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PHOTO STORY EUROPE
The Berlin Wall 30 Years
Dividing a Nation
After the collapse of the Nazi regime, Germany was distributed amongst the 4 main opposition forces: USA, France, Britain and Russia.
Dividing a City
Berlin, the former capital and largest city, sat well inside East Germany but was divided into East and West under the control of the different allied and soviet partners. (image: de:Benutzer:Sansculotte cc 2.0)
Crossing Over
Unhappy with soviet life, 2 million people left the GDR between 1949 and 1961. The majority made the crossing in Berlin.
Goodbye
With the approval of West Berlin's occupying forces, the Soviets suddenly sealed off their sector with road barriers on the night of 13 August 1961. On 15 August, 1961, 19 year old east german policeman Conrad Schumann, made a dramatic escape from his post at the corner of Ruppiner Strasse and Bernauer Strasse. The photo was called “The Leap into Freedom” and became one of the most iconic images of the Wall. (Photo: Peter Leibing)
Berliner Mauer
While one part of the 'wall' followed the River Spey, the division of the city into East and West zones was otherwise arbitrary. It divided suburbs, streets, subway stations and of course families, friends and lovers.
Living in the East, Open to the West
The people living along the east side of Bernauer Strasse lived in the GDR, but opened their front doors onto West Germany. It was easy for them to come and go and buy goods that other East Berliners couldn’t. So many of them initially stayed.
Desperate Escapes
As homes were shuttered and destroyed, Bernauer Strasse became a scene of desperate people fleeing from one side of the street to the other. Residents jumped from their windows to the West Berlin Firemen below, who helped them escape.
The Ghost Station
After 1961, Bernauer Strasse subway became a ghost station. With an exit either side of the wall, the Soviets decided it must be closed to prevent escapes. It wasn’t reopened until April 1990.
More than a Wall
The division of the city was not only physical. On each side of the wall were two distinctly different political, social and economic systems.
Freedom is on the Other Side
However, building the wall did not prevent East Berliners from wanting to leave the GDR for a better life.
Inner and Outer Walls
For East Berliners, escaping 'over the wall' meant, first, climbing over an inner wall of concrete. Then crossing the "death strip" an expanse of open land with barbed wire barricades, land mines and watch towers. And finally, scrambling over the 12 foot wall.
The Human Toll
136 people died at the Berlin wall between 1961 and 1989. 42 were children or teenagers. Hundreds more died at German borders outside Berlin and elsewhere on the Eastern bloc.
Church of Reconciliation
When Berlin was divided the Church of Reconciliation, on Bernauer Strasse, was also divided: it now sat in East Germany while many of its parishioners were in the West. In 1985, the GDR destroyed the church. In 2000, the new chapel was consecrated.
Life Behind the Wall
For many, life behind the wall wasn't that bad. There were shortages and censorship, but the social safety net that socialism provided was better than in the capitalist West.
Cultivating the Enemy
The idea of "The Enemy" was not only a way to keep the population in check, but to elevate the value of the regime. An enemy was a negative, hostile force that could not be relied on and who may sabotage the peaceful socialist way of life in the regime.
Stasi HQ
Initially occupying only a few rooms in a former finance office, by 1990 the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) had 50 office buildings on a 22 hectare sites and 7000 employees. On maps of East Berlin the site was depicted as a blank space.
Suspicion
If the Stasi became suspicious of a person they initiated an Personal Surveillance Operation (OPK) to determine the individual's activities and political leanings. At the end of 1988 over 20,000 OPKs were being processed.
Surveillance
When the suspicion became more tangible, the MfS opened an Operational Case (O.V.) and intensified surveillance - tapping phone lines and searching mail. By the end of 1988 there were over 4,500 O.V.'s still being processed.
Collaborators
The Stasi had hundreds of thousands of informers. Some were willing collaborators reporting on friends, colleagues and neighbours for financial gain or out of political conviction. Others were involuntary coerced - threatened with having work permits or medication withdrawn. Collaborators continued working for the Stasi even into the last days of the regime.
What to do with "The Enemy"
A large part of the OV process was not concerned so much with the individual they were surveilling, but by instilling fear in the general population. Continued harassment of a ‘hostile enemy’ undermined and isolated them in their community and deterred others from the same fate.
Prisoners of Conscience or Cash
Many who were imprisoned were released to the west – in exchange for money. This became a lucrative business for the cash strapped GDR. By 1989, 34,000 prisoners had been exchanged for 3.5 billion West German Marks.
The Wall Falls
By 1989, the soviet empire was beginning to crumble. Borders to West Germany opened up via other Eastern Bloc states. On 9 November 1989, it was announced that free movement between the divided city would be allowed. 10s of thousands swarmed to the border crossings, pushing through barricades to the other side.
Seeking Freedom
East German students sit atop the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate in front of border guards. (Photo: University of Minnesota)
The Brandenberg Gate
In the 17th Century, Berlin was a walled city and one of the city's old gates stood where the Brandenburg Gate was later built. In the second half of the 20th Century the Brandenburg Gate marked the position of a new city wall. But, instead of acting as a gate, it was sealed closed. It was not reopened again until 1989, when it became a main transit point and a symbol of the city's reunification.
The East Side Gallery
In 1990, artists from around the world painted a 1.3km stretch of the Berlin Wall. Today the artworks are fenced off from vandals. The irony of needing a wall to protect a wall that is a monument to opposing any wall at all.
