by: Amber T.

During the 1960s, interesting things were happening around the world. In Germany, a wall was built through its capital city, Berlin, separating East and West Germany for twenty-eight years. Families were torn apart. People could not get to their jobs. Thousands of lives were disrupted. The reason cannot be understood without a look at Germany’s past.

World War II occurred when a man named Adolf Hitler started taking over Poland in 1939. On October 5^th, 1941, Polish resistance ceased. He continued to attack and conquer Europe. Japan wanted to expand and make their country larger. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s Deputy for Foreign Policy Questions, urged Japan to bomb America. He said the U.S. was not ready for war, and they should take advantage of that weakness. Finally, Ribbentrop was able to promise Japan that Germany would help them fight the U.S. By then, Japan had already bombed Pearl Harbor. The U.S. declared war on Japan. The Allies- Britain, the U.S., France, and Russia- attacked countries Hitler controlled. It became clear the Germans could not fight for much longer. Hitler realized he had lost the war, and committed suicide on April 30^th. The Germans in Italy surrendered on May 2^nd, 1945. Meanwhile, the Japanese refused to surrender, so on August 6^th the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the U.S. dropped an even more powerful atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Then, Japan surrendered. On May 8^th, 1945, Germany surrendered. The war was over.

The Allied Powers did not trust Germany. The Germans had caused WWI and WWII. To stop Germany from causing another war, they divided Germany into four sectors. Russia had the largest sector. Then, the four powers signed the "Potsdam Agreement", which determined the borders. Britain, France, and America formed West Germany. Russia was East Germany. The German Democratic Republic (GDR: East Germany) became a Communist state on October 7^th, 1949.

Even though Germany was controlled, travel between sectors was not restricted. Since most East Germans were not communist, they left East Germany to go to West Germany. People also went to East Germany. School was free there, but in West Germany, school cost money. Germans went to East Germany to get an education, and then to West Germany where they could make more money off it. Also, people who already had received their education left East Germany. From 1954-1960, East Germany lost 4,600 doctors, 15,885 teachers, 738 university teachers, and 15,536 engineers and technicians to West Germany, who profited greatly. East Germany did not like that. They needed people to rebuild the country after the ravages of WWII.

On August 13, 1961, the Berlin Wall was built. Nikita Kruschev, the Soviet leader, ordered the Berlin Wall to be built because of people leaving. One cause was the "brain drain" from 1954-1960. It was also built for political reasons- West Germany interfered with East Germany. Many people left East Germany because it was communist, and Russia did not want them to leave.

At 2:00 A.M. on Sunday, August 13, 1961, The People’s Police (Volkspolizei) blocked the boundary between the Soviet and the Allied sectors. Trains were stopped; telephone lines were cut, and streets were blocked. The streets were dug up, and concrete posts were set up. Barbed wire was put up. Anti-tank obstacles were built. The early barriers were short, about four feet tall, and were heightened when Germans easily jumped over the Wall. Because it was quickly built, the Wall was of poor quality at first. Concrete blocks had been laid down and joined with mortar. On top were irregular rows of blocks, sometimes topped off with bricks or barbed wire. The mortar was poorly applied and often dripped down the sides of the Wall. West Berliners called them "the tears of the Wall".

Unlike other barriers, the Berlin Wall was built to keep people inside. The Great Wall of China and similar walls were built to keep out enemies. The total length of the Berlin Wall was 28.5 miles. Two-thirds passed through rural areas. Barbed wire was put up there, since more people escaped in urban areas than rural. A more permanent wall was built later. It was four meters high, topped with concrete tubing and barbed wire. Behind it was a trench to stop tanks, then a patrol track and bunkers. Behind that was another wall, which was patrolled by Vopos (German guards) who shot escapees. The Berlin Wall was completed in 1963, and West Berlin was sealed off.

Many East Berliners tried to escape. Some jumped over the wall. People that lived near the wall jumped out of windows until the buildings were evacuated. Others tried to climb the Berlin Wall by throwing ropes over the wall, hoping for them to catch on something or be caught by a West Berliner, and climbed. Sale of rope and twine strong enough to support a person was banned to stop this. In August 1962, one of the most famous attempts to escape was made by Peter Fechter and Helmut Kulbeik. They crossed all the obstacles and reached the Wall. Helmut climbed to the top and was just about to swing over when he saw Peter standing at the base of the Wall. Helmut reached West Berlin. Peter climbed up the Wall, got shot, and he fell back into East Berlin. Americans would not go get him, saying it was not their problem. After a while, East German guards took him away. He died in a hospital from bullet wounds. Riots broke out protesting his death. The Germans began to feel negatively about Americans, since they had refused to go get him. Later, Michael Maier, a 21- year- old jockey, climbed on the wall, was hit with bullets five times, and fell into East Berlin. This time, Americans went and got him. He survived.

