Post by nuuumannn on Nov 9, 2019 12:00:16 GMT 12
On the evening of 9 November 1989, in Berlin, East German border guards opened the barriers preventing East Germans from crossing over to the West. This is the Bornholmer Bridge, or Boesebrucke; we are crossing over from West to East as on the other side of the bridge was a checkpoint for crossing the border into East Berlin, exclusively for the use of West Berliners. Here was one of the first points where thousands of East Germans began gathering on that turbulent night thirty years ago, when the announcement was mistakenly made by the SED party that the borders were going to be opened. At 11:30pm, the Bornholmerstrasse checkpoint barrier arm was lifted and it became the first border crossing to be opened, which brought about the eventual collapse of the DDR.
Europe 411
This is the only segment of the wall remaining in situ in central Berlin. Located on Niederkirchenerstrasse, this is facing west as it is covered in graffiti. During East German times it was impossible to get so close to the wall to be able to vandalise it. You also could not buy spray cans in East Berlin. The numbers; it was over 156 kilometres long, of which nearly 112 kilometres was concrete barriers, there was 44.5 kilometres of steel mesh netting that ran along the Death Strip, with 186 observation towers watching over the feature from the east.
Throughout its existence from 1961 to 1989, there were four versions of the wall. The first was that erected from 13 August 1961, which comprised simple barriers and wire fencing, then from 1962 to 1965 there was a basic block wall covered in concrete. From 1965 to 1975, the wall conststed of metal poles driven into the ground with concrete slabs slid between them, but this was improved on with the Grenzmauer 75, the Border Wall '75, from then to its end, which comprised prefabricated sections of L shaped concrete inserted in line, with cirular piping at its top end, making it more difficult to climb. Defences within the Death Strip from the wall itself on the Eastern side comprised mesh fencing, signal fencing, anti-vehicle trenches, barbed wire, dogs on long lines and beds of nails, also known as "Stalin's Carpet".
Berlin Tour 55
This image is the same section of the wall on Niederkirchenerstrasse but taken from the east. To the right is Wilhelmstrasse with the monstrous Finance Ministry in the background on the other side of Niederkirchenerstrasse. Originally built as the Reichsluftfahrtministerium and designed by Ernst Sagebiel, who was responsible for the big terminal at Tempelhof, this was originally Hermann Goering's offices from where he ran the Luftwaffe in WW2. Postwar, the building was refurbished and the DDR was formally proclaimed within it seventy years ago on 7 October 1949. With the construction of the wall, this half of the building was effectively closed off as the wall ran across Niederkirchenerstrasse and butted into it. We are standing on the grounds of what used to be an art school on formerly Prinz Albrechtstrasse, which served as the Gestapo headquarters in Nazi times.
Berlin Tour 57
Postdamer Platz was for many years the social hub of Berlin, but with the division of the city, it became a ghost town and its station to the left became what was called a geisterbahnhof (ghost station), as both West and East sought to relocate their individual centres, at Kurfurstendamm and Alexanderplatz respectively. These segments of the wall show where it ran, but there's something amiss about them. They are the wrong way round - they are facing east and, for the reasons mentioned above could not have been covered in grafitti.
Berlin Tour 62
This is the location of Checkpoint Charlie. A significant place in the history of the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie was the scene of a stand-off between US and Soviet forces, which escalated into an international incident between the two major powers that sent nuclear bombers into the skies waiting for the word to strike. On 22 October 1961, just over two months since the erection of the Wall, Allan Lightner Jr, the senior American diplomat in West Berlin, wishing to go to the opera on Unter Den Linden - something that was still permitted at this stage on the proviso that passports or papers had to be carried by those entering the East, refused to show his passport and was turned away by East German guards. His reasoning was that he didn't recognise East Germany as a state and that he would only show his documents to Soviet guards. On hearing this, a few days later, General Lucius Clay, the staunch US officer who initiated the Berlin Airlift in 1948 sent Lightner Jr back to the border under escort by US Military Police in Jeeps; he backed this forthright action with M48 tanks, which parked themselves 75 metres from the border, facing the East German checkpoint. In Moscow, not wishing to appear weak, Premier Nikita Khruschchev ordered the Soviet military to do the same and soon, T-55 tanks appeared and faced the M48s from the opposite side. For 16 hours, both sides' vehicles revved their engines and postured, while the world held its breath. In the UK, US bombers, armed with nuclear weapons took off and cruised in a holding pattern high over the Atlantic. This was one of the tensest moments of the Cold War and through back channels, US President Kennedy and Khruschev contacted each other in an effort to break the stand-off. It worked and slowly, one by one, each side's tanks began to reverse from their positions, with a T-55 being the first to bravely back away.
Berlin Tour 74
Walking east along Zimmerstrasse away from Checkpoint Charlie, we come across this simple staff in the middle of the footpath. The Wiki page on Checkpoint Charlie has this to say about the unfortunate individual mentioned on the memorial;
"On 17 August 1962, a teenaged East German, Peter Fechter, was shot in the pelvis by East German guards while trying to escape from East Berlin. His body lay tangled in a barbed wire fence, and he bled to death, in full view of the world's media. American soldiers could not rescue him because he was a few metres inside the Soviet sector. East German border guards were reluctant to approach him for fear of provoking Western soldiers, one of whom had shot an East German border guard just days earlier. More than an hour later, Fechter's body was removed by the East German guards. A spontaneous demonstration formed on the American side of the checkpoint, protesting against the action of the East and the inaction of the West."
The inscription reads "...He just wanted freedom."
