Theory into Practice//Research

A summary of the History of The Berlin Wall 

At 1.05am on Sunday 13 August 1961, East German border guards and army combat groups took up positions on the demarcation line at the Brandenburg Gate in central Berlin. In a scene repeated along the border dividing the two halves of the city, they ripped up the paving stones and strained barbed wire between concrete posts. By early morning, only 12 of the 81 street crossing points were passable (that was soon cut to seven). This was phase one of the Berlin Wall.

There is evidence that the building of the wall actually came as something of a relief to the western powers; they had been expecting such a move and saw it, if anything, as evidence that no imminent attempt was likely by the Soviet Union and GDR to retake all Berlin; west Berlin, in other words, was safe.

The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) had erected a barbed wire border fence with the Federal Republic (West Germany) as early as 1952. However, the border running through Berlin, controlled by all four post-war occupying powers, remained largely open, turning the city into by far the most important route for East Germans to flee the rigours of state socialism for the "economic miracle" then underway in West Germany. By 1961, some 3.5 million East Germans (20% of the population) had left, many through Berlin.

The wall slowed that emigration almost to a trickle. In the 28 years of its existence some 5,000 people are thought to have successfully escaped across the wall; the number who died in the attempt is disputed, although 136 deaths have been confirmed, the last being shot in February 1989.

The barrier was 155km long, although the 112km separating west Berlin from the GDR consisted mainly of wire fencing. What most of us think of as the Berlin Wall was the 43km of border rampart that divided west from east Berlin. It grew into a vast fortification system featuring two concrete barriers with a control or "death" strip between them, along with floodlights, electric fences, vehicle trenches, wire-guided dog patrols, observation towers, bunkers and armed guards.

The fall, when it came, was swift: as part of a long summer of civil unrest that heralded momentous change across eastern Europe, there were mass demonstrations in the GDR in September 1989. In October, the country's lifelong leader, Erich Honecker, resigned. On 9 November, the East German politburo lifted border controls to the west, including for private journeys to west Berlin, from 17 November. The official who announced this, Günter Schabowski, got it wrong, announcing it was effective "immediately". It was, by all accounts, an extraordinary night. Germany was formally reunified just 11 months later.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/27/berlin-wall-short-history