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JT Trouy

Records

English III

08-May-2017

The Berlin wall

Forget not the tyranny of this wall;horrid place- nor the love of freedom that made it

fall;laid waste. This quote is transcribed on one of the remaining fragments of the Berlin wall in

Germanys formerly divided capital. It truly represents the how much this concrete monstrosity

affected the people of Berlin, East and West alike. Through powers outside Berliners control

their city, their home, was cut in half by the Soviets. Families were divided, people were cut off

from friends and jobs alike for twenty eight years. All one could hope for is that when the

dividing lines were drawn they were on the U.S. controlled west side. For nearly three decades

the Berlin Wall represented the divisions of the Cold War and its destruction made the world a

better place.

To understand just how terrible this construct was one must first understand its purpose.

When World War Two ended in 1945 the Nazi capital of Berlin was split into four control zones.

These zones went to four countries; one for the United States, one for the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics, and one for both France and England. By 1949 however, the former Allied

powers had consolidated their control under the U.S. Military. In those years the Soviets had

taken measures to drive them out of Berlin by instituting a blockade in 1948. In response the

Allies began the single greatest feat of logistical planning in human history, the Berlin Airlift.

According to renowned historian Ed Grabianowski the relief effort was so large that planes
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[were] taking off from supply depots every 30 seconds, 24 hours a day. and 2.34 million tons

of food, coal, fuel and other vital supplies were delivered to Berlin's 2.2 million

inhabitants..Ultimately the Soviet Union lifted the blockade and things almost returned to

normal, almost. This time, after nearly half a decade under Soviet rule East Germans from all

over the country began flooding into West Berlin, seeing it as their city upon a hill. The number

of refugees soon swelled into the millions and according to the distinguished website

History.com Between 1949 and 1961, some 2.5 million East Germans fled from East to West

Germany, most via West Berlin.. West Berlin was the ticket to freedom. Eventually the brain

drain became to much for Soviet leaders continue ignoring as By August 1961, an average of

2,000 East Germans were crossing into the West every day. Many of the refugees were skilled

laborers, professionals, and intellectuals, and their loss was having a devastating effect on the

East German economy. Then, on August 13, 1961 the USSR made a decision that would

captivate the world. On that day, construction began most divisive and vile construct of the 20th

century, the Berlin wall was started. The preliminary wall was thrown up overnight, stopping the

flood, and soon the wall had reached its full size. Standing at 11.81 feet and measuring 93 miles

the wall totally and completely encircled West Berlin and the flood of refugees abated to less

than a trickle. As one man so eloquently put it West Berlin became an island of freedom and

democracy in the midst of communist East Germany..

To the people of West Berlin the wall represented a failure of U.S. policy. They thought

the west and JFK specifically had abandoned them and it shattered their faith in America. Even

so they still recognized that their situation was better than that of their countrymen who had the

misfortune of being in Soviet territory. To the people of East Germany however the wall bluntly

stood in defiance of hope and showed the futility of their situation, how their new Soviet
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overlords cut off all avenues for hope and escape. This isn't to say they didn't try however,

according to CNN More than 5,000 people successfully crossed the Berlin Wall to freedom. A

huge step down from the millions that crossed before the wall. Not everyone had them same

success however, CNN also reports that More than 160 people were killed in the death area, and

another 120 people were injured. Additionally, about 3,200 people were arrested in the border

area. Stories of escape range from heroic to comedic, but mostly they were tragic. Take the

story of Peter Fechter, who was one of the first to attempt escape. The reputable Historic World

events reports the event as such; On August 17, 1962, two young men from East Berlin

attempted to scramble to freedom across the wall. One was successful in climbing the last barbed

wire fence and, though suffering numerous cuts, made it safely to West Berlin. While horrified

West German guards watched, the second young man was shot by machine guns on the East

Berlin side. He fell but managed to stand up again, reach the wall, and begin to climb over. More

shots rang out. The young man was hit in the back, screamed, and fell backwards off of the wall.

For nearly an hour, he lay bleeding to death and crying for help. West German guards threw

bandages to the man, and an angry crowd of West Berlin citizens screamed at the East German

security men who seemed content to let the young man die. He finally did die, and East German

guards scurried to where he lay and removed his body. The penalty for attempting escape on the

wall was death, but even death couldnt deter some. For those brave few the grass of freedom

was so green on the other side that it was worth dying for. As Professor Harrison so aptly said

The wall symbolized the lack of freedom under communism. It symbolized the Cold War and

divide between the communist Soviet bloc and the western democratic, capitalist bloc.

For twenty eight years the Antifaschistischer Schutzwall,, or anti fascist bulwark, in

English, lorded over the lives of East and West Berliners alike. Then, on a fateful day in the cold
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German winter, its fateful reign of terror came to an end. On November 9th, 1989 the German

Democratic Republic (East Germany) allowed its citizens into West Berlin and vice versa.

History.com reports that More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that

weekend to participate in a celebration that was, one journalist wrote, the greatest street party in

the history of the world. When Berlin was finally unified thousands of Germans responded

emotionally by demolishing the wall with sledgehammers, pickaxes and other implements. These

people soon garnered the moniker mauerspechte, or wall woodpeckers. After nearly three

decades a city that had been ravaged by war was finally allowed to start healing.

The Berlin wall held the worlds collective attention for decades. Not just as a human

rights crisis or as the symbol of the epic clash between Western Democracy/Capitalism and

Eastern Totalitarianism/Communism but also as a potential flashpoint for the end of the world.

It was common knowledge among the inner circles of Washington and Moscow that whomever

held Berlin would win the world. They were proved correct on November 9,1989 as the Berlin

Wall came crashing down and the sun shone a little brighter.

Works Cited

"How the Berlin Wall Worked." HowStuffWorks. N.p., 12 May 2008. Web. 11 Apr.
2017.
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"STORIES." Berlin Wall Memorial | Contemporary Witnesses | Stories. N.p., n.d.

Web. 11 Apr. 2017.
U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.
(www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "The Berlin Airlift in Numbers | TOP STORIES |
DW.COM | 24.06.2008." DW.COM. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.
"Berlin Wall Built." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.
World-History. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2017.
"Why Was the Berlin Wall Torn Down?" Reference. IAC Publishing, n.d. Web. 28
Apr. 2017.