The Berlin Wall stood for nearly 30 years, dividing Germany in half, including the city of Berlin. U.S. President Kennedy visits the West German side of the wall and utters the famous lines: “Ich bin ein Berliner”. [4] Its capital Berlin was also divided into four zones, so that it was an enclave, like an island inside the Soviet zone. Today, the Stasi archive, which includes data that was gathered by the East German government on its own citizens, allows anyone who was spied on to view their own file. Trying to escape from East Germany often wasn’t as simple as climbing the wall — in some places, people also had to cross a “no man’s land” between two walls undetected. The number of defectors grew and caused tensions between East Germany and Czechoslovakia. A History Of The Berlin Wall: The Rise And Fall Of The Berlin Wall. [5] Europe, Germany and Berlin were divided by an iron curtain. Thousands of East Germans were captured during attempted crossings and 191 were killed. In June 1963, President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin in a historic trip that included a stop at Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point at the border of East Berlin and West Berlin. The History Mile info boards This PDF file contains a list and a description of all the History Mile info boards (only in German). The Berlin Wall History Mile is a permanent exhibition in four languages. When guards finally opened the gates for the masses of people gathering, Germans from both sides were soon roaming freely for the first time in 28 years. Erected in the 1960s, the Berlin Wall divided communist East Germany from the non-communist West. The first two versions of the wall were replaced by the third version in 1965, consisting of a concrete wall supported by steel girders. Your curiosity knows no bounds. The long-time leader, Erich Honecker, resigned and was replaced by Egon Krenz a few days later. This is unusual because the East German border police had orders to not shoot on pregnant women, children or mentally ill people. The date commemorates when the reunification of East Germany and West Germany was formally completed. Very hard to climb. The wall was perhaps the most enduring symbol of the Cold War, and the moment in 1989 when guards opened the gates — and the German people, reunited, began tearing the wall down — became one of the most important cultural moments of the 20th century. To the shock of the world, Fechter was just left there. In 2007, a document from 1973 was discovered that revealed East Germany had an official policy allowing Berlin Wall guards to shoot and kill anyone — including kids — who were seen trying to flee into West Germany. The East Berlin special police who guarded the wall had the order to shoot if this was necessary to stop people fleeing. The first victim of the Wall to be shot at was Günter Litfin. On the east side, the wall was free of vandalism. But after the border was opened, that changed. The official (civil border) began before the first fence. It was not really a wall, but a collection of walls and fences and other devices. Very quickly, the Berlin Wall was inundated with people from both sides. The Berlin Wall was taken down on November 9, 1989. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. He was replaced by Egon Krenz after a unanimous vote by the politburo. For decades, the secret police spied on the East German people, keeping files on them. Soldiers closing off East Berlin with barbed wire fences. Then, in 1961, after years of seeing East German citizens leave the country for West Germany, the East Germans decided to close the border and build a wall to keep their people from leaving. ", After this statement, the exodus of East Germans only increased. The yellow line is where the Wall was. The song was a hit for Hasselhoff in West Germany and had come to represent the country’s desire for unification. On 8 March, 1989, Winfried Freudenberg died after falling from a gas balloon. The Berlin wall eventually started to fall once people rioted. The city of Berlin — similar to the entire nation of Germany — was divided into a Soviet-controlled, communist sector to the east, and an Allied powers-controlled, capitalist sector to the west, in May 1945. The opposing structure didn’t stop people from trying to make the great escape to the west and roughly 171 people lost their lives trying to defect, while over 5,000 more East Germans managed to make the impossible journey to the west.

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