Berliner Mauer – The Berlin Wall

Straddling the east/west divide. Where the wall used to stand near the Brandenberg Gate

Not surprisingly, one of the draws of Berlin is finding out about the history and impact of the Wall.  The Wall figures prominently in peoples’ minds and every effort has been made to keep its memory from a historical point of view.  It remains a bit of a mystery to me to really understand the impact of the Wall and what life was like with it compared to what life is like without it.  There are many great books available in Berlin on the Wall.  I am tempted to buy one, but it is just more to carry along with me.  Certainly our western media would have skewed the image somewhat giving us a sense that life in East Berlin was grey and dreary all the time.  I don’t think that was the case, however it certainly had the influence of the Soviet presence.  But over and above that, one of the most interesting pieces of information I have received during this trip is how the whole Wall coming down happened.

The Brandenburg Gate - Berlin's famous landmark - that during the time of the wall sat within the Soviet side isolated and desolate

There had been uprisings by the people in 1988 and 89 as they were getting more and more frustrated by the restrictions on their movements.  (I am giving a very simplified version here).  Also, as I have been told, the older more restrictive government had been replaced by a more liberal (although still not great) government.  so with the pressure of the people, there had been a press conference held in November 1989 at which the government was going to announce some changes to peoples’ freedom of movement in and out of East Germany.  At the press conference, a newly appointed Minister was asked questions by the media.  He fumbled and shuffled with some papers and read out a brief statement (what appeared to be a statement) about new regulations regarding the degree of freedom people would have to travel outside of East Germany.  As he read this, it basically seemed to say that East Berliners could leave East Berlin with just having their passport and not needing to provide any reason or permit for leaving.  That was the short jist of it.  Everyone watching the conference, journalists, and Germans alike, were confused and a little stunned.  People started showing up at the wall demanding to be let through.  The Border Guards had not been given any direction and since there were so many of them, they couldn’t and they didn’t have the order to shoot.  So the head guard basically made the decision to let them through.  And the rest is history.

One of the largest and last stretches of the wall still in place

But apparently that statement, that piece of paper that he read out, was just a proposal to go before the government and was not actually a resolution.  It had not been agreed upon or passed.  But in reading it out to the world it became a resolution.  There are conspiracy theories that someone made sure it was there in the confusion so that that sort of error would happen.  And this little snippet of information I did not know but I found fascinating.  So without violence or fighting, just like that, the wall of 28 years came down.

A portion of the wall at the Reichstag

The reunification of German was complete by 1990.  Now over 20 years ago.  Aside from memorials and this line in the road – a cobbled line where the wall used to stand – there is little evidence of the wall and of life during the wall.

Seeing the inner wall from the eastern side, the guard tower and beyond that would be the main wall

Frustratingly trying to see through the cracks of the inner wall past the dead zone to the outer wall beyond. Gave me a sense of what it felt like being in Eastern Berlin trying to see beyond.

I had not realized, or maybe I had but I had forgotten, that Berlin was in Eastern Germany.  So it was just a pocket of West Berlin that was living by western government and standards.  As such, the Wall did not just divide east and west Berlin but I actually encircled all of West Berlin from the rest of East Germany.

What the wall would have looked like from the West Berlin side

This was the part I found hard to understand.  I asked my friend Marcus how then could a person in West Berlin, who had freedom to come and go out of West Berlin to the rest of the world, do so when they were encircled by East Germany.  He told me it was possible but easiest by plane.  By train or especially by car, there was just one route only that they were allowed to use to leave West Berlin for the any area in the West and it was like a tunnel and not a great experience.

A section of the actual inner, outer wall, guard tower and death zone as it was when still in place

Of course the East Germans had no ability to get to the west or West Berlin for that matter.  What is really bizarre to try and grasp is that the Wall actually went up over night so people who were in East Berlin visiting friend or family found themselves the next morning, with the option to flee back to the West before the barrier became impassable, or stay in the East.  Some houses back doors were in the East and their front doors were in the West.  Eventually these houses had their windows bricked up and their doors nailed shut.  Eventually they were torn down.

Walking along the last remaining sections of the wall with tall iron rebar in the middle where the wall actually would have been

The stories of people jumping out of windows to get to the west or tunneling under the ground to get to the west are compelling and moving.  Couples and families were separated and torn apart just because suddenly the Soviets wanted to stop the deluge of people emigrating to the West for a better life.

A memorial to some of the people who died trying to escape to the West

Marcus also told me though that upon reunification of Germany, the industry that had provided economy in the East was antiquated and not useful to operate in the modern west world, so much of it shut down.  So in short today, even though Berlin is vibrant on the surface with tourists and visitors, it is actually the poorest city in Germany with unemployment of about 18%.  These I had no idea about and it saddened me a bit.

A reunification sculpture - I will let it speak for itself

However I am glad that I have spent so much time checking out all the memorials on the Wall and all the still present evidence.  Getting my head wrapped around what it must have been like for the Germans during that time is important to me.  It really makes me realize such freedom that we have here in Canada and the West.  Something that can so easily disappear overnight.  It really makes you realize how important it is not to take that for granted.  Human history is filled with such losses of personal freedom.  I am very grateful that in my life I have had complete freedom of thought, mind, body, and movement.  May my experiences and travels inspire others to continue to experience the world in such a fashion as this level of movement has not always been so available.

Looking down what would have been the death zone - the slabs in the ground in the middle represent the location of two separate tunnels that had been used to escape to the West