When did the Berlin Wall appear? The Berlin Wall: the history of creation and destruction in the context of European history

Of the year

Modern
state Completely dismantled, only some fragments remain. Openness to
public No. Crossing only with permission. In management GDR GDR
East Berlin. Battles/wars Berlin crisis of 1961 Events Quadrilateral status of Berlin
Treaty of the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany Berlin Wall at Wikimedia Commons

The location of the wall is plotted on a modern satellite image

Story

The construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961, on the recommendation of a meeting of secretaries of communist and workers' parties of the Warsaw Pact countries (August 3-5, 1961) and on the basis of a decision of the People's Chamber of the GDR of August 11, 1961. During its existence, it was rebuilt and improved several times. The last major reconstruction was carried out in 1975.

By 1989, it was a complex complex consisting of:

• concrete fencing with a total length of 106 km and an average height of 3.6 meters;
• metal mesh fencing with a length of 66.5 km;
• electric signal fence with a length of 127.5 km;
• earthen ditches with a length of 105.5 km;
• anti-tank fortifications in certain areas;
• 302 guard towers and other border structures;
• strips 14 km long of sharp spikes and a control strip with constantly leveled sand.

There were no fences where the border passed along rivers and reservoirs. There were initially 13 border checkpoints, but by 1989 the number had been reduced to three.

On November 9, 1989, under the influence of mass popular uprisings, the Government of the GDR lifted restrictions on communication with West Berlin, and from June 1, 1990, completely abolished border controls. During January - November 1990, all border structures were demolished, with the exception of a 1.3 km section left as a monument to one of the most famous symbols of the Cold War (see Berlin Crisis of 1961).

Before the construction of the wall, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was relatively open. The dividing line, 44.75 km long (the total length of West Berlin's border with the GDR was 164 km), ran right through streets and houses, canals and waterways. There were officially 81 street checkpoints, 13 crossings in the metro and on the city railway. In addition, there were hundreds of illegal routes. Every day the border between both parts of the city was crossed by various reasons from 300 to 500 thousand people.

The lack of a clear physical boundary between the zones led to frequent conflicts and a massive outflow of specialists to West Berlin. Many East Germans preferred to work in West Berlin, where wages were significantly higher.

The construction of the Berlin Wall was preceded by a serious aggravation of the political situation around Berlin. Both military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) confirmed the irreconcilability of their positions on the “German Question”. The West German government, led by Konrad Adenauer, introduced the Hallstein Doctrine in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR. It categorically rejected proposals from the East German side to create a confederation of German states, insisting instead on holding all-German elections. In turn, the GDR authorities declared in 1958 their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it was “on the territory of the GDR.”

In November 1958, the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the Potsdam Agreements of 1945. He announced the Soviet Union's abolition of Berlin's international status and described the entire city (including its western sectors) as the "capital of the GDR". The Soviet government proposed turning West Berlin into a “demilitarized free city” and, in an ultimatum, demanded that the United States, Great Britain and France negotiate on this topic within six months (Berlin Ultimatum (1958)). This demand was rejected by the Western powers. Negotiations between their foreign ministers and the head of the USSR Foreign Ministry in Geneva in the spring and summer of 1959 ended without result.

After N. Khrushchev's visit to the USA in September 1959, the Soviet ultimatum was postponed. But the parties stubbornly adhered to their previous positions. In August 1960, the GDR government introduced restrictions on visits by German citizens to East Berlin, citing the need to stop them from conducting “revanchist propaganda.” In response, West Germany refused a trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as " economic war" After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was nevertheless put into effect on January 1, 1961. But the crisis was not resolved. ATS leaders continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, the foreign ministers of NATO countries confirmed in May 1961 their intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of Western powers in the western part of the city and its “viability”. Western leaders said they would defend “the freedom of West Berlin with all their might.”

Both blocs and both German states increased their armed forces and stepped up propaganda against the enemy. The GDR authorities complained about Western threats and maneuvers, “provocative” violations of the country’s border (137 for May - July 1961), and the activities of anti-communist groups. They accused “German agents” of organizing dozens of acts of sabotage and arson. Great dissatisfaction with the leadership and police of East Germany was caused by the inability to control the flow of people moving across the border.

The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The tough course of the 1st Chairman of the State Council of the GDR Walter Ulbricht, economic policy aimed at “catching up and overtaking the Federal Republic of Germany”, and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization of 1957-1960, foreign policy tension and more high level wages in West Berlin encouraged thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West. In total, more than 207 thousand people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, more than 30 thousand East Germans fled the country. These were predominantly young and qualified specialists. Outraged East German authorities accused West Berlin and Germany of “human trafficking,” “poaching” personnel and attempts to thwart their economic plans. They claimed that the East Berlin economy loses 2.5 billion marks annually because of this.

In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the ATS countries decided to close the border. Rumors of such plans were in the air as early as June 1961, but the leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, then denied such intentions. In fact, at that time they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other members of the Eastern Bloc. From August 3 to 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the ATS states was held in Moscow, at which Ulbricht insisted on closing the border in Berlin. This time he received support from the Allies. On August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), a decision was made to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. On August 12, the Council of Ministers of the GDR adopted a corresponding resolution. The East Berlin police were put on full alert. At 1 am on August 13, 1961, the project began. About 25 thousand members of paramilitary “battle groups” from GDR enterprises occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions covered parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was in a state of readiness.

