By Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius, P.h.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville
The Berlin Wall started with blockades and barbed wire fences to separate East and West Berlin. The construction of the wall continued despite the protests made by the United States and other Western countries. What happened once the wall was erected?
The new barrier provoked panic and desperation on the part of East Germans who still wanted to leave. On one particular street in downtown Berlin, the Bernauer Strasse, where windows on buildings of that street faced west, people actually jumped from them to get to freedom. An ordinary East German soldier, who had been ordered to guard the barbed wire fence, decided in a moment of personal resolve, on the spur of the moment, that he would defect, and he leapt across himself.
In the years following the erection of the Berlin Wall, people used many brave and novel ideas to escape through tunnels, being smuggled in compartments hidden in cars, and even by hot-air balloons.
At the same time, the wall was gaining more strength. What was initially barbed wire and cinder blocks turned into tall walls made of concrete and up to 15 feet high with watchtowers. There was a 28-mile wall that separated East and West Berlin in the city center and another 75-mile wall that ran around the rest of West Berlin.
This is a transcript from the video series Turning Points in Modern History. Watch it now, on Wondrium.
East Germany Behind the Wall
The border between East and West Germany likewise was separated by walls, electrified fences, and so-called death strips, where raked sand would reveal the footprints of those trying to escape. Still, 5000 people succeeded in escaping at the Berlin wall. But the same number of people were arrested, and 191 people were killed while trying to escape.
East Germans who had not escaped had to follow the plans of the state. The communist government formed a secret police force known as the Stasi to keep people under close surveillance. People were under close observation by Stasi officers and secret informers, which made East Germany the most comprehensively spied-on society of the modern time.
East German leaders dreamed of turning it into an automated barrier by the year 2000, predicting it would live on for several centuries. However, things did not last long.
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The Failure of the Soviet Union
With Stalin’s death, the fear and ideological passion that made Communism thrive faded away. Instead, a feeling of dull conformity, lethargy, and less interest in mass violence prevailed.
The Soviet government failed to fulfill its promises of producing more and better consumer goods than industrialist capitalist states in the west and even outdoing them in the space race. It led to unhappiness among people. The lifestyle of the party elites was different from that of ordinary people. They had access to goods, could travel abroad, and had many other privileges. That was in stark contrast with the promised dream of equality.
These conditions made the general public cynic, and they lost their confidence. This mood of melancholy had led to the emergence of political jokes. One of them, told by ordinary people, was: “We pretend to work, and the government pretends to pay us.” Or a Russian teacher would say, “To speak Russian, you must have confidence.” The same confidence that Lenin and Stalin had, which was the result of their trust in the fact that historical victory was inevitable. With the disappearance of that historical certainty, the ruling class lost their confidence, too.
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Reactions to the Berlin Wall in the West
On the other side of the wall, people made fun of the wall. When President John F. Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan visited Berlin, they criticized the wall. The western side of the wall was full of graffiti, unlike the eastern side.
A fascinating story of a man who did a weird but heroic act has become famous. He was a peace activist from Seattle named John Runnings. He denounced the idea of borders and passports and probably even the Westphalian system.
In 1986, this 68-year-old man went up the wall and ran on the top of the wall until the guards caught him. When he was released, he climbed the wall again and got arrested again. He repeated his actions so many times. Finally, he went to the wall with a battering ram he had made and asked others to join him in urinating on the wall as a gesture of disgust. These behaviors showed how absurd the wall was.
Eastern Europe also saw a new generation of freethinkers who were not afraid of going to prison or being assaulted by the secret police. They wanted everyone to live in truth no matter the cost. They believed everyone should act as if they were free. In this way, fear would lose its power to rule. Their ideal modernity was different from that advertised by Communism. One in which individuals could live freely and the state could not control them.
Common Questions about the Berlin Wall: The Aftermath and Reactions
In the years following the erection of the Berlin Wall, people used many brave and novel ideas to escape through tunnels, being smuggled in compartments hidden in cars, and even by hot-air balloons.
East Germans who had not escaped had to follow the plans of the state. The communist government formed a secret police force known as the Stasi to keep people under close surveillance.
191 people were killed while trying to cross the Berlin Wall.
After the erection of the Berlin Wall, the border between East and West Germany was separated by walls, electrified fences, and death strips, .
The Berlin Wall was up to 15 feet high with watchtowers.
