25 years ago, on November 9, 1989, the leadership of East Germany announces the opening of the border with West Germany. The next day, the East German authorities begin the destruction of certain sections of the Berlin Wall. There was a famous fall of the Berlin Wall. Historical material about how the Berlin Wall was built. Some photos have not been published earlier in RuNet.

In 1959, the border between East Germany and Western looked like this.

Before the construction of the wall, the border between the Western and eastern part of Berlin was opened. But in the morning of August 13, 1961, the inhabitants of Berlin were surprised that the western part of the city was separated from the Eastern Cordon soldiers and military equipment. The living wall stood until real in her place had grown. After two days, the city cut the barbed wire bar with checkpoints.

The wall began with the line.

Then they made a temporary barrage. In the photo, the soldiers build barbed wire barriers. From the side of West Berlin, citizens with curiosity and fun look at this process. By August 15, the entire western zone was charged with barbed wire, and the immediate construction of the wall began.

On August 13, four lines of the Berlin metro were also blocked - U-Bahn - and some lines of urban railway - S-Bahn (in the period when the city was not divided, any Berliner could move freely around the city).

Construction of a wall, from West Berlin, many curious citizens look at this process while in East Berlin people were forbidden to approach the wall under construction, as it was a secret object.

The separation line with a length of 44.75 km (the overall length of the border of Western Berlin and GDR was 164 km) took place straight through the streets and houses, canals and waterways.

In this place of Berlin, the role of the wall temporarily performed Soviet tanks.

View of the Brandenburg Gate from West Berlin, August 13, 1961, the wall is not yet built, but there is a border.

After a couple of months, the look was changed to such.

Brandenburg Gate in the Tuman, Berlin Wall and Man on the watchdog, November 25, 1961

In this place the wall went straight along the tram paths. Soviet specialists did not completely worry the fact that they complicate life in the first place to their citizens.

"Protection" workers far exceeded the number of the builders themselves.

Soldiers from the National People's Army GDR are watching construction and order.

August 22, 1961. Two builders from East Germany work on a huge almost five-meter wall and put pieces of broken glass onto her vertex to prevent the escape attempts in East Berlin.

When the wall was built, no one knew what would happen next. Many people were afraid that the wall would serve as a provocation in order to turn a cold war in hot.

The border between the British zone and Soviet. On the poster, the warning "You leave the British sector."

The discussion of the parties on the correctness of the wall structures, September 1961

The construction of the wall continues, from the windows of the process, residents of the surrounding houses are observed, September 9, 1961

Some sections of the walls took place through the park and the forest, which had to be partially cut down, October 1, 1961

The absence of a clear physical boundary between zones led to frequent conflicts and a mass leakage of specialists in Germany. Eastern Germans preferred to receive education in the GDR, where it was free, but to work in Germany.

Typical picture: windows are laid by brick to prevent escape attempts. The reverse side of the house goes to Western Berlin, this side and sidewalk is already Eastern Berlin. October 6, 1961

October 16, 1961. An attempt to escape from "Communist Happiness." Unfortunately, it is not known how successful an attempt was. It is known that the police and military GDRs usually led fire to defeat in such cases.

By the way, in the period from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989, 5075 successful shoots were committed in West Berlin or Germany, including 574 cases of desertion ...

On October 26-27, the Americans tried to break through the wall. This case is known as the "incident at the Charlie PPC". Several bulldozers came to the wall. They were covered by 10 tanks, as well as soldiers arriving on three jeeps. From the opposite side, the Soviet tanks of the third battalion of the 68th Soviet Guards Tank Regiment were lined up. Combat vehicles stood all night. As the coordinator of the French special services of those years, K.K. Melnik Botkin, the world was close to nuclear War. When the Soviet Ambassador in Paris reported that NATO was ready to put on the move atomic bombs, He answered: "Then we will die all together." Still would! After all, the USSR kept in the hands of a trump ace: the most powerful weapon, ever created on the planet - a 57 megaton thermonuclear bomb.

The superpower had enough prudence not to start the third world. October 28, the Soviet tanks still left the position, after which the Americans immediately moved away. The wall remained.

American military police on the roof of the house, October 29, 1961, not far from the border of Friedrichstrasse.

American soldiers with anxiety look through the wall at the Soviet Military, November 20, 1961

Brandenburg Gate in the fog, the Berlin Wall and a man on the watchdogs, November 25, 1961.

