REMOVAL OF THE BERLIN WALL

Origin of the wall

The Berlin wall was part of the border separating the Democratic Republic of
Germany (GDR) from the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), and by extension
the western bloc of the communist bloc, between 1961 and 1989. The official name
that gave it the government of the GDR was the "anti-fascist wall of contention",
however, between the Western press and public opinion was called "the wall of
shame."

Although the argument that was given during its construction was that it had to
serve to protect federal Germany from fascist elements that could be installed in
the new Soviet country, the reality is that the wall was raised to prevent the escape
of the population of the East. towards western Germany.

Background

After the Second World War and after Allied troops liberated Berlin from the regime
established by Adolf Hitler, the soldiers who participated in the liberation settled in
the German capital separating the city into four occupation zones controlled
respectively by the United States. Soviet Union, France and the United Kingdom.
In 1949 the other western areas, those of France, the United Kingdom and the
United States, were unified creating the Federal Republic of Germany while the
USSR encouraged the creation of a Soviet state in the area they controlled, which
was called the German Democratic Republic. In this way Berlin, Germany and
Europe were divided in two, with a militarized border, but still without a wall.

The construction of the wall

The economic differences between the West Berlin and the Soviet caused that until
1961 up to 3 million people left the communist block direction to the Federal
Republic. Alerted by this loss of population, since most of them were well-formed
people with high profiles, on the night of August 12, 1961, they built a provisional
wall, protected with a fence, and closed 69 of the 81 control points that were there.
along the border.

The next morning the transport between both sides was interrupted by the 155-
kilometer wall that separated the two zones. During the following days the people
who had houses in the vicinity were evicted and the construction of a brick and
concrete wall of 4 meters high began, surrounded by innumerable security systems
and watchtowers called "the death strip" .

Causes of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Starting from the basis that all the facts can be carried out and that it is possible
that all things are left behind, which is true that the months before the fall of the
Berlin Wall.

Governance crisis

The years prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall were marked by a great crisis of
governability, the population did not understand better the two, the legitimacy and
the reason in the form of command of the nation. During these years, the leader of
the USSR is Gorbachev, who intends to open the Soviet bloc to the world in an
attempt to alleviate the deep crisis that is happening, in turn, the head of
government of the GDR, Erich Honecker, who He expected that opening with bad
eyes, and opposed any attempt at renewal. The differences between the GDR
government and the Soviet Union made people feel as comfortable as protected
within the Soviet Union.

Demands for change

As a result of the previous point whenever there were more people who opposed
the communist regime and called for a profound renovation of the country, opening
up to Germany and the Western bloc. The dates prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall
occur in multitudinous demonstrations in cities such as Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin
itself calling for government regulation and the holding of elections, sometimes
organizations that oppose the regime widely, both in the number of supporters as
in their ability to mobilize and make themselves heard.

Open door policy

Finally, one of the episodes that most clearly dictated the future of the wall was the
opening of the border between Austria and Hungary in May 1989. It had been a
long time since many countries in the Soviet zone had emigrated with the intention
of asking for financial help at the embassy. of the FRG. With the opening of this
border West Germans can be transferred to the western block through the Austrian
border, initiating the breaking of the blocks and anticipating the breaking of the
wall.
What i happen during the fall of the Berlin wall

The fall of the Wall marked the fall of Stalinism (not of Marxism) that could be
exploited for revolutionary unity for the masses. But German imperialism imposed
on the unit a counterrevolutionary character.

The fall of the Wall in November 1989 gave rise to a great imperialist propaganda
that continues to this day, brandishing the triumph of capitalism over communism.
However, neither the "communism" of Eastern Europe was the one posed by the
Bolsheviks (Lenin and Trotsky) in the Russian Revolution of 1917 nor the
assimilation of East Germany to German imperialism was in favor of the workers
and the people

The fall of the Berlin Wall was the first step towards the unification of the two
Germanies, which took place on October 3, 1990. Subsequently, on June 20, 1991
Berlin officially became the new capital of unified Germany.

Currently the remains of the wall, the repression and the Cold War are one of the
biggest tourist attractions in Germany.

The end of the wall

Because of this there were demonstrations calling for the opening of the wall that
ended with the resignation of Erich Honecker, leader of the GDR. The central
committee of the Communist Party took command, and in the face of popular
pressure, on November 9, 1989, it decided to allow travel abroad. Before his words
thousands of people went towards the wall, believing that they could pass without
restrictions. The guards who were guarding him were not warned and they ran into
a crowd that wanted to cross from one side of the border to the other, fortunately
they did not dare to shoot and finally opened the access points. The people who
listened to him on the radio and saw him on television came to see how the town
broke the wall that had separated them for 28 years with picks and hammers. From
the other side of the border they also dared to jump over the wall, and in the
nearby bars they gave free access to anyone who crossed the wall.

The fall of the Berlin Wall not only signified the reunification of Germany, but it is
the symbol of the end of the Soviet Union, of block politics and of the Cold War.
With the wall fell much of the history of the twentieth century and began to forge
the foundations of the twenty-first century.