THE BERLIN WALL

( Descriptive Text )

FINAL WRITING TEXT









ARRANGED BY :
1. Mirna Unisia Purwanto (XII-A6/26)
2. Natalia Novita Sugijo Pranoto (XII-A6/28)


SMA REGINA PACIS SURAKARTA
2014





THE BERLIN WALL
( Descriptive Text )

FINAL WRITING TEXT









ARRANGED BY :
1. Mirna Unisia Purwanto (XII-A6/26)
2. Natalia Novita Sugijo Pranoto (XII-A6/28)


SMA REGINA PACIS SURAKARTA
2014



In the 1950s, after the end of the Second World War, the soviet army closed the border
between East Germany and West Germany. At that time East Germany followed the
communist system, whereas West Germany followed the liberal system. Meanwhile, Berlin,
which was the capital city of Germany, was also divided into East Berlin, also communist,
and West Berlin, liberal. Many East Germans used the west side of Berlin as a passage for
escaping to West Berlin. During the 1950s Over two million people escaped from the east to
the west. Because there were so many people that escaped, on the 13
th
of August 1961, the
border between West Berlin and East Berlin was closed by a big wall, known as the Berlin
Wall.
The total length of the Berlin Wall that surrounded West Berlin was 155 kilometers, whereas
the length of the border between East Berlin and West Berlin was 43.1 kilometers. The Berlin
wall cut through 192 streets in total. The Berlin Wall was made in four different stages. In the
beginning, the Berlin Wall was only made of a sharp wire fence. But because many people
could still fit through these wires and escape, the government decided to upgrade the wall.
First, they improved the wire fence. And then in 1965 they upgraded it into a strong tall
concrete wall which made it harder for people to escape. And finally in 1975, it was upgraded
again for the last time into a Border Wall known as the Grenzmauer. This final stage took
over five years to build. It was made of over 45,000 blocks of concrete. The whole wall cost
about $3,638,000.
Not long after the Berlin Wall was built, there was a second smaller fence that was built
parallel to the wall on the East German side. The space between the Berlin wall and this
second parallel fence was known as the Death Strip. This was an empty field that gave the
guards a clear view to shoot anyone who tried to escape. This empty space was covered with
sand, which made it easy to see the footprints of trespassers. This place was where most
people were caught while trying to escape.
When the wall was first built, it was just a plain long wall. But gradually, over time you could
see a significant difference between the east and west sides of the wall. The west side became
covered in graffiti whereas the wall on the east side was still plain concrete. This is just a
simple example of how different the government systems were, how free the West Germans
were to express themselves compared to the East Germans.
This wall was almost 4 meters high. This strong border wall also included many watch
towers, bunkers, and checkpoints with many guards who carried weapons and who were
accompanied by guard dogs. There were 302 watchtowers and 20 bunkers along the wall.
There was also a deep ditch all along the wall that was dug to prevent vehicles from breaking
through the wall.
There was a total of 12 checkpoints along the Berlin Wall, including Checkpoint A,
nicknamed Alpha, B Bravo, and C Charlie which were opened to both Germans and non-
Germans, and many other checkpoints such as Checkpoint Bornholmer, Invaliden, Staaken,
etc. which were opened to Germans only. But among all these checkpoints, Checkpoint
Charlie was the most famous checkpoint. It was the most noticeable checkpoint along the
wall, and it was the only checkpoint that allowed soldiers from other countries to cross the
border between East Berlin and West Berlin.
People who wanted to cross this wall had to own a special passport. Even those who needed
to cross over to go to work also needed a passport. And to add even more security, they used
to spread nails all along the border to help stop East Germans from escaping. Even though the
security was already this high, over five thousand people still managed to escape.
Anyone who tried to escape from East Germany to West Germany was considered a traitor.
The guards who worked along the wall were instructed to shoot, but not kill, anyone who tried
to escape. More than two hundred people were killed while trying to escape. Most of them
were shot by the guards, but there were also many who died because they fell. There were
many creative ways that people used to try to escape to West Germany.
Once there was a famous German acrobat who walked across an electricity cable that was
long enough to reach from one side of the wall to the other. Another stunt was performed by a
train driver, when he drove his train, known as the last train to freedom, crashing right
through the concrete wall. In 1979, two couples decided to build a hot air balloon from old
materials including old bed sheets that would fly them over the Berlin Wall. An 81 year old
man also made a successful escape by digging a tunnel from a chicken farm in the East side of
Berlin all the way to the west side. This tunnel which was known as the senior citizens
tunnel was dug by 12 people for 16 whole days.
Even though the people guarding the Berlin Wall were often described as mean people with
no feelings, who shot the people trying to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin, but the
truth is, many of them were just as desperate as the other East Berlin citizens and some of
them even wanted to escape over the wall into freedom. Because they were guards, they had
easy access to the wall, and they could easily sneak over without being caught. And many of
the guards actually did this, including a 19 year old guard who managed to escape only three
days after the original wire fence was completed.
The Berlin Wall brought suffering to citizens both from East Germany and West Germany.
There were many East German citizens who had a job in West Germany and many West
Germans who worked in East Germany. This separated a lot of people from their families and
friends. But all of this suffering came to an end in 1989. There were so many people
demonstrating for the wall to be destroyed that the guards of the Berlin Wall could not handle
them anymore. They started chipping and smashing the wall down. And even though the 9
th

of November, the day when the demonstrators started to tear the wall down, was known as the
day the Berlin Wall fell, the official destruction of the wall only started on the 13
th
of June
1990. Many people kept parts of the rubble from the wall as souvenirs and to remind them of
their fight for freedom. Some even sold these pieces of rubble online.
Finally on the 3
rd
of October 1990, East Germany and West Germany officially merged back
into one country, Germany.
Until this day, some parts of the Berlin Wall still remain standing, including Checkpoint
Charlie. Tourists from all over the world still come to visit this historical site to see the wall
directly. Today, this place is known as the Berlin Wall Museum.







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