex included a concrete wall about three and a half meters high and more than one hundred kilometers long. In addition, it included sixty-six kilometers of metal mesh, more than one hundred and twenty kilometers of signaling electric fencing and one hundred and five kilometers of ditches.

Also, the structure was equipped with anti-tank fortifications, border buildings, including three hundred towers, as well as a control and trail strip, the sand of which was constantly leveled.

Thus, the maximum length of the Berlin Wall, according to historians, was more than one hundred and fifty-five kilometers.

It was reconstructed several times. The most ambitious work was carried out in 1975. Notably, the only gaps were at checkpoints and rivers. At first, they were often used by the most daring and desperate emigrants "to the capitalist world."

Border crossing

In the morning, the Berlin Wall opened to the eyes of the expectant civilians of the capital of the GDR. The history of the creation and destruction of this complex clearly shows the real face of the warring states. Millions of families were separated overnight.

However, the construction of the rampart did not prevent further emigration from the territory of East Germany. People made their way across rivers and dug holes. On average (before the construction of the fence), about half a million people traveled from the GDR to the FRG every day for various reasons. And in twenty-eight years since the construction of the wall, only 5,075 successful illegal crossings have been carried out.

For this, waterways, tunnels (145 meters underground), balloons and hang-gliders, battering rams in the form of cars and bulldozers were used, even moved along a rope between buildings.

The following feature was interesting. People received free education in the socialist part of Germany, and began to work in the Federal Republic of Germany, since there were higher salaries.

Thus, the length of the Berlin Wall allowed young people to track its uninhabited areas and make escapes. For pensioners, there were no obstacles in crossing the checkpoints.

Another opportunity to get to the western part of the city was cooperation with the German lawyer Vogel. From 1964 to 1989, he awarded a total of $ 2.7 billion in contracts, buying a quarter of a million East Germans and political prisoners from the GDR government.

The sad fact is that when trying to escape, people were not only arrested, but also shot. Officially, 125 victims are counted, unofficially this number is increasing significantly.

Statements by American Presidents

After the Cuban missile crisis, the intensity of passions gradually decreases and the crazy arms race stops. From that time on, some American presidents began to make attempts to call the Soviet leadership for negotiations and come to a settlement of relations.

In this way, they tried to point out to those who built the Berlin Wall their erroneous behavior. The first such speech was John F. Kennedy's speech in June 1963. The American President spoke before a large gathering near the Schöneberg City Hall.

From this speech there is still the famous phrase: "I am one of the Berliners." Distorting the translation, today it is often interpreted as being said by mistake: "I am a Berlin donut." In fact, every word of the speech was verified and learned, and the joke is based only on the ignorance of the intricacies of the German language by audiences in other countries.

In this way, John F. Kennedy expressed support for the people of West Berlin.
Ronald Reagan was the second president to openly raise the issue of the ill-fated fencing. And his virtual opponent was Mikhail Gorbachev.

The Berlin Wall was the rudiment of an unpleasant and outdated conflict.
Reagan told the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee that if the latter is looking for liberalization of relations and a happy future for the socialist countries, he should come to Berlin and open the gates. "Tear down the wall, Mr. Gorbachev!"

Fall of the wall

Soon after this speech, as a result of the march of "perestroika and glasnost" through the countries of the socialist bloc, the Berlin Wall began to fall. The history of the creation and destruction of this fortification is discussed in this article. Earlier we remembered about its construction and unpleasant consequences.

Now we will focus on the liquidation of the monument to stupidity. After Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall became. Earlier, in 1961, this city was the cause of the conflict on the way of socialism to the West, but now the shaft prevented the strengthening of friendship between the once warring blocs.

The first country to destroy its section of the wall was Hungary. In August 1989, near the town of Sopron, on the border of this state with Austria, there was a "European Picnic". The foreign ministers of the two countries initiated the elimination of the fortification.

Further, the process could no longer be stopped. Initially, the government of the German Democratic Republic refused to support this idea. However, after fifteen thousand East Germans crossed the territory of Hungary to the FRG in three days, the fortification became completely superfluous.

The Berlin Wall on the map runs from north to south, crossing the city of the same name. On the night of October 9-10, 1989, the border between the western and eastern parts of the German capital was officially opened.

Wall in culture

For two years, starting from 2010, the memorial complex "Berlin Wall" was built. On the map, it occupies about four hectares. Twenty-eight million euros were invested in the creation of the memorial.

The monument consists of a "Memory Window" (in honor of the Germans who crashed while jumping from East German windows onto the Bernauer Straße pavement, which was already in the Federal Republic of Germany). In addition, the complex includes the Chapel of Reconciliation.

But this is not the only thing that the Berlin Wall is famous for in culture. The photo clearly illustrates what is probably the largest open-air graffiti gallery in history. While it was impossible to approach the fortification from the east, the western side is all decorated with highly artistic drawings of street masters.

In addition, the theme of the "shaft of dictatorship" can be traced in many songs, literary works, films and computer games. For example, the song "Wind of Change" by the Scorpions, the film "Goodbye, Lenin!" Is dedicated to the mood of the night of October 9, 1989. Wolfgang Becker. And one of the maps in Call of Duty: Black Ops was created to commemorate the events at checkpoint Charlie.

Facts

The value cannot be overemphasized. This fence of the totalitarian regime was perceived by the civilian population as unambiguously hostile, although over time the majority came to terms with the existing situation.

Interestingly, in the early years, the most frequent defectors were East German soldiers guarding the wall. And there were neither more nor less - eleven thousand of them.

The Berlin Wall was especially beautiful on the twenty-fifth anniversary of its liquidation. The photo illustrates a view of the illumination from above. The two Bauder brothers were the authors of the project, which consisted of creating a continuous strip of luminous lanterns along the entire length of the former wall.

Judging by the polls, the residents of the GDR were more satisfied with the fall of the shaft than the FRG. Although in the early years there was a huge flow in both directions. East Germans abandoned their apartments and went to a wealthier and more socially protected Germany. And enterprising people from the Federal Republic of Germany strove for the cheap GDR, especially since a lot of housing turned out to be abandoned there.

During the years of the Berlin Wall, a stamp cost six times less in the east than in the west.

Each box containing the World in Conflict (Collector's Edition) video game contained a piece from the wall with a Certificate of Authenticity.

So, in this article, we got acquainted with the manifestation of the economic, political and ideological division of the world in the second half of the twentieth century.

Good luck, dear readers!