THE BERLIN WALL
Dividing a Nation
After the collapse of the Nazi regime, Germany was distributed amongst the 4 main opposition forces: USA, France, Britain and Russia.
Dividing a City
Berlin, the former capital and largest city, sat well inside East Germany but was divided into East and West under the control of the different allied and soviet partners. (image: de:Benutzer:Sansculotte cc 2.0)
Crossing Over
Unhappy with soviet life, 2 million people left the GDR between 1949 and 1961. The majority made the crossing in Berlin.
Goodbye
With the approval of West Berlin's occupying forces, the Soviets suddenly sealed off their sector with road barriers on the night of 13 August 1961. On 15 August, 1961, 19 year old east german policeman Conrad Schumann, made a dramatic escape from his post at the corner of Ruppiner Strasse and Bernauer Strasse. The photo was called “The Leap into Freedom” and became one of the most iconic images of the Wall. (Photo: Peter Leibing)
Berliner Mauer
While one part of the 'wall' followed the River Spey, the division of the city into East and West zones was otherwise arbitrary. It divided suburbs, streets, subway stations and of course families, friends and lovers.
Living in the East, Open to the West
The people living along the east side of Bernauer Strasse lived in the GDR, but opened their front doors onto West Germany. It was easy for them to come and go and buy goods that other East Berliners couldn’t. So many of them initially stayed.
Desperate Escapes
As homes were shuttered and destroyed, Bernauer Strasse became a scene of desperate people fleeing from one side of the street to the other. Residents jumped from their windows to the West Berlin Firemen below, who helped them escape.
The Ghost Station
After 1961, Bernauer Strasse subway became a ghost station. With an exit either side of the wall, the Soviets decided it must be closed to prevent escapes. It wasn’t reopened until April 1990.
More than a Wall
The division of the city was not only physical. On each side of the wall were two distinctly different political, social and economic systems.
Freedom is on the Other Side
However, building the wall did not prevent East Berliners from wanting to leave the GDR for a better life.
Inner and Outer Walls
For East Berliners, escaping 'over the wall' meant, first, climbing over an inner wall of concrete. Then crossing the "death strip" an expanse of open land with barbed wire barricades, land mines and watch towers. And finally, scrambling over the 12 foot wall.
The Human Toll
136 people died at the Berlin wall between 1961 and 1989. 42 were children or teenagers. Hundreds more died at German borders outside Berlin and elsewhere on the Eastern bloc.
Church of Reconciliation
When Berlin was divided the Church of Reconciliation, on Bernauer Strasse, was also divided: it now sat in East Germany while many of its parishioners were in the West. In 1985, the GDR destroyed the church. In 2000, the new chapel was consecrated.
Life Behind the Wall
For many, life behind the wall wasn't that bad. There were shortages and censorship, but the social safety net that socialism provided was better than in the capitalist West.
Cultivating the Enemy
The idea of "The Enemy" was not only a way to keep the population in check, but to elevate the value of the regime. An enemy was a negative, hostile force that could not be relied on and who may sabotage the peaceful socialist way of life in the regime.
Stasi HQ
Initially occupying only a few rooms in a former finance office, by 1990 the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) had 50 office buildings on a 22 hectare sites and 7000 employees. On maps of East Berlin the site was depicted as a blank space.
Suspicion
If the Stasi became suspicious of a person they initiated an Personal Surveillance Operation (OPK) to determine the individual's activities and political leanings. At the end of 1988 over 20,000 OPKs were being processed.
Surveillance
When the suspicion became more tangible, the MfS opened an Operational Case (O.V.) and intensified surveillance - tapping phone lines and searching mail. By the end of 1988 there were over 4,500 O.V.'s still being processed.
Collaborators
The Stasi had hundreds of thousands of informers. Some were willing collaborators reporting on friends, colleagues and neighbours for financial gain or out of political conviction. Others were involuntary coerced - threatened with having work permits or medication withdrawn. Collaborators continued working for the Stasi even into the last days of the regime.
What to do with "The Enemy"
A large part of the OV process was not concerned so much with the individual they were surveilling, but by instilling fear in the general population. Continued harassment of a ‘hostile enemy’ undermined and isolated them in their community and deterred others from the same fate.
Prisoners of Conscience or Cash
Many who were imprisoned were released to the west – in exchange for money. This became a lucrative business for the cash strapped GDR. By 1989, 34,000 prisoners had been exchanged for 3.5 billion West German Marks.
The Wall Falls
By 1989, the soviet empire was beginning to crumble. Borders to West Germany opened up via other Eastern Bloc states. On 9 November 1989, it was announced that free movement between the divided city would be allowed. 10s of thousands swarmed to the border crossings, pushing through barricades to the other side.
Seeking Freedom
East German students sit atop the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate in front of border guards. (Photo: University of Minnesota)
The Brandenberg Gate
In the 17th Century, Berlin was a walled city and one of the city's old gates stood where the Brandenburg Gate was later built. In the second half of the 20th Century the Brandenburg Gate marked the position of a new city wall. But, instead of acting as a gate, it was sealed closed. It was not reopened again until 1989, when it became a main transit point and a symbol of the city's reunification.
The East Side Gallery
In 1990, artists from around the world painted a 1.3km stretch of the Berlin Wall. Today the artworks are fenced off from vandals. The irony of needing a wall to protect a wall that is a monument to opposing any wall at all.
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