August 13, 2011

After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones, one for each of the victorious armies. The three western powers, Britain, France, and the United States, merged their zones into what was West Germany, but the zone controlled by the Soviet Union remained separate. As a result, Germany was divided into two countries. By 1961, more than 2.5 million of East Germany's 19 million people had moved to the West to escape the looting of the country by the Soviets and the political oppression. With thousands leaving every day, communist authorities feared the exodus would seriously undermine the state. So, on August 13, 1961, 50 years ago today, the East German regime began sealing their border. In Berlin, soldiers blocked off the streets, cut off rail links, and began building what was initially a barbed-wire fence. It became a wall which spread for nearly 160 kilometers (100 miles). In some cases, it cut straight through streets, neighborhoods and public spaces. Known in East Berlin as the "anti-fascist protection wall," it became a symbol for the geographical, ideological, and political divide between Europe's democratic West and the communist East. Berlin at the time was considered the most dangerous place in the world because it was the locus of the cold war.It is a huge element of the political consciousness of everyone of my generation. The Wall finally fell on November 9, 1989, in a bloodless uprising which saw East Germans allowed to cross freely into the West for the first time in nearly three decades, and eventually lead to the reunification of the two countries into a single German state. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the East, said, "I myself, from when I was seven years old, can remember the horror that the building of the Wall created in my family. We were torn from our aunts and grandparents. What is even more unforgettable for me is the happiness the fall of this appalling structure made us Germans feel in 1989." Officially, 136 people are known to have died in Berlin while trying to cross the border. Some historians believe this number may have been as high as 700. Germany commemorated the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall with a memorial service and a minute of silence in the capital in memory of those who died trying to flee to the West.