Berlin Tour 77
The Brandenburg Gate from the west looking east, in front of which the wall ran. This was a focal point of mass protests on the night of 9 November 1989, with crowds forming on both sides, and as the evening wore on, protesters began mounting the wall and chiselling away at it, with the East German border guards, for once, powerless to stop them.
Berlin Tour 32
For further information and images from Berlin, take a look here:
www.flickr.com/photos/147661871@N04/albums/72157709594792612/with/48264709557/
Europe 411
This is the only segment of the wall remaining in situ in central Berlin. Located on Niederkirchenerstrasse, this is facing west as it is covered in graffiti. During East German times it was impossible to get so close to the wall to be able to vandalise it. You also could not buy spray cans in East Berlin. The numbers; it was over 156 kilometres long, of which nearly 112 kilometres was concrete barriers, there was 44.5 kilometres of steel mesh netting that ran along the Death Strip, with 186 observation towers watching over the feature from the east.
Throughout its existence from 1961 to 1989, there were four versions of the wall. The first was that erected from 13 August 1961, which comprised simple barriers and wire fencing, then from 1962 to 1965 there was a basic block wall covered in concrete. From 1965 to 1975, the wall conststed of metal poles driven into the ground with concrete slabs slid between them, but this was improved on with the Grenzmauer 75, the Border Wall '75, from then to its end, which comprised prefabricated sections of L shaped concrete inserted in line, with cirular piping at its top end, making it more difficult to climb. Defences within the Death Strip from the wall itself on the Eastern side comprised mesh fencing, signal fencing, anti-vehicle trenches, barbed wire, dogs on long lines and beds of nails, also known as "Stalin's Carpet".
Berlin Tour 55
This image is the same section of the wall on Niederkirchenerstrasse but taken from the east. To the right is Wilhelmstrasse with the monstrous Finance Ministry in the background on the other side of Niederkirchenerstrasse. Originally built as the Reichsluftfahrtministerium and designed by Ernst Sagebiel, who was responsible for the big terminal at Tempelhof, this was originally Hermann Goering's offices from where he ran the Luftwaffe in WW2. Postwar, the building was refurbished and the DDR was formally proclaimed within it seventy years ago on 7 October 1949. With the construction of the wall, this half of the building was effectively closed off as the wall ran across Niederkirchenerstrasse and butted into it. We are standing on the grounds of what used to be an art school on formerly Prinz Albrechtstrasse, which served as the Gestapo headquarters in Nazi times.
Berlin Tour 57
Postdamer Platz was for many years the social hub of Berlin, but with the division of the city, it became a ghost town and its station to the left became what was called a geisterbahnhof (ghost station), as both West and East sought to relocate their individual centres, at Kurfurstendamm and Alexanderplatz respectively. These segments of the wall show where it ran, but there's something amiss about them. They are the wrong way round - they are facing east and, for the reasons mentioned above could not have been covered in grafitti.
Berlin Tour 62
This is the location of Checkpoint Charlie. A significant place in the history of the Cold War, Checkpoint Charlie was the scene of a stand-off between US and Soviet forces, which escalated into an international incident between the two major powers that sent nuclear bombers into the skies waiting for the word to strike. On 22 October 1961, just over two months since the erection of the Wall, Allan Lightner Jr, the senior American diplomat in West Berlin, wishing to go to the opera on Unter Den Linden - something that was still permitted at this stage on the proviso that passports or papers had to be carried by those entering the East, refused to show his passport and was turned away by East German guards. His reasoning was that he didn't recognise East Germany as a state and that he would only show his documents to Soviet guards. On hearing this, a few days later, General Lucius Clay, the staunch US officer who initiated the Berlin Airlift in 1948 sent Lightner Jr back to the border under escort by US Military Police in Jeeps; he backed this forthright action with M48 tanks, which parked themselves 75 metres from the border, facing the East German checkpoint. In Moscow, not wishing to appear weak, Premier Nikita Khruschchev ordered the Soviet military to do the same and soon, T-55 tanks appeared and faced the M48s from the opposite side. For 16 hours, both sides' vehicles revved their engines and postured, while the world held its breath. In the UK, US bombers, armed with nuclear weapons took off and cruised in a holding pattern high over the Atlantic. This was one of the tensest moments of the Cold War and through back channels, US President Kennedy and Khruschev contacted each other in an effort to break the stand-off. It worked and slowly, one by one, each side's tanks began to reverse from their positions, with a T-55 being the first to bravely back away.
Berlin Tour 74
Walking east along Zimmerstrasse away from Checkpoint Charlie, we come across this simple staff in the middle of the footpath. The Wiki page on Checkpoint Charlie has this to say about the unfortunate individual mentioned on the memorial;
"On 17 August 1962, a teenaged East German, Peter Fechter, was shot in the pelvis by East German guards while trying to escape from East Berlin. His body lay tangled in a barbed wire fence, and he bled to death, in full view of the world's media. American soldiers could not rescue him because he was a few metres inside the Soviet sector. East German border guards were reluctant to approach him for fear of provoking Western soldiers, one of whom had shot an East German border guard just days earlier. More than an hour later, Fechter's body was removed by the East German guards. A spontaneous demonstration formed on the American side of the checkpoint, protesting against the action of the East and the inaction of the West."
The inscription reads "...He just wanted freedom."
Berlin Tour 77
The Brandenburg Gate from the west looking east, in front of which the wall ran. This was a focal point of mass protests on the night of 9 November 1989, with crowds forming on both sides, and as the evening wore on, protesters began mounting the wall and chiselling away at it, with the East German border guards, for once, powerless to stop them.
Berlin Tour 32
For further information and images from Berlin, take a look here:
www.flickr.com/photos/147661871@N04/albums/72157709594792612/with/48264709557/