Construction of the wall

Operation of public and road transport

Immediately after the start of work on the construction of the wall, a large number of transport systems and corridors that previously connected the Western sector with the Eastern sector were blocked. Among them is the city's metro (U-bahn), which was divided into two operating autonomous systems. One and a half dozen city metro stations stopped operating and were closed for the next three decades. Twelve of them in the Eastern sector became transit stations, through which trains traveled non-stop from the Western part of the city to the Western. Most of the city's metro lines remain in the west. The city's elevated train (S-bahn) system was also split, with most of the lines remaining in the east. Within the boundaries of the wall, several tram lines were blocked, and the tram system was also divided. By the end of the 60s, the tram in West Berlin was eliminated and remained only in the Eastern sector.

For visits to the Eastern Sector (for example, by Western tourists on buses), border checkpoints were established, which were controlled by GDR border guards. A very thorough search was carried out here, especially before leaving East Berlin, since there were repeated cases of transporting fugitives by vehicles in hiding places, some of which were quite successful.

Berlin's public transport remained separated by a wall until the beginning of 1990, and in fact it was time to restore the former unified transport infrastructure it took a few more years.

Crossing the border

GDR citizens required special permission to visit West Berlin. Only pensioners had the right of free passage.
The most famous cases of escapes from the GDR in the following ways: 28 people left through a 145-meter-long tunnel they dug themselves; they flew on a hang glider, in a balloon made of nylon fragments, on a rope thrown between the windows of neighboring houses, and using a bulldozer to ram the wall.
Between 13 August 1961 and 9 November 1989, there were 5,075 successful escapes to West Berlin or West Germany, including 574 desertions.

Crossing the border for money

In the years cold war in the GDR there was a practice of releasing citizens to the West for money. Such operations were carried out by Wolfgang Vogel, a lawyer from the GDR. From 1964 to 1989, he arranged border crossings for a total of 215 thousand East Germans and 34 thousand political prisoners from East German prisons. Their liberation cost West Germany 3.5 billion marks ($2.7 billion).

Escapees and their victims

Memorial to the victims of the Wall. Photo from 1982.

The Potsdam Research Center, which is counting the victims of the Berlin Wall at the request of the German Federal Government, has documented, as of 2006, the death of 125 people as a result of attempts to overcome the wall. As of 2017, the number of documented victims has increased to 140 people

Persons who tried to illegally cross the Berlin Wall in the opposite direction, from West Berlin to East Berlin, are called “Berlin Wall jumpers”, and among them there were also victims, although according to instructions regarding them firearms was not used by the GDR border guards.

For attempting to illegally cross the Berlin Wall, there was an article in the criminal code of the GDR that provided for up to 10 years in prison.

“Mr. Gorbachev, destroy this wall!”

On June 12, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan, delivering a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in honor of the 750th anniversary of Berlin, called on the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev to demolish the Wall, thereby symbolizing the desire of the Soviet leadership for change:

We hear from Moscow about a new policy of reform and glasnost. Some political prisoners were released. Certain foreign radio news broadcasts are no longer jammed. Some economic enterprises were allowed to operate with greater freedom from government control. Is this the beginning of profound changes in the Soviet state? Or are these symbolic gestures meant to raise false hopes in the West and strengthen the Soviet system without changing it? We welcome perestroika and glasnost because we believe that freedom and security go together, that the progress of human freedom can only bring world peace. There is one move the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would become a symbol of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you are looking for peace, if you are looking for prosperity for the Soviet Union and of Eastern Europe if you are looking for liberalization: come here! Mister Gorbachev, open these gates! Mr. Gorbachev, destroy this wall!

Fall of the wall

As a result of mass protests, the SED leadership resigned (October 24 - Erich Honecker, November 7 - Willy Stoff, November 13 - Horst Sindermann, Egon Krenz, who replaced Erich Honecker as General Secretary of the SED Central Committee and Chairman of the State Council of the GDR, was also removed 3 December 1989). Gregor Gysi became the chairman of the SED, Manfred Gerlach became the chairman of the State Council of the GDR, and Hans Modrow became the chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Completely complex " Berlin Wall", which occupies four hectares, was completed in 2012. The Berlin Senate - an analogue of the state government - invested 28 million euros in the construction.

The memorial is located on Bernauer Strasse, along which the border between the GDR and West Berlin passed (the buildings themselves were in the eastern sector, and the sidewalk adjacent to them was in the western).

Part of the Berlin Wall memorial complex was the Chapel of Reconciliation, built in 2000 on the foundation of the Church of Reconciliation, which was blown up in 1985. The initiator and active participant in the creation of the memorial on Bernauer Strasse was Manfred Fischer, who is called the “pastor of the Berlin Wall.”

In culture

art

If from the “eastern” side of the wall it was impossible to get close to it until the very end, then in the West it became a platform for the creativity of numerous artists - both professional and amateur. By 1989, it had turned into a multi-kilometer exhibition of graffiti, including very highly artistic ones. After the destruction of the wall, its fragments quickly turned into objects of trade. Many fragments of the wall ended up in the United States, for example, in the office of Microsoft Corporation, the CIA headquarters in Langley, at the Ronald Reagan Museum, in Fatima, etc.

