Why the Berlin Wall was built and how it influenced the lives of ordinary Germans

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

For the history of the last century, the Berlin Wall is perhaps the most iconic border building. She became a symbol of the split of Europe, division into two worlds and political forces opposing each other. Despite the fact that the Berlin Wall today is a monument and an architectural object, its ghost haunts the world to this day. Why was it built so hastily and how did it affect the lives of ordinary citizens?

The end of World War II gave rise to new confrontation in the world, a redistribution of forces took place, which resulted in the Cold War. It was this phenomenon that gave rise to the Berlin Wall, which later became its embodiment in terms of its scale and inexpediency. Hitler, who so ambitiously planned to expand German possessions, eventually led the country to such an ambiguous result.

After the end of the war, Berlin was divided into four parts: on the east side was commanded by the USSR, on three more parts, more western ones, Great Britain, the USA and France established their dominance. Three years after the end of the war, the western parts are united into one, in the Federal Republic of Germany. In response, the USSR forms its own state - the German Democratic Republic. These two parts of the once one country now live on completely different principles. Those that the occupiers dictate to them.

Already in the 50s, a gradual strengthening of the borders of the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany began, but relatively free movement is still possible. In 1957, the FRG made a key decision in this matter and promised to break off relations with any country that would recognize the GDR as an independent state. In response, the GDR revokes Berlin's international status and restricts entry from the opposite side to the Eastern part. This "mutual exchange of pleasantries" heightens the intensity of passions and, as a result, a real wall of misunderstanding arises.

In the documents, the Berlin Wall, or rather the operation to build it, is referred to as the "Wall of China - 2". Already on August 12, 1961, the borders began to close, on the night of the 13th, barriers were installed, and checkpoints were closed. And this happens unexpectedly for the population, many townspeople in the morning were going to go on business to another part of the city, but their plans were not destined to come true.

The controversial issue of building a wall

After the end of World War II and before the closure of the borders, 3.5 million people left the GDR, which is almost a quarter of the population. In the West, there was a higher standard of living, which attracted residents. According to many historians, this is the fundamental reason for the emergence of the wall and the closure of borders. In addition, provocations from anti-communist groups often occurred on the border.

Who exactly came up with the idea of erecting the wall is still arguing. Some believe that the idea belongs to the leader of the GDR Walter Ulbricht, allegedly, in this way, he saved his part of Germany. It is more pleasant for the Germans to think that the fault lies entirely with the country of the Soviets, thus, they absolve themselves of any responsibility for what happened. Considering that the building began to be called nothing other than the "wall of shame", the desire to avoid responsibility for its occurrence is fully justified.

The Berlin Wall itself, after all the reconstructions and modifications, was a concrete structure more than 3.5 meters high and 106 km long. In addition, there were earthen ditches throughout the entire wall. Every quarter of a kilometer there were security points on special towers. In addition, a special barbed wire was stretched on top of the wall, excluding the possibility of getting over the fence, a special strip of sand was built, which was regularly loosened and leveled so that the traces of the fugitives could be seen immediately. It was forbidden to come close to the wall (at least from the eastern side), signs were installed and it was forbidden to be there.

The wall completely changed the city's transport links. 193 streets, several tram lines and railways were blocked, which were partially simply dismantled. A system that has been working for a long time has simply become irrelevant.

The construction of the wall began on August 15, hollow blocks were used for construction, the construction process was controlled by the military. Throughout its existence, changes were made to the design. The last time the reconstruction was carried out in 1975. The first structure was the simplest, with barbed wire on top, but over time it became more and more complex and turned into a complex borderline. From above, the concrete blocks were made sloping so that it was impossible to grab onto the top and climb over to the other side.

Separate, but, nevertheless, together

Despite the fact that now Germany was divided not only by ideological contradictions, but also by a wall, there was no talk of a final separation. Many townspeople had relatives in another part of the city, others went to work or study in another part. They could do it freely, more than 90 checkpoints worked for this, more than 400 thousand people passed through them every day. Although every day they were required to pass documents confirming the need to cross the border.

The opportunity to study in the GDR and work in the FRG could not but irritate the eastern authorities. The ability to freely travel to the western regions, and every day, gave a lot of opportunities to move to the Federal Republic of Germany. Wages there were higher, but in the GDR education was free, including secondary education. That is why specialists, having received training at the expense of the GDR, went to work in the FRG, there was a regular drain of personnel, which did not suit the eastern side in any way.

However, wages were far from the only reason Berliners sought to move west. In the eastern part, widespread control prevailed, working conditions were poor - this stimulated the inhabitants of East Germany to get jobs in the western part, to look for opportunities to gain a foothold there. The migration process became especially noticeable in the 50s, it is noteworthy that it was then that the GDR authorities tried in every possible way to bridge the gap between the two parts of Berlin. The GDR had to reach new production standards, to intensively carry out collectivization, and this was done by very tough methods.

The Germans, who saw the standard of living on both sides of the border, increasingly wanted to leave for the western part. This only strengthened the local authorities in the opinion about the need to build the wall. Simply put, the way of life in the western part was closer in mentality to the Germans, accustomed to living in a European state, according to certain traditions, foundations and standard of living.

However, the main factor that led to the construction of the wall was the disagreements between the allies, their points of view regarding the fate of Germany were diametrically different. Khrushchev is the last Soviet leader to try to peacefully resolve the issue of the political status of western Berlin. He demanded the recognition of the independence of the territory and the transfer of power to the civil society, and not to the occupiers. But the West was not delighted with this idea, quite reasonably believing that such independence will lead to the fact that the FRG will become part of the GDR. Therefore, the allies did not see anything peaceful in Khrushchev's proposal, the tension only grew.

