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berlin wall, berlin, germany
Back to the end of World War II in 1945. After Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945, control of the former German lands, west of what is now the border between Germany and Poland, were divided between four Allied powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia or the Soviet Union, as it was then called.
The capital of the former Germany, Berlin, was also divided between the four Allied powers, even though, as you can see from the map, it was located within the area occupied by the Soviets. Pretty complicated to divide a city in quarters. (Vienna, Austria was similarly divided but that story is for another post.)
Eventually (this is a terribly brief summary-there have been volumes written about it), the areas controlled by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, including the sectors they controlled in Berlin, became West Germany, or the Federal Republic of Germany, and the area controlled by the Soviets, including their portion of Berlin, became East Germany. Confusingly, East Germany was called the German Democratic Republic, despite it being a Communist country, generally described as a totalitarian regime and a satellite of the Soviet Union. But wait, you say, those parts of Berlin controlled by the Allies that became West Berlin, part of West Germany, were totally surrounded by East Germany. Yes, indeed, and, not surprisingly, it became a huge problem. In 1948 and 1949, the Soviets blockaded West Berlin and the Allies had to conduct an airlift to bring food and supplies to the West Berliners. West Berliners were only allowed to travel through East Germany to West Germany by air; via trains that didn’t stop anywhere once they left Berlin until they got to West Germany; or by road where transit through East Germany was subject to surveillance.
Construction on the Berlin Wall started in 1961, eventually encircling West Berlin with 96 miles of concrete. It had guard towers; a wide area known as “the death strip”; anti-vehicle trenches; barbed wire; and multiple other items to keep people from crossing.
Its purpose was to keep East Germans from heading west to “the West”. Prior to the building of the Berlin Wall, approximately 3.5 million East Germans left East Germany, defecting to the West. Many crossed over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin and then traveled to West Germany and on to other countries. Once the Berlin Wall was in place, the number of defectors dropped sharply. But while the Berlin Wall was in place, over 100,000 people still attempted to cross and more than 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Berlin Wall. It is also reported that between 100 and 200 people attempting to cross were killed by East German authorities.
The Berlin Wall and the Inner German Border (a wall between East and West Germany) effectively prevented emigration from East Germany. The two became the physical embodiment of what Winston Churchill, the former British prime minister, referred to in his famous 1946 speech as “the Iron Curtain”, a reference to metal fireproof curtains once used in theaters.
Two American presidents made famous speeches in West Berlin. In 1963, John F. Kennedy declared himself a Berliner, stating,
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘ich bin ein Berliner.’
And in 1987, Ronald Reagan, referencing the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, and the Brandenberg Gate, which was closed, stated,
We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Two years after President Reagan’s “tear down this wall” speech, the Berlin Wall did indeed start to come down. In 1989, after uprisings and the loosening of restrictions in other Soviet satellite countries, there were demonstrations in East Germany and East Berlin. On November 9, 1989, the East German government made an announcement concerning travel between East and West Germany. Confusion over the rules led to an official saying that travel would be possible immediately. That was the beginning of the end of the Berlin Wall. People began trying to cross into West Berlin and by 11:00 in the evening, guards at the Wall had opened the checkpoints and were allowing people through without checking their identity. Over the next few months, people began their own demolition of the Wall, chipping off pieces. A brisk trade around the world in pieces of the Berlin Wall began. (Your host still has a supposed piece in a trunk somewhere.) Official demolition began in 1990 and virtually every road that once linked East and West Berlin and had been blocked was reopened. Six sections of the wall were preserved as a memorial, which you can see today, but by November 1991, the Berlin Wall was no more.