Music

• The song by the pop rock band Tokio Hotel - World Behind My Wall, dedicated to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• Udo Lindenberg's song - "Wir wollen einfach nur zusammen sein".
• On the album Back for the Attack (1987) by the rock band Dokken, there is the song Lost Behind The Wall, which tells about life “on the other side of the wall.” And in the lyrics of the song there is the line “Die Mauer muss weg”, which translated from German means “the wall must disappear.”
• On July 21, 1990, after the demolition of the Wall, but before the reunification of Germany, a grandiose performance of “The Wall” in Berlin, based on the album of the rock group Pink Floyd, organized by Roger Waters, took place on Potsdamer Platz.
• A year before the release of the song “Wind of change” (literally “Wind of Change”) by the group Scorpions, the Berlin Wall was destroyed, and soon the Soviet Union collapsed, so the track was and is perceived as the anthem of Perestroika, glasnost and the end of the Cold War, as a symbol of peace between the peoples of Germany and Russia, world peace. Klaus said: “Our fathers came to Russia with tanks. We are coming to you with guitars"
• 1985 single by Elton John - Nikita.
• Song by progressive rock band Camel - West Berlin
• In the 1977 song Holidays in the Sun, the punk rock band Sex Pistols call for the Berlin Wall to be torn down.
• Song of the bard Nikolai Nick. Brown's "Berlin Wall" in 1990 with the question: "When will we destroy the idols of lies?"
• The title of Queen's album - Jazz and the drawing on its cover were taken from a drawing on the Berlin wall in the area of ​​​​Checkpoint Charlie, which the musicians saw while visiting East Berlin.
• Mike Mareen - composition Germany, just about the wall. 1987 album Let's Start Now
• The song of the group "Bi-2" "Goodbye Berlin" talks about the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• The Pigott Brothers - song "Berlin Wall", 2012, album The Age of Peace.

Books

• Humorous story by Mikhail Kazovsky “Psycho, or an Unsuccessful Attempt to Cross the Wall” (2008).
• In the book “Rivne / Rivne (Stina)” by Alexander Irvanets, a wall runs through the Ukrainian city, dividing it into eastern and western sectors. The main character receives permission to visit his family in eastern Rivne.
• In the novel by Russian writer Ilya Stogov “mASIAfucker” (2002) main character recalls his visit to Berlin to his mistress during the destruction of the wall. He is focused on his experiences and is not able to empathize with the general enthusiasm of people on the streets of the city.
• The story “Apothegeus” (1989) by Soviet and Russian writer Yuri Polyakov describes the trip of a group of Moscow Komsomol functionaries to Berlin with a “visit” of the Berlin Wall.
• Mark Levy's novel “The Words We Didn't Say to Each Other” (2008) describes the events that took place in Germany in November 1989, and the main characters meet on the day the Berlin Wall fell.

Games

• Each box of the World in Conflict collector's edition of the video game contained a piece of the Berlin Wall, the authenticity of which was confirmed by the attached certificate.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer features the Berlin Wall map, where the action takes place at Checkpoint Charlie.
• In the game "Ostalgie: the Berlin wall" the wall is automatically destroyed depending on your actions.

Who built the Berlin Wall, when and why you will learn from this article.

Why was the Berlin Wall built?

The post-war period was marked by an exacerbation international situation. The new Secretary General of the Soviet Union and American President failed to reach general agreements in Vienna regarding territorial issues. In August, the socialist camp fenced itself off from the imperialist countries in Berlin by building a concrete wall. It went down in history as the Berlin Wall.

Thus, the former Germany was divided into 2 states - the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its capital in Bonn and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with its capital in East Berlin. Berlin itself was also divided into three zones - East Berlin, which belonged to the Soviet zone, and West Berlin, which belonged to the British and American zones.

In what year was the Berlin Wall built?

Construction of the Berlin Wall began at night August 13, 1961 units of the GDR army, police and communist workers' squads. They worked under the cover of tanks. Engineering and transport communications were cut, and barbed barriers were erected along 45 km. Over the course of 10 years, the wall was constantly improved and became an impregnable barrier.

After its construction, it was possible to get from one part of Berlin to another only through checkpoints. The Berlin Wall became a symbol of the Cold War between West and East.

But in the end, it somehow turned out that the whole story was basically just about one very touching phenomenon that impressed me personally to the depths of my soul. This is the famous Berlin Wall. I write “famous,” but I’m ashamed, because, imagine, before coming to Berlin, I simply knew from history lessons that it was erected after the Second World War and divided Berlin into two parts, but why, when, by whom and for what ... never really been interested. But I'll start from the beginning.

Where to stay in Berlin

It is better to book hotels in Berlin in advance, so I recommend these to you:

Don't forget to check discounts on the Roomguru service, where you can see prices for the same hotel in different systems reservations. Using the example of hotels above:

Berlin Wall

Once in Berlin, we, to our shame, realized that we didn’t really know what to look at, except for the Reichstag and the monument to the Russian soldier, which, by the way, we never got to. Somehow they didn’t even think about the Berlin Wall. But, circling around the city with a map, suddenly at some point we discovered that we were not far from Checkpoint Charlie, we stopped, read the description in our mini-guide and, to put it mildly, we were hooked.

Later, when we tried to explain to ourselves why this touched us so much, we found a simple explanation for this - it’s not just theirs, it’s ours. general history! The Berlin Wall is, in fact, a symbol of the then political regime, it is a living personification of the “Iron Curtain”. In official documents, however, they often talk about the “Cold War.”

Being seriously interested in this topic, I found a lot of stories and photos on this topic, I dare to briefly state here what shocked me the most, and post some photos of that time, the authors of which I apologize in advance.