Residents of both parts could not be ignorant of the negotiations, this gave rise to a new wave of migration. People were leaving in the thousands. However, those who arrived in the morning of August 13 saw a huge queue, an armed army and closed doors of checkpoints. The uncoupling was held for two days, and then the first blocks of concrete began to appear. Unauthorized entry into the western part has become practically impossible. In order to get to the western part, it was necessary to go through the checkpoint and return through it. The temporary crossing point on the western part could not remain - he did not have a residence permit.

Runaways through the wall

During the period of its existence, the wall has overgrown not only with barbed wire, additional protective structures, but also with rumors and myths. It was considered unapproachable, and those who nevertheless managed to get through it were considered geniuses. There were rumors of dozens of hundreds of fugitives shot dead, although only 140 deaths were documented, with fatalities such as falling off a wall. But there were much more successful escapes - over 5 thousand.

Foreigners and citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany could pass through the checkpoint, and the inhabitants of the GDR could not pass through the security point; in such an attempt, the guards could shoot to kill. However, the fact of the presence of the wall did not in any way negate the possibility of organizing a tunnel, going through the sewer systems, which remained unified. Again, flying machines could have helped with this complex undertaking as well.

For example, there is a known case when a rope was thrown from the roof of a building on the east side, which was held on the other side by the relatives of the fugitives. They held her until everyone successfully got over to the opposite side. Another daring escape was made right on the day the border was closed - the young man was only 19 years old and, without hesitation, he simply jumped over a still small fence. After some time, another young man tried to escape by the same principle, but he was shot on the spot.

At the same time, the police did internal work to prevent and prevent escapes. Of the 70 thousand who planned to escape, 60 thousand were convicted for this. Moreover, among the detainees and those killed while trying to escape were both civilians and the military. Despite the fact that the residents knew that for the attempted escape, execution was foreseen, attempts to leave the GDR did not stop. Someone tried to hook on a car that was driving to the western part, and so that the guards would not find it, they attached themselves to the bottoms, dug tunnels, and even jumped out of the windows of buildings that stood next to the wall.

History remembers several daring escapes that the inhabitants of East Germany made in order to move to the west. The train driver rammed the wall at speed, while there were passengers on the train, some of whom later returned back to East Germany. Others seized a ship that was sailing to the western part, for this they had to tie up the captain. People regularly escaped through the underground tunnel, the most massive escape occurred in the mid-60s, when more than 50 people escaped through the tunnel. Two daredevils designed a balloon that helped them overcome the obstacle.

Sometimes such ventures ended tragically. Especially when the inhabitants jumped out of the windows, most often they managed to be shot down, or they were broken. However, the most terrible thing was the possibility of being shot, because the border guards had the right to shoot to kill.

The wall has fallen

The initiative for unification came from the western side, whose residents distributed leaflets that the wall must fall long before it actually happened. Such slogans were sounded from the high tribunes, and the appeals were addressed to Gorbachev. And it was he who was destined to play a significant role in resolving this issue. Negotiations began on the wall.

In 1989, the Soviet regime was abolished in the GDR, and in November access to the western part was opened. The Germans, who had waited too long for this moment, gathered at the border before the new rules began to take effect. The paramilitary guards initially tried to restore order, but later, when thousands of people gathered, they were forced to open the borders earlier than planned. That is why the historical date when the Berlin Wall fell, albeit so far only figuratively, is considered to be November 9th.

The population literally poured westward. For a couple of days, more than two million residents of the eastern part have visited there. For some reason, residents of the western part missed the eastern part of the city much less, there was no return migration. They began to gradually dismantle the wall, at first they tried to do it in an organized way, creating more checkpoints, but the townspeople came to the wall and literally took it away for souvenirs. The authorities began to dismantle the wall next summer, and it took another two years to remove all the engineering structures around the wall.

Now, pieces of the Berlin Wall are installed throughout the city, not only where it was located historically. The Germans built real memorial expositions from pieces of concrete, which are now the places for tourists to visit.

The largest of them - the Berlin Wall itself - is a real section of the wall, which remained in its place near the metro. The length of this piece is quite large - almost one and a half kilometers. Nearby is a monument dedicated to this event, a place of religious commemoration in order to honor the memory of the people who died trying to move to the western part. This piece of the wall is popularly called the death strip, since it was here that there were most accidents during attempts to overcome the erected obstacle.

Here, not only the wall itself has been preserved, but also all the barriers, the watchtower tower. There is a museum nearby, which contains not only historical artifacts, but also an archive, a library, and an observation deck from which you can see the entire territory. In fact, this is one tenth of the Berlin Wall, but even this is enough to understand the tragedy of the situation and the state of affairs in one city, whose residents were divided in a few days.

Parts of the wall have also been preserved on Potsdamer Platz, at one time it was also divided into parts by a wall, now these concrete pieces are almost completely covered with graffiti. The fact that this is a memorial complex is evidenced by stands on which there is information about the history of the Berlin Wall.

Despite the fact that the fall of the Berlin Wall was a very important event, other problems that this building represented did not disappear. Still, breaking a wall (as well as building it) is much easier than solving problems and misunderstanding, drawing conclusions from the lessons that history itself presents.