Western high-ranking military observed the construction of the wall from the French zone, December 7, 1961

Construction and re-equipment of the wall continued from 1962 to 1975. By 1975, she acquired a final look, turning into a complex engineering and technical structure under the name GrenzMauer-75.

Updated 01.02.2020 Views 3255 Comments 37.

Initially, I was going to write an article just about our, but in the end somehow it happened that everything she basically turned out only about one very touching and before the depths of the soul impressive my phenomenon personally. This is the famous Berlin Wall. I write the "famous", and I am ashamed, because, imagine, before arriving in Berlin, I just knew from the lessons of history that this was erected after the Second World War and divided Berlin into two parts, but why, when, who and for what ... never really interested. But start in order.

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Berlin Wall

Once in Berlin, we, for shame, understood that they didn't know what we could see, except for Reichstag and the monument to the Russian soldier, to whom, by the way, we did not reach. About the Berlin Wall somehow did not even think. But, circling around the city with a map, suddenly at some point discovered that we were not far from Checkpoint Charlie (Checkpoint Charlie) stopped, read the description in our mini-guidebook and we, to put it mildly, hooked.

Later, when we tried to explain why it was so touched, we found this simple explanation - this is not only them, this is our common story! Berlin Wall is, in fact, the symbol of the then political regime is the living personification of the "iron curtain". In official documents, however, they are more often talking about the "Cold War".

I am not interested in interested in this topic, I found a lot of stories and photos on this topic, let us shave here in brief what I am shocked most, and lay out some photos of the time, the authors of which in advance I apologize.

But first I will explain a bit: In 1948, Berlin was divided into two parts, one of which, the eastern, was the capital of the GDR, and the second, Western, was the American, French and English sectors of the occupation. At first, it was possible to cross the border that the inhabitants of East Berlin were glad and made daily, going to West Berlin to work, to the store, to friends and relatives. But it was not quite safely affected by the GDR economy. There were other no less weighty, according to the government of the GDR, the political and economic reasons for which it was decided to escalate Western Berlin with an impassable wall. As a result, overnight on August 13, 1961, the entire border with Western Berlin was blocked, and by August 15 - a barren wire was completely acquired, on the site of which the construction of the Berlin Wall began. At first she was stone, and later turned into a whole complex complex from reinforced concrete wall, pvv, metal mesh, watchdogged, etc.

As the border was closed in one night, you can imagine how many people instantly lost who was the work who friends who are relatives who are an apartment ... and all at once - freedom. Many tortime could not and almost immediately began shoots from East Berlin to West. At first, it was not so difficult to do it, but as the burst of the Berlin Wall grows, the escape methods became more and more inventive and cunning.

About the attempts of escape you can read a lot on the Internet, I will not tell about everything. Let us only briefly describe those that were the most successful, original and memorable. Sorry, I will write without names and dates. Several times, immediately after the construction of the Berlin Wall, they broke out through it, Tarana her trucks. At high speed passes were driving under the barriers on sports cars, which were too low to hurt the barrier, swam rivers and lakes, because It was the most unprotected part of the fence.

The border between Western and Eastern Berlin often passed straight at home, and it turned out that the entrance was in eastern territory, and the windows went to the West. When only began to build the Berlin Wall, many residents of the houses were boldly jumped out of windows outside, where they often caught their Western firefighters or simply wound residents of the city. But all these windows very soon inspired. I wonder, and the tenants moved, or did they live without daylight?

The first shoots of the inhabitants of East Berlin

The tunnels were very popular, they were digging by dozens, and it was the most crowded way of escape (fled at 20-50 people at a time). Later, especially enterprising Western delints even began to earn money on this, placing in the announcement newspapers "We will help in family issues."

Tunnel, which fled dozens of people

There were very original shoots: for example, two families made a homemade air balloon and flewed the Berlin wall on it, the brothers crossed the Western Berlin, stretching the cable between the houses and descending on it on the roulette.

When a few years later, Western residents became allowed on special missions to enter the territory of Eastern Berlin to see relatives, the sophisticated ways of exporting people in the machines were invented. Sometimes, very small cars were used, converted specifically in such a way that people can hide under the hood or in the trunk. Border guards did not even guess that instead of a motor could be a person. Many people hid in suitcases, sometimes they were put on two, the slits were done between them, so the person was fully placed, he did not have to take shape.

