From August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall divided the city into two parts: West and East Berlin. It became the most famous symbol of the Cold War.
Berlin before 1961 – was the last “hole” in the West
Before the construction of the Berlin Wall, the borders between the western and eastern parts of the city were open, which gave the citizens of the GDR an opportunity to leave the country freely. Between 1949 and 1961, more than two and a half million people took advantage of this opportunity. The mass departure was called a “vote with their feet”: leaving, the citizens of the GDR spoke out against the existing socialist system. Young specialists often left the country, which had a negative impact not only on demography, but also on the economy of the East German state.
The leadership of the socialist camp decided to build the Berlin Wall against the background of the aggravation of the conflict between the two military-political blocs: NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries. Historians call this event the “second birth” of the GDR: the country, completely isolated from the West, decided to focus on the ideological component and build “already existing socialism”.
The immediate start of the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 is still an event, not all of its circumstances are 100% clear. German historian Martin Sabro (Martin Sabro) believes that the situation was influenced by various post-war conditions and well-defined personalities. “The leader of East Germany, Walter Ulbricht, was more interested than Khrushchev in stopping the flow of people,” Zabrov confirmed. “Khrushchev believed in utopia, believing that socialism would triumph in Berlin without any walls and borders. He was really convinced of the superiority of the Soviet regime, Ulbricht realized that the situation was getting worse every day, and began to bombard the Soviet leadership with letters and talk of a blockade, and considered the wall a necessary measure on the way to saving the republic German Democratic Republic.”
Escape attempts and the victims of the Berlin Wall
Construction of the wall began on the night of August 13. Its total length was 155 km, of which 45 km stretched inside the city, sometimes dividing one street in two. 155 kilometers of barbed wire, a 3.6-meter-high concrete wall and 302 watchtowers halted mass immigration to Germany. However, there were later attempts to escape. For a few citizens of the GDR, they ended up in tragedy.
In 1962, 18-year-old Peter Fichter was killed by East German border guards while trying to cross the Berlin Wall. He bled for an hour until the border guards took him away. Died from blood loss.
Until 1989, the escape to the West, which required careful preparation and was associated with a danger to life, was a success for several thousand people. With border controls tightened, the fugitives’ imaginations became more complex: they hid in specially built bunkers in cars and loudspeakers, and crossed the border in hot air balloons and makeshift gliders. One of the most famous cases of escape was the mass exodus through a 140-meter self-drilled tunnel. On two evenings in 1964, 57 people crossed it into the territory of West Berlin.
The first victim of the Berlin Wall was a woman who jumped out of a window of a house in East Germany on August 22, 1961. She wanted to get to the other side of the street, which belongs to the western part of the city, but she crashed to death. Two days later, on August 24, 1961, the border guards of the German Democratic Republic shot a citizen of the GDR who was trying to flee west for the first time near the wall: his name was Gunter Lytvyn.
A “Piece of History” from Berlin
After the border between West and East Berlin was opened, the wall literally began to dismantle piece by piece. Its fragments have become a favorite souvenir. Some discerning lovers of modern history even took whole lumps …
Today, the remaining sections of the wall are a favorite place of pilgrimage for city guests. The concrete blocks that once separated the two states are considered a historical monument and are under state protection.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
A trail along the Berlin Wall
For 28 long years, the Berlin Wall divided the city into two parts – East and West Berlin. In 2019, it has been 30 years since the peaceful revolution in the German Democratic Republic and the fall of this symbol of the Cold War and the division of Germany, which was unified in 1990. Where it was taking place, the historical 160 km is now laid the road – the corridor along the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauerweg).
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Memorial Complex
You can start your cycling or hiking tour anywhere and you don’t have to do the entire route at once. You can choose any location or go through this historical path in stages. You can start in the center of the German capital, where the Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Center are located on Bernauer Strasse.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Where was the wall?
A six-kilometer section is marked here by a double line of cobblestones, on which the bronze plaques “Berlin Wall 1961-1989” (“Berliner Mauer 1961-1989”) are located at different distances from each other. Above the inscription was East Berlin, below – the West. This helps to navigate the place.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Brandenburg Gate
If you follow the road from the monument on Bernauer Strasse towards the current Mitte government district, the path will lead along the River Spree past the Reichstag to Parisian Platz and the Brandenburg Gate. During the Berlin Wall period, the gate was located between the two halves of the city, becoming a symbol of the division of Berlin, and after the fall – a symbol of German reunification.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Checkpoint Charlie
It was possible to move from one part of the city to another while the Berlin Wall was in place through eight checkpoints. The most famous of these is Checkpoint Charlie (Checkpoint Charlie) on Friedrichstrasse. Now here you can see the reconstruction of the year 2000. Due to the great popularity of this place, the atmosphere around it is very similar to the tourist “Disneyland”.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Watchtowers
Over three hundred watchtowers were erected along the Berlin Wall from the East German side, where soldiers were on duty around the clock, ready to shoot to kill. Only three towers remain. They are under protection as historical monuments. One of them, built of concrete in 1966, is located near Potsdamer Platz and is open to the public.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
east side gallery
The longest surviving section of the Berlin Wall is in the Friedrichshain – the famous East Side Gallery. After the borders were opened, these panels were painted by artists, and they became a historical monument and a permanent open-air exhibition. The most famous graffiti here is Dmitriy Vrubel’s “Brotherly Kiss”.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Glinick Bridge
Most of the route – 110 kilometers – runs along the outer border of the city, which runs between West Berlin and Brandenburg. The special attraction here is the Glenicke Bridge over the Havel in the Potsdam region, where during the Cold War the exchange of clients and political prisoners took place. One of these actions in 1962 formed the basis of the Hollywood movie Bridge of Spies.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Museum in the border tower
The historical path passes not only through urban areas, but also through suburban forests, along rivers, through meadows and fields. The sections where the Berlin Wall was located outside the city were often the site of perilous attempts by residents of the GDR to escape to the West – for example, by swimming across the Havel. The museum in the former watchtower in Hennigsdorf is dedicated to life in these places while the wall was in existence.
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Where was the Berlin Wall?
Sakura instead of the wall
Some areas on the former frontier were planted with sakura. The trees were donated by the people of Japan, who thus wanted to express their joy regarding the reunification of Germany. In the spring, you can enjoy its flowering, for example, in the Pankow district near the bridge on Bornholmer Strasse, where the first checkpoint was opened, on the night of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.
Author: Ann Blink, Elizabeth Grenier, Maxim Neleubin
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