Before the Wall Was Built
In February 1945, the President of the United States (Franklin Roosevelt), the British Prime Minister (Winston Churchill) and the Leader of the Soviet Union (Josef Stalin), held a meeting at Yalta (in the Crimea). The countries that they represented and also 'occupied' France (commonly known as the Allies) , were in alliance to combat the continuing threat to free Europe posed by Hitler’s Germany.
At this meeting they decided what should happen if and when Germany surrendered. They decided to divide the country into four zones – one each to be controlled by France, the Soviet Union, the U.S. and Britain. As Berlin, the capital, would fall in the Soviet zone , the Western Allies insisted that Berlin be divided likewise, and the soviet leader Stalin agreed. The western zones of Berlin were completely surrounded by communist held terroritry.
Berlin fell to the Soviets in April, and in the same month, Harry Truman succeeded to the U.S. Presidency on the death of Roosevelt. The Soviet Union appointed Walter Ulbricht to manage the Eastern zone of the now occupied Germany.
There was doubt in the West as to whether the Soviets would conduct democratic elections in their zone as promised, and these doubts were well grounded, as elections held in October 1946 saw Ulbricht’s government retaining power – despite the Communists receiving less than a fifth of votes. Communist control was being maintained through the use of the ‘Red’ Army and the secret police force.
In the Western zones, by 1948 an American plan, Marshall Aid, was benefiting the West German economy, and the French, British and American governments made an agreement that the Western controlled sectors would be ‘unified’ into one zone; almost a country, to be called West Germany. This decision also applied to the three Western controlled zones of Berlin.
In April of that year, in response to the increasing disparity between the economic conditions of the Eastern and Western zones, the Soviets introduced travel restrictions from the Eastern zone. This was an attempt to stop people moving to the Western zone for economic advantages. By June, in the face of the ending of rationing and price controls and still more problematic, the introduction of a new currency in West Germany - and also therefore in West Berlin - the Soviets refused to accept the new currency, and near the end of the month, took the decision to blockade all land routes into West Berlin.
The Berlin Airlift Of 1948
For the next ten months, the Allies carried out, with great determination, a quite remarkable aim; to airlift all the supplies needed by West Berlin’s 2.4 million inhabitants. In total there were 277,728 flights into the zone – an average exceeding 900 per day, and they delivered over 2 million tons of supplies to the otherwise isolated sector.
300,000 thousand people from both sides of the city held a protest against the division of Berlin in September 1948, but it was not until May 1949 that Stalin finally called an end to the blockade.
East Germany After Stalin's Death
In the Soviet Union, Stalin’s death in 1953 saw the succession of Nikita Khruschev. East German workers were suffering under the Soviet regime, and in this year the pressure continued to grow; in May the East German government decreed that all workers must increase their productivity by 10% on the previous year – and that wages would stay exactly as before.
East Berlin building workers went on strike in June; the demonstration attended by 100,000 people was met with Soviet tanks. All over East Germany, (now the GDR), in 300 or so towns, there were demonstrations against Soviet control. This discontent festered in subsequent year especially in Berlin were members of the same families found themselves living in under differing regimes. By the turn of the decade many Germans in the Eastern sector were moving into the western sectors and the communist Government decided to stem the flow.
The Rise Of The Wall
In 1961, the first version of the Wall appeared overnight – a temporary barrier of barbed wire backed up by 50,000 soldiers. Two days after this, on 15 June, began the erection of concrete blocks topped with barbed wire. This was insufficient to withstand assault by heavy vehicles, and from 1963 the Wall underwent successive reinforcements. In its final fortified form The Berlin Wall was 155 km long, 3.6 metres high, furnished with 302 Observation Towers, enclosed West Berlin and divided workers from their jobs, people from their families and friends, and scarred the city - see the Document Centre information.
There are countless stories and memories of the experience of this aberration, among them, two related below are indicative of the nature of these:
Visiting Yesterdays History Today
The Berlin Wall Memorial, The Death Strip, Chapel of Reconciliation and The Belin Wall Documentation Center
The Berlin Wall Documentation Centre ( Bernauer Strasse 111, 13355 Berlin), is the best place to visit in Berlin to form an idea of Berliners’ lives during these 38 years website
This resource has excellent material on Berlin during the division, including aerial photographs showing the Wall enclosing West Berlin, and also the story of Bernauer Strasse.All are clearly visible from the viewing platform on the top floor. Euromost strongly recomends a visiting this centre.
Also at this site are a cemetery, access to which had been severely limited. Two preserved sections of the Wall, The Death Strip and original installations such as floodlights and patrol paths have been kept and can be seen. The Chapel of Reconcilliation is a couple of minutes way. A brief backgound of the afore follows:.
The Soviet Side Of The Street.
At Bernauer Strasse (13355 Berlin), the pavement and road itself were in the French zone, whilst the apartment buildings, housing approximately 2,000 people, were on the Soviet side of the division. In 1961, when troops began to board up the windows of these houses as the Wall was to be built, in the ensuing panic, the residents tried to escape onto the road in the Western zone via the upper windows of their homes. Henceforth, they had no access to their own street. These people were evicted and in 1965 the buildings were demolished.