Almost immediately was released a decree shoot on all those who tried to flee to people. One of the most famous victims of this inhuman decree was the young guy Peter Fechter (Peter Fechter), who, when trying to escape the escape in the stomach and left bleeding at the wall until he died. Unofficial figures of arrests for escape (3221 people), deaths (from 160 to 938 people) and injuries (from 120 to 260 people) when trying to overcome the Berlin Wall, just awful!

When I read all these stories about shoots from East Berlin, I had a question for which I could not find an answer anywhere, and where did all the escaped live in West Berlin? After all, he was also not rubber, but according to unconfirmed data, one way or another successfully completing the escape was able to 5043 people.

Near Chackpinta Charlie there is a museum dedicated to the history of the Berlin Wall. In it, Rainer Hildebrandt, the founder of the museum, gathered many devices that the inhabitants of East Berlin were used to escape to West Berlin. The museum itself, unfortunately, we did not get, but unusually strong emotions were called even sold in the next souvenir shop with the image of the Berlin Wall and photo sketches from everyday life that time. And very touched by Charly, the request-appeal to our president.

And in the meantime, the life has flowed as a guy, the people of Western Berlin have had free access to the wall, could walk along it and use it in their needs. Many artists painted the western side of the Berlin Wall Graffiti, some of these images were famous for the whole world, such as "Kiss Honecker and Brezhnev".

People often came to the wall so that though from afar to look at their loved ones, to wave them with a handkerchief, show children, grandchildren, sisters brothers. It is terrible, families, close, relatives, beloved, separated by concrete and someone perfect indifference. After all, even if it was so necessary for the economy and / or politics, it was possible to envisage that people did not suffer so much, to give the opportunity to reunite at least 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, Hungary, opened the borders with Austria, and approximately 15 thousand citizens of the GDR left the country to get to West Germany. The remaining Eastern Herman residents went outside with demonstrations and the requirements of compliance with their civil rights. And on November 9, the head of the GDR announced that it would be possible to travel from the country, having a special visa. However, the people did not wait for it, millions of citizens just poured outside and headed for the Berlin Wall. Border guards could not hold back such a crowd, and the boundaries were open. On the other hand, the walls of their compatriots met West German residents. Reigned the atmosphere of joy and happiness from reunion.

There is an opinion that when universal education passed, residents of different Germany began to feel a huge ideological abyss of each other. It is said that this is also felt to this day, and East Berliners still differ from Westernoberlyllins. But so far I have not happened to check it. Now sometimes there is no no, but across the rumor that some Germans are convinced that under the Berlin Wall there was better than now. Although, maybe they say those who generally believe that earlier and the sun was brighter, and herb greener, and life is better.

In any case, such a terrible phenomenon was in history, and his remains were still preserved in Berlin. And when you go on the street and under your feet you see the mark, where the Berlin Wall was held, when you can touch her fragments, and you understand how much pain, excitement and fear brought this construction, you begin to feel your concern to this story.

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Berlin Wall was one of the characters cold War. In East Germany, she was called "Die Anti-Faschistischer Schutzwall" ("Anti-Fascist Protective Wall"). According to representatives of the USSR and the GDR, this wall was needed to prevent the penetration of Western spies to East Berlin, and that the inhabitants of West Berlin do not go to East Berlin for cheap goods that were sold on state subsidies.

In West Germany, they talked about this wall as an attempt to the Soviet Union to stop the migration of Eastern Berliners to West Berlin. So, today, few people know about the sign wall.

1. She did not share Eastern and West Germany

Among people are a common misconception that the Berlin Wall shared Eastern and West Germany. This is rooted incorrectly. Berlin Wall separated only Western Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany (Western Berlin was in East Germany). To understand how Western Berlin was in East Germany, first need to understand how Germany was divided after the war. By the end of World War II, the Allies agreed to divide Germany into four zones of influence: the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and France.

Berlin the same (which was in the zone controlled by the Soviet Union) was also divided into four sectors distributed among allies. Later, disagreements with the Soviet Union led to the fact that the United States, the United Kingdom and France united their zones, forming West Germany and West Berlin, and East Germany and East Berlin remained for the Soviet Union.

The length of the internal boundary between Western and East Germany was more than 1,300 kilometers, which eight times the length of the Berlin Wall (154 kilometers). In addition, only 43 kilometers of the Berlin Wall actually separated East Berlin from West Berlin. Most of the wall separated West Berlin from the rest of East Germany.

