| BERLIN WALL |
| The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to keep the East German citizens in East Germany. The nation of Germany was divided into 4 zones after the war, and the three westerns formed Western Germany and the Soviet zone was created into Eastern Germany in 1949. From 1949-1961, East Germany was the most productive satellite nation to the Soviet Union, but they had limited access to Western ideas and media. The people who had heard about the higher standard of life in West Germany spread the news and packs of people relocated to the western side. Then in 1961, realizing that the massive relocations were depleting the labor force built a wall around Western Berlin. It was on the night of August 13, 1961, that they built a wall separating East and West Berlin. The wall could not go through buildings, so they bricked the sides of the building to stop the flow of escapees. The wall was quickly replaced with a 12-foot high concrete wall that stretched 103 miles, 28 of those miles were located in the city. It had only two tightly guarded entrances in Berlin. People still managed to get across into Western Germany, but with very limited success. Around 80% of the people who tried to escape into the free side were killed. The wall, heavily guarded, was to protect these people from military interference from the west. But that was an obvious lie once people saw tank traps and ditches along the eastern side of the wall. The wall became obsolete in 1989 when Hungary flexed its borders with Austria, allowing Easterners save travel through Hungary, then Austria, and then to Western Germany. The people of East and West Germany began to take part in the dismantling of the wall, which can be found in detail by following this link. |