The Death Strip.
The no-man’s land between the two boundary walls erected in 1962 was an empty area covered with gravel, underneath which lay mines and tripwires. The guards were under orders to shoot on sight any person in this area; consequently it became known as the Death Strip. Although measures taken at the Wall became ever more sophisticated, it is estimated that 5,000 people did escape over it.
At least one hundred died in the attempt; widely known was the killing of an eighteen-year old, Peter Fetcher, who was shot in the hip - news footage around the world showed his end as he bled to death. (see photo in left hand coloumn. A small section of this strip remains today see the . Document Centre information
For information on Checkpoint Charlie go to
The Church In No Mans Land & The Chapel Of Reconcilation
Also on Bernauer Strasse was an old church – the Church of Reconcilation, built around 1890. This unfortunate building’s location was now in the ‘no-man’s land’ between the two border walls, and members of its congregation were therefore unable to use it. With the spire visible above the Wall, it served as a symbol of the cruelty of the division.
In 1985, the Soviets, citing it as an obstruction to visibility, destroyed it (see photos). Parishioners responded to this abysmal act by performing a ‘Dance on the Wall’. In a speech given on this occasion, it was said:“We can do something. And if we have faith in symbolic actions, then we know that symbols have a silent power which can make the ‘impossible’ possible.”
(The modern Chapel of Reconciliation that replaces the former Church was opened in 1999; mixed into the building materials are tiny fragments of the original, a part of which has been preserved in a special enclosure). For more details see the Document Centre information
The Wall Comes Down.
On November 9th 1989 the wall fell, signalling the end of the the division of Germany Soviet and the Soviet era itself. Germany faced a massive challenge economically socially and poltically which was again reflected on a smaller scale by the city of Berlin. The legacy of two radically different political and social systems, economies and working practices, each with their respective virtues and vices are being reconciled. The visitor to Berlin cannot be oblivious to the inheritance of the division – it is there in architecture and attitudes – but the city endures in its identity as Germany’s capital, first and foremost.
The Berlin Wall Today
Little remains of the original wall - though fragments of it can be found on the mantlepieces of souvenir hunters worldwide. In Berlin itself there a few strips. These can be found at the site of the former Gestapo Headquarters, at Oberbaumbrucke on the Spree river (know by locals as the East Side Gallery) and at Berner Strausse. The latter section has been partly reconstructed and is conveniently alongside the Chapel of Reconcillation and the Document Centre. Details.
Other very small sections of the wall can be found at random across central Berlin but they do not convey the ambience or oppression of the wall. Even the East Side Gallery section is ameriolated by the graffitti upon it. In some parts of the city the former existence of the wall is defined by rows of cobblestones along the street.
Now days tourists who visit Berlin today can hire apartments in the former eastern sector, especially in high rise blocks in the former centre of East Berlin Alexanderplatz. If they talk to the older locals they can hear first hand accounts about the original division of the city. and its affects on their lives. More surprising though are some of their feelings about the downside and benefits they have experienced since the fall of wall.
Cold Russian Winds Blow In Over Battered Berlin
From 1945 until 1989, the lives of Berliners were drastically affected by the ‘Cold’ War between the governments of the West and the Soviet Union.
The Berlin Wall is emblematic of the Cold War, was expedient for the Soviets, and it was hated almost universally.
Dispelling The Myths About The Berlin Wall
In the west anti-soviet propoganda led many people to believe that the erection of The Berlin Wall, was an act of aggression inspired by The Kremlin.
This belief was a myth as a visit to the Berlin Wall Documentation Centre at 111 Bernauer Strasse in Berlin reveals that the Russian President at the time, Kruschev, was not in favour of it, even though people in the communist eastern sector of Berlin were crossing in drobes to the allied controlled western sector.
It is necesscary to take a longer overview of the circumstances surrounding the war:
Berlin After Liberation 1945
The Berlin Airlift 
Berlin Uprising June 17th1953
A Section Of The Wall At Bernauer Strausse In 1961
The Berlin Wall & Death Strip 
Peter Fetcher Shot Dead In His Bid For Freedom
The Church Of Reconcilliation 
pictures / more info kirche-versoehnung The Chapel Of Reconcilliation 
The Fall Of The Berlin Wall
Berlin Editorial Comment
There are many myths embedded in our perception of the history of Eastern Europe and particularly Berlin. Visiting this part of the world is the only way to discover the truth. One thing is for certain - it is rich in enduring cultures which have survived the invasiveness of empires and the advocacy of those who have poltical and economic objectives.
The modern day US Checkpoint Charlie is something that Berliners and for that matter Americans can probably live without. It is not a good ambassador for the states a country that attaches so much importance in winning 'hearts and minds'. Best by passed unless you are into tachy stuff of which it really is the best..
picture & more info from wikipedia 