2. In fact, there were two walls

Today, few people remember that the Berlin Wall was not one wall, but two parallel walls located at a distance of 100 meters from each other. However, the one that everyone considers Berlin, was closer to East Berlin. Work on the construction of the first wall began on August 13, 1961, and began to build a second wall in a year.

Between the two walls was the so-called "strip of death", where any intruder could immediately shoot. The buildings inside the "Strip of Death" were destroyed, and the whole area was thoroughly aligned and falling asleep with small gravel to identify traces of any fugitives. Also on both sides of the strip after certain intervals, spotlights were installed to prevent escape at night.

3. Church that stood between two walls

Inside the "Strip of Death" East German and soviet authorities Destroyed all the buildings, with the exception of the so-called reconciliation church. Parishioners could not get into it, as the church was in the forbidden zone. The story associated with this church is quite interesting. After the separation of Berlin, the area around the church fell right on the border between the French and the Soviet sectors. The church itself was in the Soviet sector, and her parishioners lived in the French sector. When they built a Berlin wall, she separated the church from the flock. And when the second wall was completed, the few remaining parishioners living in the Soviet sector were also closed access to the temple.

In West Berlin, the abandoned church was promoted as a symbol of oppression of the Soviet Union of Eastern Berliners and Eastern Germans. The church itself soon became a problem for the East German police, since it was necessary to constantly patrol. As a result, on January 22, 1985, it was decided to demolish it to "improve safety, order and purity."

4. How the wall influenced the subway

Although the Berlin Wall was overhead, she touched on the metro in Berlin. After the separation of Berlin, the metro station on both sides passed under the management of the West and the USSR. It quickly became a problem, because trains passing between two points in West Berlin, sometimes it was necessary to pass through the stations near the Eastern Berlin. To avoid shoots and mixing among citizens of both parties, the eastern Berliners were banned from entering the stations through which Western trains were passing. These stations were sealed, surrounded by barbed wire and alarm. Trains from Western Berlin also did not stop at the "Eastern" stations. The only station in East Berlin, on which they stopped, was Friedrichstras, intended for Western Berliners heading to East Berlin. West Berlin recognized the existence of a subway in East Berlin, but on the maps these stations were labeled as "stations on which the trains do not stop". In East Germany, these stations were completely removed from all maps.

5. A small "Berlin Wall" divided the village

After the separation of Germany, the richwell of Tannbach, flowing through the village of Möndlaroit, located on the border of modern Bavaria and Thuringia, was used as the border between the US controlled zones and the Soviet Union. Initially, the villagers did not understand that part of Möldlaroit is in Germany, and the other in the GDR, as they could freely cross the border to visit family members in another country. Wooden fence, erected in 1952, partly limited this freedom. Then, in 1966, this freedom was limited even more when the fence was replaced by cement plates with a height of 3 meters - the same that was used for the separation of Berlin. The wall did not allow the village residents to move between two countries, actually separating the family. In the West, this village was called "Little Berlin". However, the plight of rural residents did not end on the wall. Eastern Germany's authorities also added electrical barriers, after which it became difficult to even leave the village. Part of the wall is still worth it, complete with several watchdog towers and posts. And the village itself remains divided between two federal lands.

6. Famous graffiti of kissing presidents

As mentioned above, the Berlin Wall consisted of two parallel walls. From the side of Western Berlin, her immediately after construction began to paint various graffiti. However, from the side of Eastern Berlin, the wall continued to maintain virgin purity, since the Eastern Germans were forbidden to approach her. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, several artists decided to paint the eastern part of the Berlin Wall of Graffiti.

One of the most famous works is depicting the former leader of the Soviet Union of Leonid Brezhnev, which spattered in a deep kiss with the former head of Eastern Germany Erich Honekker. Graffiti is called the "Kiss of Death" and was written by the artist from the Soviet Union by Dmitry Vrubel. Graffiti was recreating the scene of 1979, when both leaders kissed at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of East Germany. This "fraternal kiss" was in fact the usual phenomenon among high-ranking specials of communist states.

