![]() These included the Soviets' refusal to agree to reconstruction plans making post-war Germany self-sufficient, and to a detailed accounting of industrial plants, goods and infrastructure-some of which had already been removed by the Soviets. Within two years, political divisions increased between the Soviets and the other occupying powers. The capital of Berlin, as the seat of the Allied Control Council, was similarly subdivided into four sectors despite the city's location, which was fully within the Soviet zone. Background Post-war GermanyĪfter the end of World War II in Europe, what remained of pre-war Germany west of the Oder-Neisse line was divided into four occupation zones (as per the Potsdam Agreement), each one controlled by one of the four occupying Allied powers: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which formally took place on 3 October 1990. The demolition of the Wall officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1994. The Brandenburg Gate, a few meters from the Berlin Wall, was opened on 22 December 1989. ![]() Over the next few weeks, souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit the FRG and West Berlin. In particular, the Pan-European Picnic in August 1989 set in motion a peaceful development during which the Iron Curtain largely broke, the rulers in the East came under pressure to cease their repressive policies, the Berlin Wall fell and finally the Eastern Bloc collapsed. In 1989, a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries-in Poland and Hungary in particular-caused a chain reaction in East Germany. During this period, over 100,000 people attempted to escape, and over 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over the Wall, with an estimated death toll of those murdered by East German authorities ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin. Between 19, the Wall prevented almost all such emigration. īefore the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin from there they could then travel to West Germany and to other Western European countries. ![]() Along with the separate and much longer inner German border, which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize physically the Iron Curtain that separated the Western Bloc and Soviet satellite states of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the " Wall of Shame", a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. The authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart ( German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall, pronounced ⓘ). The Soviet Bloc propaganda portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from " fascist elements conspiring to prevent the will of the people" from building a communist state in the GDR. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East German citizens from fleeing to the West. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. The Berlin Wall ( German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced ⓘ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG West Germany) from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR East Germany). Satellite image of Berlin, with the Wall's location marked in yellow West and East Berlin borders overlaying a current road map ( interactive map) Column track length: 124.3 km (77.2 mi)įirst Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party.Anti-vehicle trenches length: 105.5 km (65.6 mi).Concrete segment of wall length: 106 km (66 mi).Concrete segment of wall height: 3.6 m (11.8 ft).Border length through residential areas in East Berlin: 37 km (23 mi).Border length between West and East Berlin: 43.1 km (26.8 mi). ![]() Border length between West Berlin and East Germany: 111.9 km (69.5 mi).Border length around West Berlin: 155 km (96 mi).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |