the Erlin wall 1961 to 1989 the Cold War
the Berlin wall would become a symbol of
ideological division and suppression of
human rights during the Cold War it
represented the Iron Curtain that
separated Western Europe and the Eastern
Bloc in August 1961 the communist
government of the German Democratic
Republic of East Germany began
construction of the wall and placement
of barbed wire between West Berlin and
the East its purpose was to stop Western
fascists from entering the socialist
state of East Germany and stopping
defections from east to west it would
continue to do so until November 9th
1989 when the East German regime
announced that its citizens had the
right to cross the border when they
wanted the wall goes up when world war
ii came to an end in 1945 the victors
came together at the Yalta and Potsdam
conferences to split Germany into four
Allied occupation zones East Germany
would go to the Soviet Union while the
Western Park went to the United States
Great Britain and France even though
Berlin was located entirely within the
Soviet part of the country the city
would be split into four sectors in the
same way the Russians were determined to
remove the United States Britain and
France from Berlin a Soviet blockade in
1948 attempted to starve them from the
city however the United States and its
allies resisted by dropping food and
fuel supplies from aircraft which became
known as the Berlin Airlift the booming
Western sector which was the showcase of
capitalism contrasted sharply to the
economically poorer East many German
refugees flowed from the east to the
west including highly skilled workers
such as doctors teachers and engineers
between 1945 to 1961 15 to 20 percent of
the East German population had left to
the west premier Nikita Khrushchev
leader of the Soviet Union had had
enough and gave the East German
government permission to close Berlin's
borders for good on the night of August
12th 13th 1961 East German soldiers the
police force and volunteer construction
workers laid down barbed wire and a
cinderblock wall which stretched over a
hundred miles as the decades went on the
wall developed into a more sip
stated one featuring a series of tall
concrete walls electrified fences
fortifications and watchtowers escaping
East Berlin now people would no longer
be able to cross freely with ease to go
to work or shop as they had done before
now in order to get from west to east
they had to pass through border
crossings the most famous were
checkpoints alpha Bravo and Charlie but
there were several other border
crossings which checkpoints / border
crossings could be used also dependent
on nationality dependent on whether they
were West Germans or foreigners or
status such as military personnel or
diplomats West Berliners or West Germans
as well as foreigners could apply for a
visa to get into East Berlin East
Berliners and East Germans however were
not permitted to cross the border to
West Berlin or West Germany in October
1961 US chief of mission in West Berlin
Alan Lightner was stopped in his car by
East German police this prevention of
access for American officials to East
Berlin
caused a standoff between American and
Soviet tanks which faced off at
checkpoint charlie from many hours both
sides stared each other down waiting for
their enemy to fire the potential for
world war 3 was eventually averted when
President John F Kennedy contacted
Nikita Khrushchev and convinced him to
withdraw his tanks the American tanks
also backed away soon after armed
soldiers patrolled the wall and would
shoot anyone on sight attempting to
escape ditches barbed wire guard dogs
searchlights and minefields were also
set up to prevent escape attempts
buildings overlooking the wall were
demolished four had their windows
bricked up so that people could not
escape by jumping from them at least 171
people were killed trying to cross the
wall but this didn't mean that Escape
was impossible hundreds of East Germans
tried to escape across the wall
including by flying in a hot-air balloon
by zip line on a tightrope in a car
without a windshield by swimming and
through a tunnel President John F
Kennedy visited Berlin on June 26 1963
he made a speech known as
ich bin ein berliner referring to
himself as a Berliner in spirit as a way
of ensuring that the United States will
fully support West Berliners and Germans
this would be a big morale boost the
while President John F Kennedy protested
he realized a wall was better than war
on June 12 1987 US President Ronald
Reagan arrived in West Berlin for its
seven hundred and fiftieth anniversary
celebration in his speech at the
Brandenburg Gate he challenged Soviet
leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down
the wall the fall of the wall on
November 9th 1989 with the Cold War
thawing and political changes happening
across the Eastern Bloc the East German
government announced that all GDR
citizens could visit West Germany and
West Berlin günter schabowski the East
German Communist official who was the
unofficial spokesman had announced a new
freedom of travel for East Germans to
the west in that they could apply for
visas from the state agency in an
orderly manner in an unprepared
interview after not having all the
information he said to journalists we
have decided today to implement a
regulation that allows every citizen of
the German Democratic Republic to leave
East Germany through any of the border
crossings and when asked when this would
take effect he responded according to my
information immediately without delay
from this interpretation thousands of
East Germans gathered around the
checkpoints and the wall creating a
party atmosphere then the crowd of East
Germans crossed the border and climbed
onto the wall celebrating with West
Germans on the other side people knocked
down the wall with hammers and soon with
the help of bulldozers it was pull down
the reunification of East and West
Germany was made official on October 3rd
1990
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