But first, I’ll explain a little: in 1948, Berlin was divided into two parts, one of which, the eastern one, was the capital of the GDR, and the second, the western one, was the American, French and British sectors of the occupation. At first, it was possible to cross the border freely, which East Berliners happily did every day, going to West Berlin to work, to the store, to visit friends and relatives. But this did not have a very positive effect on the economy of the GDR. There were other equally significant, in the opinion of the GDR government, political and economic reasons why it was decided to surround West Berlin with an impenetrable wall. As a result, during the night of August 13, 1961, the entire border with West Berlin was blocked, and by August 15 it was completely surrounded by barbed wire, in the place of which the construction of the Berlin Wall began quite quickly. At first it was stone, and later it turned into a whole complex complex of reinforced concrete walls, ditches, metal mesh, watchtowers, etc.

Since the border was closed overnight, you can imagine how many people instantly lost their jobs, friends, relatives, apartments... And all at once - freedom. Many could not put up with this and almost immediately escapes from East Berlin to West Berlin began. At first, this was not so difficult, but as the Berlin Wall complex grew and became stronger, the methods of escape became more and more inventive and cunning.

You can read a lot about escape attempts on the Internet, I won’t tell you about everything. I will only briefly describe those that were the most successful, original and memorable. Forgive me, I will write without names and dates. Several times, immediately after the construction of the Berlin Wall, they broke through it, ramming it with trucks. At checkpoints, they drove under the barriers at high speed in sports cars that were too low to hit the barrier, swam across rivers and lakes, because... this was the most exposed section of the fence.

The border between West and East Berlin often ran right through the houses, and it turned out that the entrance was on the eastern territory, and the windows faced the West. When they first began to build the Berlin Wall, many residents of the building boldly jumped out of the windows onto the street, where they were often caught by Western firefighters or simply caring city residents. But all these windows were bricked up very soon. I wonder if the residents were relocated, or if they continued to live without daylight?

The first escapes of East Berliners

Tunnels were very popular; dozens of them were dug, and this was the most crowded method of escape (20-50 people escaped at a time). Later, particularly enterprising Western businessmen even began to make money from this by placing advertisements in newspapers “We will help with family problems.”

A tunnel through which dozens of people were running

There were also very original escapes: for example, two families made a homemade hot air balloon and flew over the Berlin Wall on it; the brothers crossed to West Berlin by stretching a cable between houses and going down it on a roulette wheel.

When, a few years later, Westerners were allowed to enter East Berlin with special passes to see relatives, sophisticated methods were invented to smuggle people out in cars. Sometimes they used very small cars, specially modified so that people could hide under the hood or in the trunk. The border guards didn’t even realize that there could be a person instead of a motor. Many people hid in suitcases, sometimes they were stacked two at a time, with slits made between them, so the person fit completely without having to fold.

Almost immediately, an order was issued to shoot at all people trying to escape. One of the most known victims This inhumane decree was imposed on a young guy, Peter Fechter, who, while trying to escape, was shot in the stomach and left to bleed against the wall until he died. The unofficial numbers of arrests for escaping (3,221 people), deaths (from 160 to 938 people) and injuries (from 120 to 260 people) while trying to overcome the Berlin Wall are simply terrifying!

When I read all these stories about escapes from East Berlin, I had a question that I could not find the answer to anywhere, where did all the escapees live in West Berlin? After all, it was not made of rubber either, and according to unconfirmed data, 5,043 people managed to escape successfully in one way or another.

Near Checkpoint Charlie there is a museum dedicated to the history of the Berlin Wall. In it, Rainer Hildebrandt, the museum's founder, collected many of the devices that East Berliners used to escape to West Berlin. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to the museum itself, but it was extraordinary powerful emotions We were even aroused by postcards with images of the Berlin Wall and photo sketches from the neighboring souvenir shop. Everyday life that time. And I was very touched by the request and appeal left at Checkpoint Charlie to our president.

Meanwhile, life went on as usual, the people of West Berlin had free access to the wall, could walk along it and use it for their needs. Many artists painted graffiti on the western side of the Berlin Wall, some of these images became famous throughout the world, such as the “Kiss of Honecker and Brezhnev.”

People often came to the wall to look at their loved ones at least from afar, wave a handkerchief at them, show them their children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters. This is terrible, families, loved ones, relatives, loved ones, separated by concrete and someone’s complete indifference. After all, even if this was so necessary for the economy and/or politics, then it was possible to provide for people not to suffer so much, to give at least the opportunity to reunite relatives...

The fall of the Berlin Wall occurred on November 9, 1989. The reason for this significant event was that one of the countries of the socialist camp, Hungary, opened its borders with Austria, and approximately 15 thousand GDR citizens left the country to get to West Germany. The remaining East German residents took to the streets with demonstrations and demands for their civil rights. And on November 9, the head of the GDR announced that it would be possible to leave the country with a special visa. However, the people did not wait for this; millions of citizens simply poured out into the streets and headed towards the Berlin Wall. The border guards were unable to contain such a crowd, and the borders were open. On the other side of the wall, West Heman residents met their compatriots. There was an atmosphere of joy and happiness from the reunion.

There is an opinion that when the general rejoicing passed, residents of different Germanys began to feel a huge ideological gap between themselves. They say that this is still felt today, and East Berliners are still different from West Berliners. But we haven't had a chance to check this yet. Nowadays, sometimes, no, no, but a rumor slips through that some Germans are convinced that life under the Berlin Wall was better than it is now. Although, perhaps, this is what those who generally believe that before the sun was brighter, the grass was greener, and life was better say.