Tunnels were another way to escape. The first successful tunnel was at a mausoleum. "Mourners" went in and never came back. It was discovered when a real mourner accidentally found the tunnel and escaped with her baby, leaving the carriage behind. Suspicious guards found and destroyed the tunnel. A newspaper said that twenty-eight people had escaped through another tunnel. Shortly after, East Germans blocked the tunnel. West Germans were furious. The newspaper said they had published the article after the tunnel was found and its starting point occupied. However, some tunnel builders charged escapees large sums of money. Others agreed to let them escape, then betrayed them to Vopos. Other people used sewers instead of tunnels until all sewer manholes were cemented shut. Some people were trapped in the sewers when this happened.

Water was another way to escape. People swam in Berlin’s rivers and canals to freedom. Germans installed searchlights and machine guns to stop escaping people. A motorboat patrolled the water, just to make sure. Air was also a way to leave. A creative couple tried to cross this way. Their first balloon was not airtight and would not rise. The second balloon spun around in circles until it landed in East Berlin. The third balloon was bigger and could hold two families. The couple, their baby, and another family escaped to West Berlin. Escape by air was more common in rural areas than urban.

Some people walked straight through the checkpoints to West Berlin. Fritz Berger was an East German artist. He wore a complete Czech uniform, including khaki pants, shirt, tie, forage cap, and coat. He substituted unmarked buttons for U.S. buttons, and sewed a WWII patch on his shoulder. He had gotten the shoulder patch from his girlfriend, who had gotten it from an American years ago. Disguised as an American soldier, he walked straight through Checkpoint Charlie, one of the most famous checkpoints (crossings) of the Berlin Wall. Three other men stole a Soviet car. They put on false plates, and stars cut from cardboard and painted gold. Official-looking papers were put on the seats. With a young girl who hoped to escape with them hidden under a blanket, they drove straight through a checkpoint to West Berlin. Horst Beyer, a photographer, escaped also. He arranged for young, attractive women athletes to be photographed at Checkpoint Charlie in various poses. After each photo, he moved closer to the border. When a Vopo called, "Don’t cross the border!", he ran into West Berlin. Even the Vopos left- they crossed the border instead of guarding it. About 16,500 people crossed from East Berlin to West Berlin. Harsh sentences were given to people caught trying to escape.

America had a small role in the Berlin Wall. John F. Kennedy visited Berlin in June, 1963. Berliners went wild. Torn paper, rice, and flowers poured out of windows. People stood on cars, climbed trees, and clung to lampposts to see him. When he passed the Wall, all the sentries snapped to attention. Some East Berliners bravely waved. Thousands jammed into Rudolph-Wilde-Platz to hear him speak.

"All free men, wherever they may be, are citizens of Berlin. Therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words: Ich bein ein Berliner! (I am a Berliner!). There are many people in the world who don’t really understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Last sie nach Berlin kommen. (Let them come to Berlin.)"

Berlin was stunned when they heard Kennedy had been assassinated. They renamed Rudolph-Wilde-Platz, the plaza where he had spoken, to John- F. –Kennedy-Platz.

The Berlin Wall did not last forever. The beginning of the end of the Wall was when Hungary opened its doors to Germany. Hungary was a Communist state, and travel between Communist states was not controlled. People could go to Hungary, then to West Berlin or another Western European country. On November 9^th, 1989, at 7:00 P.M., Gunter Schalbowski, the leader of the East Berlin Communist party, announced the border would be opened for "private troops abroad." People called "wall woodpeckers" got hammers and chisels and took the wall down by hand. The entire thing, except for area of historical importance, had come down by July 1^st, 1990. One piece of the Berlin Wall is in Boston, where tourists can see what the Berlin Wall looked like, graffiti and all.

During the 1960s, interesting things were happening around the world. In Germany, a wall was built through its capital city, Berlin. The Berlin Wall, also called the Wall of Shame, stood for twenty-eight years. It separated East and West Germany, disrupting many lives.

Bibliography

"The Berlin Wall." The Berlin Wall. Online. Available

http://members.aol.com/johball/berlinw1.htm, 6 March 1997 Accessed 20 March 2001.

http://members.aol.com/johball/bib.htm, 29 May 1997 Accessed 8 March 2001.

Epler, Doris M. The Berlin Wall. Brookfield: Millbrook Press, 1992.

Heaps, Willard A. The Wall of Shame. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1964.

"Why the Berlin Wall was Built." Berlin Wall Official Homepage. Online. Available

http://www.guillotine.net/BerlinWall/bygg.htm, 3 August 2000 Accessed 12 March