With the country on the edge of economic and social collapse, the East German government therefore made the decision to close the entire border, and erected the wall overnight, on 13 August It was often referred to by eastern authorities as the anti-fascist protection barrier, to protect East Germans from the west.
The concrete barrier, complete with guard towers at regular intervals, was 96 miles in length and 13 feet high, though to start with it comprised temporary barriers of barbed wire coils. The erection date of 13 August was deliberately chosen because it was a Sunday during the summer holidays. Over days and weeks the barbed wire was replaced with vertical concrete slabs reinforced with iron bars, and hollow blocks.
Nothing was allowed to stand in the way of the wall. Houses on streets ,such as Bernauer Strasse, where the pavements were in the west, and the backs of the houses were in the east, became part of the border construction.
The authorities simply ordered the bricking up of front entrances and windows. There are documented cases of people jumping from windows to avoid being locked into the east in their own homes. The wall itself was merely the outer boundary.
Wherever the boundary ran through water, similar defence mechanisms were put in place to prevent anyone escaping. At least people lost their lives trying to escape across the wall, but an estimated 5, did manage to flee, although both figures are often disputed. Those who escaped hid in cars, sneaked through border points, crashed tanks through the fortifications, swam across the Teltow canal, paddled on a lilo over the river Spree, or crawled out via tunnels specially constructed by teams of dedicated volunteers including would-be escapers.
Among the most spectacular was the circus tightrope walker who walked across a disused power line to the west, breaking both arms in the process.
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Environment Planet Possible India bets its energy future on solar—in ways both small and big. Environment As the EU targets emissions cuts, this country has a coal problem. The first concrete pilings went up on the Bernauer Strasse and at the Potsdamer Platz. Sullen East German workers, a few in tears, constructed the first segments of the Berlin Wall as East German troops stood guarding them with machine guns.
With the border closing permanently, escape attempts by East Germans intensified on August Conrad Schumann, a year-old East German soldier, provided the subject for a famous image when he was photographed leaping over the barbed-wire barrier to freedom. During the rest of , the grim and unsightly Berlin Wall continued to grow in size and scope, eventually consisting of a series of concrete walls up to 15 feet high.
These walls were topped with barbed wire and guarded with watchtowers, machine gun emplacements, and mines. By the s, this system of walls and electrified fences extended 28 miles through Berlin and 75 miles around West Berlin, separating it from the rest of East Germany.
The East Germans also erected an extensive barrier along most of the mile border between East and West Germany. In the West, the Berlin Wall was regarded as a major symbol of communist oppression. About 5, East Germans managed to escape across the Berlin Wall to the West, but the frequency of successful escapes dwindled as the wall was increasingly fortified. Thousands of East Germans were captured during attempted crossings and were killed.
On the evening of November 9, , East Germany announced an easing of travel restrictions to the West, and thousands demanded passage though the Berlin Wall. Faced with growing demonstrations, East German border guards opened the borders.
Jubilant Berliners climbed on top of the Berlin Wall, painted graffiti on it, and removed fragments as souvenirs. At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, , almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Berlin, the German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four In June , the simmering tensions between the Soviet Union Great events do not always have great causes.
Ida Siekmann had been holed up for days. Nine days earlier, workers had sealed the border to her country by dead of night. Three days earlier, the front entrance to her apartment had been blocked off by police. She had committed no crime, but Siekmann was in the wrong place at The fall of the Berlin Wall happened by mistake.
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