In any case, such a terrible phenomenon occurred in history, and its remnants are still preserved in Berlin. And when you walk down the street and under your feet you see marks where the Berlin Wall used to be, when you can touch its fragments, and you understand how much pain, unrest and fear this building brought, you begin to feel your involvement in this history.

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall a (German) Berliner Mauer) - an engineered and fortified state border of the German Democratic Republic with West Berlin (August 13, 1961 - November 9, 1989) with a length of 155 km, including 43.1 km within Berlin. In the West, until the end of the 1960s, dysphemism was officially used in relation to the Berlin Wall “ Shameful wall", introduced by Willy Brandt.

Berlin map.
The wall is marked with a yellow line, red dots are checkpoints

The Berlin Wall was erected on August 13, 1961, on the recommendation of a meeting of the secretaries of the communist and workers' parties of the Warsaw Pact countries. During its existence, it was rebuilt and improved several times. By 1989, it was a complex complex consisting of:
concrete fencing with a total length of 106 km and an average height of 3.6 meters; metal mesh fences with a length of 66.5 km; signal fence under electric voltage, length 127.5 km; earthen ditches with a length of 105.5 km; anti-tank fortifications in certain areas; 302 guard towers and other border structures; strips of sharp spikes 14 km long and a control strip with constantly leveled sand.
There were no fences where the border passed along rivers and reservoirs. There were initially 13 border checkpoints, but by 1989 the number had been reduced to three.

Construction of the Berlin Wall. November 20, 1961

The construction of the Berlin Wall was preceded by a serious aggravation of the political situation around Berlin. Both military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) confirmed the irreconcilability of their positions on the “German Question”. The West German government, led by Konrad Adenauer, introduced the Hallstein Doctrine in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR, while insisting on holding all-German elections. In turn, the GDR authorities declared in 1958 their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it was “on the territory of the GDR.”

In August 1960, the GDR government introduced restrictions on visits by German citizens to East Berlin, citing the need to stop them from conducting “revanchist propaganda.” In response, West Germany refused a trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an “economic war.” Western leaders said they would defend “the freedom of West Berlin with all their might.”

Berlin Wall structure

Both blocs and both German states increased their armed forces and intensified propaganda against the enemy. The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The tough course of the 1st Chairman of the State Council of the GDR Walter Ulbricht, economic policy aimed at “catching up and overtaking the Federal Republic of Germany”, and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization of 1957-1960, foreign policy Tensions and higher wages in West Berlin prompted thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West. In total, more than 207 thousand people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, more than 30 thousand East Germans fled the country. These were predominantly young and qualified specialists. Outraged East German authorities accused West Berlin and Germany of “human trafficking,” “poaching” personnel and attempts to thwart their economic plans.

In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the ATS countries decided to close the border. From August 3 to 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the ATS states was held in Moscow, at which Ulbricht insisted on closing the border in Berlin. On August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), a decision was made to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. The East Berlin police were put on full alert. At 1 am on August 13, 1961, the project began. About 25 thousand members of paramilitary “battle groups” from GDR enterprises occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions covered parts of the East German army. Soviet army was in a state of readiness.

On August 13, 1961, construction of the wall began. In the first hour of the night, troops were brought up to the border area between West and East Berlin, and for several hours they completely blocked all sections of the border located within the city. By August 15, the entire western zone was surrounded by barbed wire, and the actual construction of the wall began. On the same day, four lines of the Berlin metro - U-Bahn - and some lines of the city railway - S-Bahn were closed (during the period when the city was not divided, any Berliner could move freely around the city). Seven stations on the U6 metro line and eight stations on the U8 line were closed. Due to the fact that these lines went from one part of the western sector to another part through the eastern sector, it was decided not to break the western metro lines, but only to close the stations located in the eastern sector. Only the Friedrichstrasse station remained open, where a checkpoint was set up. Line U2 was split into western and eastern (after Thälmannplatz station) halves. Potsdamer Platz was also closed, as it was located in the border area. Many buildings and residential buildings adjacent to the future border were evicted. The windows facing West Berlin were blocked with bricks, and later during reconstruction the walls were completely demolished.

Construction and renovation of the wall continued from 1962 to 1975. By 1975, it acquired its final form, becoming a complex engineering structure called Grenzmauer-75. The wall consisted of concrete segments 3.60 m high, equipped on top with almost insurmountable cylindrical barriers. If necessary, the wall could be increased in height. In addition to the wall itself, new watchtowers and buildings for border guards were erected, the number of street lighting facilities was increased, and a complex system of barriers was created. On the East Berlin side, along the wall there was a special restricted area with warning signs; after the wall there were rows of anti-tank hedgehogs, or a strip dotted with metal spikes, nicknamed “Stalin’s lawn,” followed by a metal mesh with barbed wire and signal flares. When an attempt was made to break through or overcome this grid, signal flares went off, notifying the GDR border guards of the violation. Next was the road along which border guard patrols moved, after which there was a regularly leveled wide strip of sand to detect traces, followed by the wall described above, separating West Berlin. Towards the end of the 80s, it was also planned to install video cameras, motion sensors and even weapons with a remote control system.

GDR citizens required special permission to visit West Berlin. Only pensioners had the right of free passage. The most famous cases of escapes from the GDR in the following ways: 28 people escaped through a 145-meter-long tunnel they dug themselves, flights were made on a hang glider, in a hot air balloon made of nylon fragments, on a rope thrown between the windows of neighboring houses, in a convertible car, with the help of ramming a wall with a bulldozer. Between August 13, 1961 and November 9, 1989, there were 5,075 successful escapes to West Berlin or West Germany, including 574 desertions.