7. More than 6000 dogs patrolled death

"The strip of death" - the space between the two parallel walls of the Berlin Wall - it was named so not in vain. It was carefully guarded, including thousands of ferocious animals, nicknamed "Wall Dogs". German shepherds were usually used, but other breeds could also be found, such as Rottweilelers and Dogs. No one knows how much dogs were used. In some accounts, the figure of 6,000 is mentioned, while others argue that they were up to 10,000. It is worth noting that the dogs did not wander freely by the defense strip. Instead, each animal was tied to a 5-meter chain attached to a cable of 100 meters long, which allowed the dog to walk parallel to the wall. After the fall of the Berlin Wall of these dogs, they wanted to distribute them to families in Eastern and West Germany. However, the Western Germans skeptically reacted to acquire similar animals, since funds mass media Promoted "wall dogs" as dangerous animals who could break the person into pieces.

8. Margaret Thatcher and Francois Mitteran wanted the wall to stay

Initially, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President Francois Mitteran did not support the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. When the negotiations on reunion were held at a high level, she said: "We defeated the Germans twice, and now they return again." Thatcher did his best to stop the process and even tried to influence the Government of the UK (which was not in accordance with her.) When Thatcher realized that he could not stop the reunification process, she proposed that Germany was reunited after transition period At the age of five, not immediately. Mittera was disturbed by the people whom he called "bad Germans". He also feared that reunited Germany would be too influential in Europe, even more than with Adolf Hitler. When Mitteran realized that his opposition would not stop reunion, he changed his position and began to support her. Nevertheless, Mitteran adhered to the opinion that Germany can only be monitored in the event that it is part of the Union of European countries, which is known today as the European Union.

9. Recently was found for the forgotten part of the wall

Most of the Berlin Wall was demolished in 1989. The remaining parts that are left specifically are the relics of the separation of Germany. However, one part of the wall was forgotten until it was reopened in 2018. The historian Christian Borman stated on the existence of the 80-meter sector of the wall in Schonholz (Berlin's suburbs). In a blog, published on January 22, 2018, Borman told that he actually discovered this part of the wall in 1999, but decided to keep it secret. Now he revealed its existence due to the concerns that the wall is in poor condition and can collapse. The hidden section of the wall is in the shrub between the railway tracks and the cemetery.

10. She still shares Germany today

The separation of Germany and Berlin was not just in the construction of the wall. It was ideology, and its consequences are still felt today. First, West Germany was capitalist, and East Germany was a communist. This in itself affected the policies of each country. East Berlin from Western Berlin can even be distinguished in photos from space made by Astronaut Andre Kyupers on the international space station in 2012. It is clearly visible by the former East Berlin with yellow lighting and the former Western Berlin with greenish lighting. A sharp difference was the result of the use of various types of street lamps used in both countries (light in West Germany is more environmentally friendly than in East Germany). Today in East Germany, the average salary is lower than in West Germany. Since many factories in East Germany could not compete with their Western colleagues after reuniting, they just closed.

This led to the fact that in West Germany in most industries were forced to increase wages to attract talented workers. The consequence of this is that people seeking to work in the eastern part of the country, prefer to migrate to Western to find it there. Although it led to a decrease in unemployment in East Germany, it also created "brain leakage". If says O. positive sideEast Germany produces less garbage than West Germany. It is also a consequence of the days of communism, when the Eastern Germans bought only that they were absolutely necessary, compared with Western Germans, who were not economical. In East Germany, it is also better to care for children than in West Germany. Eastern Germans also have larger farms.

Berlin Wall - the most odious and ominous symbol of the Cold War

Rubric: Berlin

As a result of World War II, Germany turned out to be divided into four occupation zones. Eastern lands got Soviet UnionAnd the British, Americans and French controlled the west of the former Reich. The same fate has suffered the capital. The divided Berlin was to be a real arena of the Cold War. After the proclaiming of October 7, 1949, the German Democratic Republic, the eastern part of Berlin was declared its capital, and Western became an enclave. Twelve years, the city surrounded the wall, which physically separated the socialist GDR from the capitalist Western Berlin.

Not easy choice for Nikita Khrushchev

Immediately after the war, the Berlinians could move freely from one part of the city to another. The separation was practically not felt, except for the difference in the standard of living, which was visible to the naked eye. The shelves of the stores of West Berlin were broken from the goods, which could not be said about the capital of the GDR. In the capitalist enclave, it was better with the payment of labor, especially qualified personnel - they were greeted here with open arms.

