November 9, 1989 was the day the Berlin Wall fell. Then one of East Germany’s party leaders appeared on TV and announced that the East Germans could now travel freely wherever they wanted without permission and without giving any reason.
The Berlin Wall would stop the mass exodus to the west
The Berlin Wall was a wall that began to be built in 1961 between West Berlin and East Berlin. The decision to build the wall was made by the East German government. To the public, the decision came as a complete surprise. From now on, no one was allowed to pass the two halves of the city without permission.
The wall was built for economic and political reasons. The Berlin Wall was built after the increasing flow of refugees from east to west became a major concern for East Germany . In the years 1949-1961, 2.7 million people fled to the west via Berlin.
Because many of the refugees were highly educated people – doctors, teachers, engineers, technicians and others. this emigration must have been very noticeable for the East German Republic.
The wall divided Berlin
At first it was a low wall that many could easily escape over. But it was expanded over the years. Houses were cleared to the ground so that a 100 meter wide zone was formed along the wall so that the border personnel could more easily guard the wall.
The wall ran from north to south and divided the city of Berlin into two halves. The total length around West Berlin was 46 kilometers. It has been estimated that a smaller town could have been built with the material used for the wall. And the barbed wire would last a lap around the earth.
For West Berlin, the consequences of the wall were also negative. Many young people left West Berlin and moved to West Germany. West Berlin therefore had a fairly aged population. 22 percent of the population was over 65 years old. In the rest of West Germany, the corresponding figure was 12 percent.
Almost impossible to escape to the west
With the advent of the Berlin Wall, it became virtually impossible for East Germans to get to the West. About 80 border crossings were closed and windows re-walled. Later, a strip several hundred meters wide on the east side was cleared to make way for obstacles and surveillance facilities. Before the border was completely closed again, over the years, more than 5,000 people still managed to escape, of which 574 were East German so-called public police.
The number of people shot to death by the East German border guards in connection with escape attempts at the Berlin Wall was 239 people.
The Berlin Wall opens
During the autumn of 1989, hundreds of thousands of East Germans fled to the West via Hungary, Prague and Warsaw. Demonstrations for democracy erupted in several East German cities. On November 9, 1989, the hard-pressed East German government decided to open Berlin for free passage. To great cheers, people from both parts of the city celebrated the newfound freedom.
Thank you for reading, please share the article to give us credit!
Also Read: World War I History Background and More
Also Interesting: World War II Causes, History
Also Interesting: Adolf Hitler Road to Power
