Why was the Berlin Wall built?
The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berl...
When did the Berlin Wall fall?
The border between East and West Germany was opened on November 9, 1989, following anti-government protests in East Germany and the democratization...
What was the “death strip”?
The “death strip” was the belt of sand- or gravel-covered land between the two main barriers of the Berlin Wall. It was constantly under surveillan...
Does the Berlin Wall still exist?
Segments of the Berlin Wall still exist in modern Berlin, notably on display at the Topography of Terror museum, the Berlin Wall Memorial, and the...
How tall was the Berlin Wall?
The Berlin Wall was actually a system of barriers that included two walls. In the system’s final form, the outer wall, called the Vorderlandmauer,...
When did the Berlin Wall fall?
The Berlin Wall: The Fall of the Wall. On November 9, 1989 , as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders.
What was the Berlin Wall?
The Berlin Wall: Blockade and Crisis. The existence of West Berlin, a conspicuously capitalist city deep within communist East Germany, “stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat,” as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev put it. The Russians began maneuvering to drive the United States, Britain and France out of the city for good.
How many people were killed trying to get over the Berlin Wall?
In all, at least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or around the Berlin Wall. Escape from East Germany was not impossible, however: From 1961 until the wall came down in 1989, more than 5,000 East Germans (including some 600 border guards) managed to cross the border by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, climbing over the barbed wire, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through the sewers and driving through unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds.
What did Khrushchev do to stop the flow of emigrants?
That night, Premier Khrushchev gave the East German government permission to stop the flow of emigrants by closing its border for good. In just two weeks, the East German army, police force and volunteer construction workers had completed a makeshift barbed wire and concrete block wall –the Berlin Wall–that divided one side of the city from the other.
What was the purpose of the Berlin Wall?
The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep so-called Western “fascists” from entering East Germany ...
How many people left the GDR in 1961?
In June 1961, some 19,000 people left the GDR through Berlin. The following month, 30,000 fled. In the first 11 days of August, 16,000 East Germans crossed the border into West Berlin, and on August 12 some 2,400 followed—the largest number of defectors ever to leave East Germany in a single day.
How long did the Berlin Airlift last?
This effort, known as the Berlin Airlift, lasted for more than a year and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other goods to West Berlin. The Soviets called off the blockade in 1949.
What did Cuevas Wolf show?
Cuevas-Wolf showed artifacts from the museum, including a wedge-shaped, graffiti-sprayed chunk of the wall and an East German border guard’s cap. The documentary was followed by a question-and-answer session with English, Cuevas-Wolf, Bothe and Paul Lerner, associate professor of history and director of the Max Kade Institute.
What did East Germans talk about in the documentary?
In the documentary, many East Germans spoke of the loss of community after reunification and their previously unknown fear of unemployment. Some felt they were treated as second-class citizens by West Germans.
How long is the Berlin Wall?
It was later reinforced multiple times to become an impenetrable 12-foot high concrete wall, roughly 100 miles long. Berliners were shocked when they woke up Aug. 13.
What was the most important milestone marking the end of the Cold War?
The most important milestone marking the end of the Cold War — the dominant geopolitical struggle of the late 20th century — the fall of the Berlin Wall has the power to inspire us today, English and Bothe noted.
What did the fall of the Berlin Wall mean?
A cruel barrier. For the German people, the fall of the Berlin Wall spelled the end of this artificial division of their nation into two states . Robert English. “For the German people, the fall of the Berlin Wall spelled the end of this artificial division of their nation into two states,” English said. “It meant the end of travel restrictions that ...
Why did the Berlin Wall fall?
The fall of the Berlin Wall came as reform demands and mass protests quickly spread in response to Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika — the Soviet leader’s “restructuring” of the Soviet Union’s political and economic system to become more open.
When did Berliners wake up?
Berliners were shocked when they woke up Aug. 13. The relatively fluid border, which had allowed some 60,000 East Germans to commute daily to well-paying jobs in the West, to visit friends and loved ones, attend soccer matches and concerts, or go to the theater, was gone. Whichever side of the border one had gone to sleep on Aug. 12 was where one was stuck for the next 28 years.
Why did the Berlin Wall happen?
The Berlin Wall came to symbolize the Cold War ’s division of East from West Germany and of eastern from western Europe. About 5,000 East Germans managed to cross the Berlin Wall (by various means) and reach West Berlin safely, while another 5,000 were captured by East German authorities in the attempt and 191 more were killed during ...
What happened on November 9, 1989?
Follow the events of November 9, 1989, when an innocuous public announcement led to the bloodless revolution that brought down the Berlin Wall. East Germany’s hard-line communist leadership was forced from power in October 1989 during the wave of democratization that swept through eastern Europe.
How many East Germans fled the Berlin Wall?
In the years between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans had fled from East to West Germany, including steadily rising numbers ...
How tall was the Berlin Wall?
The Berlin Wall was actually a system of barriers that included two walls. In the system’s final form, the outer wall , called the Vorderlandmauer, was 11.5–13 feet (3.5–4 metres) tall, and the inner wall, the Hinterlandmauer, was 6.5–10 feet (2–3 metres) tall.
What is the boundary between East and West Berlin?
The boundary between East and West Berlin and the boundary between West Berlin and East Germany, for a combined length…. …of the Soviets, erected the Berlin Wall, isolating West from East Berlin. West Berlin, then literally an island within the surrounding GDR, became the symbol of Western freedom.
What was the death strip?
The “death strip” was the belt of sand- or gravel-covered land between the two main barriers of the Berlin Wall. It was constantly under surveillance by guards in watchtowers, who could shoot anyone they saw trying to escape.
What is West Berlin?
West Berlin, then literally an island within the surrounding GDR, became the symbol of Western freedom. Generous cultural and economic subsidies and the exemption of its citizens from West German conscription made West Berlin a centre of artistic…. 9–10, 1989, when the Berlin Wall was breached.
