On 15th June 1961, Walter Ulbricht, head of state of the GDR, said at a press conference in East Berlin:
“I understand your question in the sense that there are people in West Germany who wish that we mobilise the construction workers of the capital of the GDR to erect a wall, yes? I am not aware that such an intention exists, because the construction workers of our capital are fully engaged in residential construction, and its labour force is deployed for that. Nobody has the intention to erect a wall.”
On 13th August 1961, Nobody erected a wall.
Let us recall for a moment that up to this point, people could move around freely in the entire city of Berlin. Formally, you were only allowed access to the other part of the city if you had relatives there, but practically, it was impossible to control. Underground and overhead trains, busses and trams operated across the border without any sort of control. Many people lived in one part of the city and worked in the other one. Even if two different currencies were used, and you could buy different goods in both parts, it was impossible to think of Berlin as anything other than one city.
And then, the Wall was built. It was built along the border of the Soviet sector, wherever that happened to be. It was built through train stations, on the pavement, in the middle of the street, along the Spree river, literally through the middle of the city, with the most iconic part running in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s most famous landmark, now unreachable from the West. Houses on the east side had their windows bricked. Later, these houses were demolished altogether, and a “death strip” that varied in width was installed behind the wall, with barbwire and land mines. The death strip was sealed off by a second wall running parallel to the first one, and a total of 302 watchtowers were built. Seven border checkpoints between the two parts of the city existed, the most important ones being “Checkpoint Charlie” at the crossing Friedrichstraße/Kochstraße, the train station at Friedrichstraße and those at Bernauer Straße and Sonnenallee.
With West Berlin sealed off, attempting to use the old escape route became perilous for East Germans. Some decided that they would rather risk their lives than living under tyranny anyway: Up to 206 people are assumed to have been shot trying to climb the Wall or swim across the Spree. Countless were arrested, yet some came through. In 1989, 1,000 refugees lived in shelters in West Berlin.
Throughout the western world, and particularly within West Germany and West Berlin, the Communists had lost their moral credibility. During the 1950s, there were many West Germans who were not sure that the western, capitalist system was the way to go. Even the Conservative CDU party had described their policy as “Christian Socialism” to go with the flow, and many felt uneasy about the banning of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1956. But now the “Real Existing Socialism” as the GDR called its system, had shown its ugly face, with concrete walls, barbwire and watchtowers.
Berlin now faced its darkest hour, and many West Berliners were uncertain about their future. But their spirit was reinforced when the most powerful man of the world himself made a visit to the city. On 26th June 1963, John F. Kennedy stood in front of the Schöneberg town hall – seat of West Berlin’s government – and held his historic speech:
“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner. (…) All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner.”
To the Berliners, Kennedy coming to their town and saying, in German, that he was one of them was immensely uplifting and helped build their spirit for the hard decades to come.
“I understand your question in the sense that there are people in West Germany who wish that we mobilise the construction workers of the capital of the GDR to erect a wall, yes? I am not aware that such an intention exists, because the construction workers of our capital are fully engaged in residential construction, and its labour force is deployed for that. Nobody has the intention to erect a wall.”
On 13th August 1961, Nobody erected a wall.
Let us recall for a moment that up to this point, people could move around freely in the entire city of Berlin. Formally, you were only allowed access to the other part of the city if you had relatives there, but practically, it was impossible to control. Underground and overhead trains, busses and trams operated across the border without any sort of control. Many people lived in one part of the city and worked in the other one. Even if two different currencies were used, and you could buy different goods in both parts, it was impossible to think of Berlin as anything other than one city.
And then, the Wall was built. It was built along the border of the Soviet sector, wherever that happened to be. It was built through train stations, on the pavement, in the middle of the street, along the Spree river, literally through the middle of the city, with the most iconic part running in front of the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s most famous landmark, now unreachable from the West. Houses on the east side had their windows bricked. Later, these houses were demolished altogether, and a “death strip” that varied in width was installed behind the wall, with barbwire and land mines. The death strip was sealed off by a second wall running parallel to the first one, and a total of 302 watchtowers were built. Seven border checkpoints between the two parts of the city existed, the most important ones being “Checkpoint Charlie” at the crossing Friedrichstraße/Kochstraße, the train station at Friedrichstraße and those at Bernauer Straße and Sonnenallee.
With West Berlin sealed off, attempting to use the old escape route became perilous for East Germans. Some decided that they would rather risk their lives than living under tyranny anyway: Up to 206 people are assumed to have been shot trying to climb the Wall or swim across the Spree. Countless were arrested, yet some came through. In 1989, 1,000 refugees lived in shelters in West Berlin.
Throughout the western world, and particularly within West Germany and West Berlin, the Communists had lost their moral credibility. During the 1950s, there were many West Germans who were not sure that the western, capitalist system was the way to go. Even the Conservative CDU party had described their policy as “Christian Socialism” to go with the flow, and many felt uneasy about the banning of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1956. But now the “Real Existing Socialism” as the GDR called its system, had shown its ugly face, with concrete walls, barbwire and watchtowers.
Berlin now faced its darkest hour, and many West Berliners were uncertain about their future. But their spirit was reinforced when the most powerful man of the world himself made a visit to the city. On 26th June 1963, John F. Kennedy stood in front of the Schöneberg town hall – seat of West Berlin’s government – and held his historic speech:
“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is Ich bin ein Berliner. (…) All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words Ich bin ein Berliner.”
To the Berliners, Kennedy coming to their town and saying, in German, that he was one of them was immensely uplifting and helped build their spirit for the hard decades to come.
It's one of the things Kennedy is best known for, going to Germany. We forget how much that man gave Western Civilization in his almost-three years as President.
ReplyDelete