Berliner Mauer
(Berlin Wall)
Introduction: By the time World War II ended Berlin was segregated into four parts. The four sections were: The Americans, British, French (West), and the Soviet Union (East). The city was symbolically and physically divided by the Berlin Wall which began construction in 1961, the wall stretched for 155km. The Berlin Wall was controlled by the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Berlin Divided
With Berlin being divided into four parts, the relationship between the United States, and the three other powers controlling the rest of Berlin quickly destroyed. In 1949 the German Democratic Republic (Soviets) became official once the three areas in Berlin that the U.S, France, and Great Britain which was the Federal Republic of Germany.
With Berlin being divided into four parts, the relationship between the United States, and the three other powers controlling the rest of Berlin quickly destroyed. In 1949 the German Democratic Republic (Soviets) became official once the three areas in Berlin that the U.S, France, and Great Britain which was the Federal Republic of Germany.
The 4 stages of the Berlin Wall
At the end of construction of all 4 Stages of the wall this is a landscape drawing of what was in between the separation. As written by Sherry Bates in a power point "They also used Dogs, boobie traps and alarm boxes"
Escaping the Separation
With the wall separating East and West Berlin, it caused motivation to escape. Close to 4 million Germans left east Berlin to go to west Berlin from 1950-1988. Although with the Berlin wall being constructed in 1961 the number of illegal crossings dropped immensely. In fact 3.5 million of the crossing was from 1950-1961. That's a huge drop. With only 5000 direct attempted escapes There were many ways of escaping, the wall was mainly stopped direct escapes, altough they were still attempted. Some people wore shoes with metal hooks to climb over the metal fences. Creativity was also a big factor in some of the escape attempts. From going off of a tight rope attempted by Horse Klien, who actually succeeded in getting to the western border. Even the use of a hot air balloon! Also my favorite the "Senior Citizens' Tunnel", led by an 81-year old man, with a group of other old citizens. 16 days had been spent building the 160-feet long and 6-feet high tunnel all the way to the western border. About 5000 people safely made it to the other side safely.
The Death Toll
"Anyone who does not respect our border will feel the bullet." -General Heinz Hoffman, August 1966. The East border soldiers were ordered to follow procedures and stop anyone who attempted to cross the border. Screaming and shouting "Halt! Grenzposten! Hände hoch!", in English translation that means "Stop, stand still, or I will shoot!". Only if a civilian was standing less than 100 meters in range of the Death Strip. The estimated total of death by the border before August 13, 1961 was only 16 people, after there were a total of 100-200 East Germans to the fall of the wall.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
November 9, 1989. That was the date of when freedom was adjourned. East and West Berlin was no more divided, the symbolic and physical strength of the wall was broken, and the spirit of the people exploded like a bomb. Celebrations came abroad, and people started destroying the wall with hammers and chisels. The people started to rejoice, East and West Germany was whole again.