On August 12, 2007, the BBC reported that a written order, dated October 1, 1973, was found in the archives of the GDR Ministry of State Security (Stasi), ordering that all fugitives without exception, including children, be shot to kill. The BBC, without disclosing sources, claimed 1,245 dead. Those who tried to illegally cross the Berlin Wall in the opposite direction, from West Berlin to East Berlin, are called “Berlin Wall jumpers,” and there were also victims among them, although according to instructions, the GDR border guards did not use firearms against them.

On June 12, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan, delivering a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in honor of the 750th anniversary of Berlin, called on the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev to demolish the Wall, thereby symbolizing the desire of the Soviet leadership for change: “... General Secretary Gorbachev, if you are looking for peace , if you are looking for prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you are looking for liberalization: come here! Mister Gorbachev, open these gates! Mr. Gorbachev, destroy this wall!”

On June 12, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan gave a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in honor of the 750th anniversary of Berlin

When in May 1989, under the influence of perestroika in the Soviet Union, the GDR's Warsaw Pact partner, Hungary, destroyed fortifications on the border with its western neighbor Austria, the GDR leadership had no intention of following its example. But it soon lost control of the rapidly unfolding events. Thousands of GDR citizens flocked to other Eastern European countries in the hope of getting from there to West Germany. Already in August 1989, the diplomatic missions of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin, Budapest and Prague were forced to stop receiving visitors due to the influx of East German residents seeking entry into the West German state. Hundreds of East Germans fled to the West through Hungary. When the Hungarian government announced the complete opening of borders on September 11, 1989, the Berlin Wall lost its meaning: within three days, 15 thousand citizens left the GDR through Hungarian territory. Mass demonstrations demanding civil rights and freedoms began in the country.

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators filled the center of East Berlin, demanding reforms and the closure of the secret police.

As a result of mass protests, the leadership of the SED resigned. On November 9, 1989 at 19:34, speaking at a press conference broadcast on television, GDR government representative Günter Schabowski announced new rules for exiting and entering the country. According to decisions taken, citizens of the GDR could obtain visas to immediately visit West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans, without waiting for the appointed time, rushed to the border on the evening of November 9. The border guards, who had not received orders, first tried to push the crowd back, using water cannons, but then, yielding to the massive pressure, they were forced to open the border. Thousands of West Berliners came out to greet the guests from the East. What was happening was reminiscent folk holiday. The feeling of happiness and brotherhood washed away all state barriers and obstacles. West Berliners, in turn, began to cross the border, breaking into the eastern part of the city.

...Spotlights, hustle and bustle, jubilation. A group of people had already burst into the border crossing corridor, before the first lattice barrier. Behind them are five embarrassed border guards, recalled a witness to what was happening, Maria Meister from West Berlin. - From the watchtowers, already surrounded by a crowd, soldiers look down. Applause for every Trabant, for every group of pedestrians approaching shyly... Curiosity drives us forward, but there is also fear that something terrible might happen. Do the GDR border guards realize that this super-protected border is now being violated?.. We move on... The legs move, the mind warns. Detente comes only at the crossroads... We are just in East Berlin, people help each other with coins on the phone. Faces laugh, tongues refuse to obey: madness, madness. The light display shows the time: 0 hours 55 minutes, 6 degrees Celsius.

Over the next three days, more than 3 million people visited the West. On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate opened for passage, through which the border between East and West Berlin was drawn. The Berlin Wall still stood, but only as a symbol of the recent past. It was broken, painted with numerous graffiti, drawings and inscriptions; Berliners and visitors to the city tried to take away pieces of the once powerful structure as souvenirs. The accession of the lands followed in October 1990 former GDR in Germany, and the Berlin Wall was demolished within a few months. It was decided to preserve only small parts of it as a monument for subsequent generations.

The wall with the Germans climbing it against the backdrop of the Brandenburg Gate

Dismantling of a section of the Wall near the Brandenburg Gate, December 21, 1989

On May 21, 2010, the grand opening of the first part of a large memorial complex dedicated to the Berlin Wall took place in Berlin. This part is called the “Memory Window”. The first part is dedicated to the Germans who died jumping from the windows of houses on Bernauer Strasse (these windows were then blocked with bricks), as well as those who died trying to move from the eastern part of Berlin to the western. The monument, weighing about a ton, is made of rusty steel, and contains several rows of black and white photographs of the victims. The entire Berlin Wall complex, which occupies four hectares, was completed in 2012. The memorial is located on Bernauer Strasse, along which the border between the GDR and West Berlin passed (the buildings themselves were in the eastern sector, and the sidewalk adjacent to them was in the western). The Chapel of Reconciliation, built in 2000 on the foundation of the Church of Reconciliation, which was blown up in 1985, became part of the Berlin Wall memorial complex.

Memorial Complex Berlin Wall

If from the “eastern” side of the wall it was impossible to get close to it until the very end, then in the West it became a platform for the creativity of numerous artists - both professional and amateur. By 1989, it had turned into a multi-kilometer exhibition of graffiti, including very highly artistic ones.

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BERLIN WALL- a barrier erected by the authorities of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) around West Berlin in August 1961. It completely surrounded the territory of the three western (American, British and French) sectors of the old German capital and interrupted free communication between the two parts of the city, divided since 1948.

