After World War II, with the occupation of Germany from the Allied Forces the Soviet Union imposed the Berlin Blockade. Fearing the Communist regime, thousands of people from East Berlin immigrated to West Berlin. Between 1949 and 1961, roughly three million citizens of the German Democratic Republic traveled through Berlin to the Federal Republic of Germany. Most of the people leaving East Germany were under the age of 25, which meant that East Germany was losing a lot of its labor force. By 1961, East Germany was on the verge of an economic collapse.
As late as 15 June 1961, GDR head of state Walter Ulbricht declared that no one had any intention of building a wall. On 12 August 1961, the GDR Council of Ministers announced that,
“in order to put a stop to the hostile activity of West Germany’s and West Berlin’s revanchist and militaristic forces, border controls of the kind generally found in every sovereign state will be set up at the border of the German Democratic Republic, including the border to the western sectors of Greater Berlin.”
The Council did not say that this measure was directed primarily against the GDR’s own population, which would no longer be permitted to cross the border.
The East German government began to seal off all points of entrance into West Berlin on the night of August 12, 1961. The initial effort began by installing barbed wire and posting sentries. Soon after, the concrete block wall was constructed with sentry towers and minefields around it. The Berlin Wall succeeded in completely sealing off the two sections of Berlin.
From one day to the next, the Wall separated streets, squares, and neighborhoods from each other and severed public transportation links. On the evening of August 13, Governing Mayor Willy Brandt said in a speech to the House of Representatives:
“The Berlin Senate publicly condemns the illegal and inhuman measures being taken by those who are dividing Germany, oppressing East Berlin, and threatening West Berlin….”
To reassure the West Germans that the United States was not abandoning them, Kennedy traveled to the Berlin Wall in June 1963 and famously declared, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (“I am a Berliner!”). Since “Berliner” was commonly called a jelly doughnut in most of Germany, Kennedy’s improper German grammar was also translated as “I am a jelly doughnut.” However, due to the context of his speech, Kennedy’s meaning that he stood together with West Berlin was understood by the German people.
In the years to come, the Berlin Wall became a physical symbol of the Cold War. The stark division between communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin was the subject of numerous editorials and speeches in the United States. At the same time, the Soviet bloc characterized the wall as a necessary protection against the degrading and immoral influences of decadent Western culture and capitalism. During the lifetime of the wall, nearly 80 people were killed trying to escape from East to West Berlin. In late 1989, with communist governments falling throughout Eastern Europe, the Berlin Wall was finally opened and then demolished. For many observers, this action was the signal that the Cold War was finally ending.
Pieces of the Berlin Wall can be found all over the internet, in the homes of military members who served there, or in military museums all over the US. Our museum has examples of the Berlin Wall in our collection; however, due to the potential for asbestos, it is not on display.
Works Cited
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_136183.htm
https://www.berlin.de/mauer/en/history/construction-of-the-berlin-wall/
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