Many of you may not need a history lesson, but I wasn’t well-versed in my Berlin Wall history before last weekend.  Here’s what happened:

  1. After Germany fell in 1945, the country (and the city of Berlin) was split into the American, French, British, and Soviet sectors like so.  They established a joint council to govern the country.
  2. After a few years serious tension developed and in 1949 the American, British, and French sectors combined into one capitalist country (Federal Republic of Germany) while the Soviet side became the communist GDR (German Democaratic Republic).  The city of Berlin was similarly split, though Berlin was well inside East German territory.
  3. Millions of East Germans left for the West.  In 1951 the Soviets put up a barbed wire fence across the entire Inner-German Border (not the city of Berlin) to discourage people from leaving the country of East Germany for the West.  The border between East and West Berlin was still relatively open.
  4. By 1961 many East Germans were fleeing to West Berlin as their only means of escape from communism.  At midnight on August 13, 1961 a barbed wire fence was put up preventing East Germans from entering West Berlin.  It effectively isolated West Berlin as the only capitalist area in a sea of Soviet control.  Families were split overnight, people lost their jobs, and everyone was angry.
  5. Over time the barbed wire fence became a reinforced concrete wall protected by dogs, soldiers, landmines, anti-vehicle trenches, and more barbed wire.  It was nearly impossible to enter West Berlin from East Germany, but those that did manage to cross the Wall were freely granted West Berlin passports.

The Wall lasted for 28 years until November 9, 1989.  A simple press conference brought it all to an end.  You can read the details here and watch part of the press conference here, but it boils down to one man who just came back from vacation and didn’t know what he was talking about.  The East Germans flooded the streets and the border guards couldn’t do anything about it.