As a result, mass outflow of experts from East Germany to the West began. The part of the simple population was not lagging behind, which was unhappy with his life in the Socialist Paradise. Only in 1960, the GDR left more than 350 thousand of its citizens. East German and Soviet leadership seriously abandoned such an outflow, actually massacious people. Everyone understood that if not to stop him, the young republic is waiting for an inevitable collapse.

The appearance of the wall was determined by the Berlin crises of 1948-1949, 1953 and 1958-1961. Especially tense issued last. By the time the USSR actually passed the GDR from Berlin's occupation sector. The western part of the city still remained under the authority of the Allies. Ultimatum was nominated: Western Berlin must become a free city. The Allies rejected the requirements, considering that this in the future could lead to the addition of enclaves to the GDR.

The situation was aggravated by the policies of the Government of East Germany within the country. The then leader of the GDR Walter Ulbricht conducted a tough economic course on the Soviet model. In the desire to "catch up and overtake" the Federal Republic of Germany, the authorities were not bent. Increased production rules, conducted violent collectivization. But the payment of labor and in general, the standard of living remained low. This provoked the flight of Eastern Germans to the West, as we mentioned above.

What to do in the current situation? On August 3-5, 1961, on this occasion, the heads of the States Parties to the Warsaw Agreement were emerged in Moscow. Ulbricht insisted: the border with Western Berlin needs to be closed. Allies agreed. But how to do that? The head of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev considered two options: an air barrier or a wall. Chose the second. The first option threatened with a serious conflict with the United States, perhaps even a war with America.

Separation into two parts - in one night

On the night of August 12 to August 13, 1961, the GDR troops were tightened to the border between the western and eastern parts of Berlin. For several hours, they blocked her sites within the city. Everything happened on the first degree announced. Military people together with the police and work squads at the same time came to work, because building materials for the construction of barriers were prepared in advance. Until the morning, a 3 million city was cut into two parts.

Barbed wire blown in 193 streets. The same fate has suffered four lines of the Berlin metro and 8 tram lines. In the places adjacent to the new border cut off the lines of power and telephone communication. They even managed to brew pipes of all urban communications. Stunned Berliners gathered on both sides of barbed wire. The order sounded to disperse, but people did not obey. Then they were dispersed for half an hour with the help of water methods ...

Talking the barbed wire of the entire perimeter of the Westoberlin border ended to Tuesday, August 15. In the following days, it was replaced by a stone wall properly, the construction and modernization of which continued until the first half of the 70s. Residents from border houses were evicted, and their windows overlooking the Western Berlin laid bricks. Also closed the cross-border Potsdam Square. Its final type of wall found only in 1975.

Which was the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall (German Berliner Mauer) had a length of 155 kilometers, of which 43.1 km accounted for an urban trait. Chancellor FRG Willy Brandt called her "shameful wall", and the President of the United States John Kennedy "Society in all mankind." The official name adopted in the GDR: Antifaschischer Schutzwall.

The wall, physically divided Berlin into two parts at home, streets, communications and the spree of the river, was a massive construction from concrete and stone. It was an extremely fortified engineering and equipped structure with movement sensors, mines, barbed wire. Since the wall was the border, then the border guards who shot on everyone, even in children who dare to illegally cross the border with Western Berlin were also here.

But the very wall of the GDR authorities was little. Along it, equipped a special forbidden zone with warning signs. Particularly ominously looked like risks of anti-tank hedgehogs and the stripper sandwiched with metal spikes, called "lawn Stalin". There was a metal grid with barbed wire. When you try to penetrate it, the signal missiles were triggered by the GDR border guards about an attempt to illegally transition of the border.

The barbed wire was stretched on top of odious facilities. It was launched a high voltage current. Over the perimeter of the Berlin Wall, viewing towers and checkpoints were elevated. Including from West Berlin. One of the most famous - "Charlie Chekpoint", which was under the control of the Americans. There have been a lot of complete drama of events related to the desperate attempts of GDR citizens to escape to West Germany.

The absurdity of the venture with the Iron Curtain reached its apogee when it was decided to fuck the wall of the Brandenburg Gate - the famous symbol of Berlin and all Germany. And from all sides. For the reason that they were on the way of odious structures. As a result, no residents of the capital of the GDR, nor the inhabitants of Western Berlin could even come close to the goal until 1990. So the tourist attraction has become a victim of political confrontation.

