The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by East Germany to stop the flow of people defecting from East to West Berlin. The wall divided Berlin and cut off East Berlin, trapping over 2 million East German citizens. It was a stark symbol of the Cold War division between communist East and democratic West. The wall stood for nearly 30 years until it was opened in 1989, allowing East Germans to freely travel to West Berlin.

1. The Building of the
Berlin Wall

2. Background information
• In 1961, Berlin was clearly divided into different sections
• After the destruction of WWII, West Berlin had become quite prosperious thanks
to the Marshall plan
• East Berlin was a complete contrast. They had enough food and shelter, but lacked
the growing economy/lifestyle of the West
• The main difference between the Soviet and US occupations were that the Soviets
took wealth/resources from East Berlin for Russia and the Usgave money and
resources to West Berlin
• There was a barbed wire fence separating East and West Germany which was
patrolled by soldiers, however, people could travel across the border relatively easily
because the fence didn’t go through Berlin (as Berlin was in East Germany)

3. Why was the wall built?
• To stop the defecting of East Berliners to the more economically attractive
West
• Since Berlin was divided the borders remained open for people to visit, work, shop or
get entertainment
• Many skilled Eastern workers (like doctors, teachers, labourers) saw the wages being
paid for those professions in the West and illegally moved there
• Between 1949-1969, 3 million people had defected to the West (one-sixth of East
Berlin’s population, and one of the largest migrations in history)
• East Germany’s First Secretary warned Kruschev (USSR President from 1958) that he
needed to stop people from moving to the West

4. Why was the wall built?
• Western Governments were using Berlin as a base for spying on the East
• Kruschev had been pushing for the Allied withdrawal from Berlin
altogether and make it a ‘neutral’ city
• Kennedy (US President from 1960) refused each of Kruschevs’ attempts

5. How was it built?
• Kennedy felt the negotiations over Berlin were at a stalemate
• Kruschev had a final solution- at 1am August 13th 1961, 50,000 East German police
patrolled the border between East and West Berlin, while contract labourers rolled
out a barbed wire barrier, the path followed the exact lines of division and the wire
went through streets, parks and cemeteries
• Soviet tanks and armed soldiers took up positions along the fenceline, warning the US not
to interfere
• Within 7 days, cement blocks topped with barbed wire took the place of the initial fence
• Over the following months, a permanent wall was erected, complete with guard towers,
searchlights and machine gun posts
• Kruschev called the wall “border control”, the West called it the “wall of shame”

6. Outcomes
• It stopped the flow of people from East to West Berlin
• The economy of the East improved
• A wall with the length of 165km, 3.4 metres high and with 300 watchtowers, 22
bunkers and 105km of anti-vehicle trench divided Europe for almost 30 years
• People in East Berlin who did not support communism were trapped behind the
wall
• Families were split up with members on either side
• The only ‘easy’ chance of escape was on 13th August, when some people drive their
car through the barbed wire being put up
• After that, anyone who tried to escape was shot on sight
• Despite this 5043 people successfully crossed it, although 3000 were caught trying
and 200 died in the act

7. Western Response
• The Western allies were powerless due to Kruschev’s impeccable timing (midnight
in the US, French govt on ‘summer break’) which made any quick decisions from
them impossible
• Diplomatic measures had obviously failed, but Kennedy was not about the start a
war over one city
• Kennedy reasoned that Kruschev clearly did not want a war either, as he had just cut
himself off from the land he would be taking
• “The place where East meets West” (Malone, p. 174) was called Checkpoint Charlie
and it was an important symbol of the Cold War
• The Allies and Soviets agreed that government personnel could move freely between zones
without passports
• However, this lead to tense situations when someone was refused entry and on multiple
occasions armed soldiers accompanied people through the wall, and at one point Kruschev
sent armed tanks through just to point them at the US tanks

8. Historical significance
• The Berlin Wall transformed the Cold War and became a primary symbol of
tensions
• Berlin became a key point of argument between any negotiations
• Both sides were determined never to secede Berlin to the enemy and lose
power in Germany
• The Soviets began a policy of ‘détente’, which was a sort of calming of the
Cold War, whereby USSR agreed to believe that the USA would tolerate
already communist territories
• The wall was also a physical symbol of the metaphoric state of global
politics that had arisen