Berlin crisis.

Before the construction of the wall, the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin was open. The 44.75 km dividing line (the total length of West Berlin's border with the GDR was 164 km) ran right through streets and houses, canals and waterways. There were officially 81 street checkpoints, 13 metro and city crossings. railway. In addition, there were hundreds of illegal routes. Every day, from 300 to 500 thousand people crossed the border between both parts of the city for various reasons.

The construction of the Berlin Wall was preceded by a serious aggravation of the political situation around Berlin. Both military-political blocs - NATO and the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO) confirmed the irreconcilability of their positions on the “German Question”. The West German government led by Konrad Adenauer introduced the “Halstein Doctrine” in 1957, which provided for the automatic severance of diplomatic relations with any country that recognized the GDR. It categorically rejected proposals from the East German side to create a confederation of German states, insisting instead on holding all-German elections. In turn, the GDR authorities declared in 1958 their claims to sovereignty over West Berlin on the grounds that it was located “on the territory of the GDR.” In November 1958, the head of the Soviet government, Nikita Khrushchev, accused the Western powers of violating the Potsdam Agreements of 1945. He announced the abolition Soviet Union Berlin's international status and described the entire city (including its western sectors) as the "capital of the GDR". The Soviet government proposed turning West Berlin into a “demilitarized free city” and, in an ultimatum tone, demanded that the United States, Great Britain and France negotiate on this topic within six months (“Khrushchev’s Ultimatum”). This demand was rejected by the Western powers. Negotiations between their foreign ministers and the head of the USSR Foreign Ministry in Geneva in the spring and summer of 1959 ended without result. After N. Khrushchev's visit to the USA in September 1959, the Soviet ultimatum was postponed. But the parties continued to insist on their previous positions. In August 1960, the GDR government introduced restrictions on visits by German citizens to East Berlin, citing the need to stop them from conducting “revanchist propaganda.” In response, West Germany refused a trade agreement between both parts of the country, which the GDR regarded as an “economic war.” After lengthy and difficult negotiations, the agreement was finally put into effect on January 1, 1961. But the crisis was not resolved. ATS leaders continued to demand the neutralization and demilitarization of West Berlin. In turn, the foreign ministers of NATO countries confirmed in May 1961 their intention to guarantee the presence of the armed forces of Western powers in the western part of the city and its “viability”. Western leaders declared that they would defend “the freedom of West Berlin” with all their might.

Both blocs and both German states increased their armed forces and intensified propaganda against the enemy. The GDR authorities complained about Western threats and maneuvers, “provocative” violations of the country’s border (137 for May–July 1961), and the activities of anti-communist groups. They accused “German agents” of organizing dozens of acts of sabotage and arson. Great dissatisfaction with the leadership and police of East Germany was caused by the inability to control the flow of people moving across the border.

The situation worsened in the summer of 1961. The hard course of the East German leader Walter Ulbricht, economic policies aimed at “catching up and overtaking the Federal Republic of Germany” and the corresponding increase in production standards, economic difficulties, forced collectivization of 1957–1960, foreign policy tensions and higher wages in West Berlin encouraged thousands of GDR citizens to leave for the West. In total, more than 207 thousand people left the country in 1961. In July 1961 alone, more than 30 thousand East Germans fled the country. These were most often young and qualified specialists. Outraged East German authorities accused West Berlin and Germany of “human trafficking,” “poaching” personnel and trying to thwart their economic plans. They claimed that the economy of East Berlin annually loses 2.5 billion marks because of this.

In the context of the aggravation of the situation around Berlin, the leaders of the ATS countries decided to close the border. Rumors of such plans were in the air as early as June 1961, but the leader of the GDR, Walter Ulbricht, then denied such intentions. In fact, at that time they had not yet received final consent from the USSR and other members of the Eastern Bloc. From August 3 to 5, 1961, a meeting of the first secretaries of the ruling communist parties of the ATS states was held in Moscow, at which Ulbricht insisted on closing the border in Berlin. This time he received support from the Allies. On August 7, at a meeting of the Politburo of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED - East German Communist Party), a decision was made to close the border of the GDR with West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. On August 12, the Council of Ministers of the GDR adopted a corresponding resolution. The East Berlin police were put on full alert. At 1 am on August 13, 1961, the implementation of the project “ Chinese Wall II". About 25 thousand members of paramilitary “battle groups” from GDR enterprises occupied the border line with West Berlin; their actions covered parts of the East German army. The Soviet army was in a state of readiness.

Construction of the wall.

“The night came from 12 to 13 August 1961,” East German historians Hartmut and Ellen Mehls later described the events. – The thermometer showed 13 degrees Celsius. The sky was cloudy and a light breeze was blowing. Like every Saturday, most residents of the GDR capital went to bed late, hoping to sleep longer on August 13th. Until 0 o'clock this night in Berlin proceeded as usual. But shortly after midnight, the telephone rang in many apartments in the capital, and traffic rapidly increased. Functionaries of the SED, the state apparatus and economic departments were suddenly and urgently called to duty. The huge mechanism quickly and accurately began to move. At 1 hour 11 minutes General German information Agency released a statement from the Warsaw Pact states... When the morning of August 13 arrived, the border between the German Democratic Republic and West Berlin was under control. Security was ensured on it in the afternoon.” East German authorities closed checkpoints, housed and sealed border buildings, and erected barbed wire along the border.

On August 15, 1961, the SED Politburo announced the start of the “second stage” of ensuring “border security.” Soldiers and construction workers, guarded by border guards, began building a wall of pre-prepared concrete blocks around West Berlin. At that moment, 19-year-old border guard Konrad Schumann jumped over the barbed wire fence and became the first GDR citizen to flee to the West since August 13th. On June 19, 1962, construction of the second border wall began. The height of the wall that gradually surrounded West Berlin reached 6 meters. Anyone who might try to illegally cross the wall and thus end up in the “death strip” was ordered to open fire by the GDR border guards. On August 17, 1962, Peter Fechter, an 18-year-old construction worker from East Berlin, was shot and killed while trying to climb over the Berlin Wall. Since then, 92 people have died under similar circumstances; many were injured.

The construction of the Berlin Wall did not mean a complete blockade of West Berlin, as it did in the late 1940s. In December 1963, an agreement was signed allowing residents of the western part of the city to visit for Christmas and New Year their relatives in East Berlin. In 1968, the situation worsened again: the GDR introduced a passport and visa regime for transit travel for citizens of the Federal Republic of Germany and the West Berlin population. The passage of members and officials of the West German government, as well as German military personnel, through the territory of East Germany was suspended.

The detente in relations between the two German states after the government of Willy Brandt came to power in Germany in 1969, which proclaimed the “New Ostpolitik,” made it possible to take the next step. On September 3, 1971, Great Britain, the USSR, the USA and France signed a quadripartite agreement on Berlin. In December 1971, agreements were concluded between the authorities of the GDR and West Berlin that allowed West Berliners to receive permission to enter and visit East Germany one or more times a year (for a total stay of up to 30 days a year). In addition, permission to enter could be granted in cases of urgent "family or humanitarian reasons". Unimpeded transport links between Germany and West Berlin were guaranteed. Access to the city was by air, 8 railway lines, 5 streets and 2 waterways. However, the Berlin Wall continued to divide the city, passing through its very center. It turned into a kind of symbol of the split of Europe into opposing military-political blocs. The Wall was also one of Berlin's main attractions. Any visitor to the city was eager to see this structure made of gray and gloomy concrete, and in the western part of the city, tourists were sold postcards with its image and the inscription: “The wall must be removed!”

Fall of the wall.

When in May 1989, under the influence of perestroika in the Soviet Union, the GDR's Warsaw Pact partner, Hungary, destroyed fortifications on the border with its western neighbor Austria, the GDR leadership had no intention of following its example. But it soon lost control of the rapidly unfolding events. Thousands of GDR citizens flocked to other Eastern European countries in the hope of getting from there to West Germany. Already in August 1989, the diplomatic missions of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin, Budapest and Prague were forced to stop receiving visitors due to the influx of East German residents seeking entry into the West German state. Hundreds of East Germans fled to the West through Hungary. When the Hungarian government announced the opening of borders on September 11, 1989, the Berlin Wall lost its meaning: within three days, 15 thousand citizens left the GDR through Hungarian territory. Mass demonstrations demanding civil rights and freedoms began in the country.

On November 9, 1989 at 19:34, speaking at a press conference broadcast on television, GDR government representative Günter Schabowski announced new rules for exiting and entering the country. He spoke in a heavy, official language, as if he were talking about some minor technical matter, such as repairing transport routes. According to the decisions taken, from the next day, citizens of the GDR could receive visas to immediately visit West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany. Hundreds of thousands of East Germans, without waiting for the appointed time, rushed to the border on the evening of November 9. The border guards, who had not received orders, first tried to push the crowd back, using water cannons, but then, yielding to the massive pressure, they were forced to open the border. Thousands of West Berliners came out to greet the guests from the East. What was happening was reminiscent of a national holiday. The feeling of happiness and brotherhood washed away all state barriers and obstacles. West Berliners, in turn, began to cross the border, breaking into the eastern part of the city. “...Spotlights, hustle and bustle, jubilation. A group of people had already burst into the border crossing corridor, before the first lattice barrier. Behind him are five embarrassed border guards,” recalled a witness to what was happening, Maria Meister from West Berlin. – From the watchtowers, already surrounded by a crowd, soldiers look down. Applause for every Trabant, for every group of pedestrians approaching shyly... Curiosity drives us forward, but there is also fear that something terrible might happen. Do the GDR border guards realize that this is a super-secure border now violated?... We move on... The legs move, the mind warns. Detente comes only at the crossroads... We are just in East Berlin, people help each other with coins on the phone. Faces laugh, the tongue refuses to obey: madness, madness. The light display shows the time: 0 hours 55 minutes, 6 degrees Celsius." Night from November 9 to 10, 1989. ("Volkszeitung", 1989, November 17. No. 47).

So the Berlin Wall fell under the pressure of the people. “We have been waiting for this day for almost 30 years! - said the address to the citizens of the GDR by the country's leading social movement "New Forum". - Sick of the wall, we shook the bars of the cage. Young people grew up with the dream of one day becoming free and exploring the world. This dream will now come true: this is a holiday for all of us! "

Over the next three days, more than 3 million people visited the West. On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate opened for passage, through which the border between East and West Berlin was drawn. The Berlin Wall still stood, but only as a symbol of the recent past. It was broken, painted with numerous graffiti, drawings and inscriptions; Berliners and visitors to the city tried to take away pieces of the once powerful structure as souvenirs. In October 1990, the lands of the former GDR entered the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Berlin Wall was demolished within a few months. It was decided to preserve only small parts of it as a monument for subsequent generations.