The fall of the Berlin Wall: how it was

A prominent role in the collapse of the Berlin Wall involuntarily played ... Hungary. Under the influence of restructuring in the USSR, in May 1989, he opened the border with Austria. It became a signal for the citizens of the GDR, which rushed into other countries of the Eastern Block to get to Hungary, from there to Austria and then in Germany. The GDR leadership lost control over the situation, mass demonstrations began in the country. People demanded civil rights and freedoms.

The protests that have reached the culmination led to the resignation of Erich Honecker and other party leaders. The outflow of people to the West through other countries of the Warsaw contract has become so mass that the existence of the Berlin Wall has lost all meaning. On November 9, 1989, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of Segg Gunter Shabovski acted on television. He announced simplifying the rules of entry and departure from the country and the possibility of immediately obtaining visas for visiting West Berlin and Germany.

For the eastern Germans it became a signal. They did not wait for the official entry into force of the new rules and in the evening of the same day rushed to the border. The border guards initially tried to push the crowd with the crowded by the crowd, but then they gave way to people and opened the border. From the other side of Western Berliners, who rushed to East Berlin. The occurred reminded the people's holiday, people laughed and cried with happiness. Euphoria reigned until the morning.

On December 22, 1989, the Brandenburg Gate was open to the passage. The Berlin Wall still stood, but nothing left of the sinister appearance. She was broken in places, it was painted by numerous graffiti and drawd pictures and inscriptions. Citizens and tourists chose pieces of memory from her. The wall was demolished several months after the entry of the GDR in the FRG on October 3, 1990. The symbol of the "Cold War" and the separation of Germany ordered a long time to live.

Berlin Wall: Today's Day

Information about those killed with the intersection of the Berlin wall will differ. In the former GDR, they argued that there were 125 people. Other sources argue that those of 192 people. In some media, with reference to the archives of the Stati, such statistics were brought: 1245. Part of the killed in the dead is dedicated memorial complex "Berlin Wall", opened in 2010 (the whole complex was completed two years later and occupies four hectares).

Currently, a fragment of the Berlin Wall, a length of 1300 meters has been preserved. He became a memories of the very ominous symbol "Cold War". The fall of the wall inspired artists from all over the world, who came here and painted the remaining plot with their paintings. So appeared East Side Gallery - Gallery under open sky. One of the drawings, Kiss Brezhnev and Honecker, fulfilled our compatriot, artist Dmitry Vrubel.

Berlin Wall (Germany) - description, history, location. Accurate address, telephone, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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Berlin is a city with a richest cultural heritage, with incredible architecture, museums, theaters, galleries, but for many tourists it is primarily associated with the notorious Berlin Wall. Concrete fence with a height of more than three meters, wedged with barbed wire, standing at one hundred and sixty kilometers, was not just a border between the two parts of the German power, she divided thousands of families for almost thirty years.

Berlin wall at the end of the summer of 1961, and she fell only in the fall of 1989, during this time, when attempting to cross it, it was detained and convicted about seventy-five thousand people, and more than a thousand are shot in place, they even had children. In November 1989, the Germans from East Berlin were allowed to cross the border in the presence of special visas, but people did not wait for their receipt and forcefully stormed the wall, behind which the residents of Germany were happily welcomed.

Some of them are decorated with large American corporations, Munya and even the headquarters of the CIA.

It became an event of a global scale, the reunion of families, the city and the whole state spoke in all corners of the planet. In a matter of days from the wall, there was no stone on the stone, her fragments that Westernoberly artists were decorated with eloquent graffiti, were sold out for considerable money in private collections. Interest from tourists to this unique historical object does not subside so far. Many people come to Berlin precisely in order to see at least his ruins with their own eyes, but the Berliners themselves cannot answer with confidence, where it was she who was. Therefore, the initiative group, with the support of the EU Special Fund, are engaged in the restoration of the fragments of the Berlin Wall, trying to use the same building materials and achieving maximum historical compliance.

So, for example, a nearly eight-hundred-meter section of the wall was reconstructed along Bernauer Strasse, it was here that people most often tried to elapically cross the border, and their lives ended tragically. When restoring the wall used the same plates from which it was initially used to buy them from private collectors around the world at a price of a thousand EUR for each fragment. The complete picture is also provided by three sentigious ties, which, before the beginning of the 90s of the last century, there are more than three hundred.

Today, these unique objects cause huge tourist interest, and are also a symbol of freedom, unity and invincibility of people who once lived in complete isolation.

For the first time in Berlin. Where to go, what to try: