Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (German: Die Berliner Mauer) was a long barrier separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany. The East German authorities called it the ?antifaschistischer Schutzwall? (Anti-Fascist Protection Wall). Its purpose was to restrict access between West Berlin and East Germany. It was built in 1961 and fortified over the years, but was opened to unrestricted transit on November 9, 1989 and subsequently almost entirely demolished.

Construction of the Wall

The impetus for the creation of the Berlin Wall came from East German leader Walter Ulbricht, who sought the approval of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev for its construction. Khrushchev agreed, but imposed strict conditions. Ulbricht's proposal for a second air blockade was refused, and the construction of a barrier was permitted only if it were composed at first of barbed wire. If the Allies challenged the barbed-wire barrier, the East Germans were to fall back and were not to fire first under any circumstances.

Related Topics:
Walter Ulbricht - Nikita Khrushchev - Barbed wire

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Construction of the 45 km (28 mi.) barrier around the three western sectors began on Sunday August 13, 1961 in East Berlin. That morning, at midnight, the zonal boundary had been sealed by East German troops. The barrier was built by East German troops and workers, not directly involving the Soviets. It was built a little way inside East German territory to ensure that it did not encroach on West Berlin at any point; if one stood next to the West Berlin side of the barrier (and later the Wall), one was actually standing on East Berlin soil. The streets along which the barrier ran were torn up to make them impassable to most vehicles and a barbed-wire fence was erected, which was later built up into the full-scale Wall. It physically divided the city and completely surrounded West Berlin. During the construction of the Wall, NVA and KdA soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect.

Related Topics:
August 13 - 1961 - NVA - KdA

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Many families were split, many East Berliners were cut off from their jobs and chances of a better life, and West Berlin became an isolated enclave in a hostile land. West Germans demonstrated against the wall, led by their mayor Willy Brandt, who strongly criticized the United States for failing to respond. Allied intelligence agencies had hypothesized about a wall to stop the flood of refugees but the main candidate for its location was around the perimeter of the city.

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But John F. Kennedy had accepted in a speech http://www.jfklibrary.org/speeches.htm on July 25, 1961 that it could only really hope to defend West Berliners and West Germans: to attempt to stand up for East Germans would only result in an embarrassing climbdown. Accordingly, the administration made polite protests, at length, via "the usual channels", but without fervour, even though it was a violation of the postwar Four Powers Agreements, which gave the United Kingdom, France and the United States a say over the administration of the whole of Berlin. Indeed, a few months after the barbed wire went up, the U.S. government would inform the Soviet government that it accepted the Wall as "a fact of international life" and would not challenge it by force.

Related Topics:
John F. Kennedy - July 25 - 1961 - United Kingdom - France - United States

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But it was clear both that West German morale needed more and that there was a serious potential threat to the viability of West Berlin. And if West Berlin fell, after all the efforts of the Berlin Airlift, how could any of America's allies rely on her? On the other hand, in the face of any serious Soviet threat, an enclave like West Berlin could not be defended except with nuclear weapons. So it was vitally important for the Americans to show the Soviets that they could push their luck no further.

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Accordingly General Lucius D. Clay, who was deeply respected by Berliners after commanding the American effort during the Berlin Airlift (1948–9) and was known to have a firm attitude towards the Soviets, was sent to Berlin with ambassadorial rank (as JFK's special advisor). He and Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson arrived at Templehof airport on the afternoon of Saturday 19 August. They arrived in a city defended by what would soon be known as the "Berlin Brigade", which then consisted of the 2nd and 3rd Battle Groups of the 6th Infantry, with Company F, 40th Armor. The battle groups were pentatomic, with 1362 officers and men each. On 16 August, Kennedy had given the order for them to be reinforced. Early on 19 August, the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry (commanded by Col. Glover S. Johns Jr.) was alerted.

Related Topics:
Lucius D. Clay - Berlin Airlift - Lyndon B. Johnson - 19 August - 16 August

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On Sunday morning, lead elements in a column of 491 vehicles and trailers carrying 1500 men, divided into five march units, left the Helmstedt-Marienborn checkpoint at 0634. At Marienborn, the Soviet checkpoint next to Helmstedt on the West German/East German border, U.S. personnel were counted by guards. The column was 160 km (~100 mi) long, and covered 177 km (~110 mi) from Marienborn to Berlin in full battle gear, with VoPos (East German traffic police) watching from beside trees next to the autobahn all the way along. The front of the convoy arrived at the outskirts of Berlin just before noon, to be met by Clay and Johnson, before parading through the streets of Berlin to an adoring crowd. At 0400 on Monday 21 August, Lyndon Johnson left a visibly reassured West Berlin in the hands of Gen. Frederick O. Hartel and his brigade, now of 4224 officers and men. Every three months for the next three and a half years, a new American battalion was rotated into West Berlin—by autobahn, to demonstrate Allied rights.

Related Topics:
Helmstedt - 21 August

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The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "antifascist protection barrier", intended to dissuade aggression from the West. However, this position was viewed with scepticism even in East Germany; its construction had caused considerable hardship to families divided by the Wall, and the Western view that the Wall was a means of preventing the citizens of East Germany from entering West Berlin and West Germany was widely seen as being closer to the truth.

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Additionally, the whole length of the border between East and West Germany was closed with chain-fences, walls, minefields and other installations (see GDR border system).

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