In Germany, the building of the Berlin Wall is commemorated, today exactly 60 years ago. There are several commemorative events in the city, including in the Chapel of Reconciliation in Bernauer Straße, where the Wall stood until 1989. Federal President Steinmeier and two women who witnessed the construction up close will speak. Wreaths are also laid for the people who did not survive a flight from East to West Berlin over the wall. There were certainly 138.
East Berlin was the capital of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR). In 1961, the economy was on the brink of collapse. Many citizens were also fed up with the censorship and the fear of the secret police, the Stasi. The border between the GDR and the Federal Republic was closed, but the one between East Berlin and West Berlin, which belonged to the Federal Republic, was not yet. Thousands of GDR citizens took advantage of this to flee to the West.
The GDR leaders wanted to stop the exodus. They decided to build a 155 kilometer long wall around West Berlin. It was sold to its own population as an ‘anti-fascist protective wall’, intended to keep out pernicious influences from the capitalist West.
We previously made this video about the construction of the Berlin Wall and what preceded it:
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