Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
had experienced since its 1949 founding. Some 3.6 million people had already headed to
western Germany, putting the GDR on the brink of economic and political collapse. The ac-
tual construction of the Wall, however, came as a shock to many: only a couple of months
before that fateful August day, GDR head of state Walter Ulbricht had declared at a press
conference: 'No one has the intention of constructing a wall.'
The Physical Border
Euphemistically called the 'Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier', the Berlin Wall was an instru-
ment of oppression that turned West Berlin into an island of democracy within a sea of so-
cialism. It consisted of a 43km-long inner-city barrier separating West from East Berlin and
a 112km border between West Berlin and East Germany. Each reinforced concrete segment
was 3.6m high, 1.2m wide and weighed 2.6 tonnes.
Continually reinforced and refined over time, the Berlin Wall eventually grew into a com-
plex border-security system consisting of not one, but two, walls: the main wall abutting the
border with West Berlin and the so-called hinterland security wall, with the 'death strip' in
between. A would-be escapee who managed to scale the hinterland wall was first confronted
with an electrified fence that triggered an alarm. After this, he or she would have to contend
with guard dogs, spiked fences, trenches and other obstacles. Other elements included a
patrol path with lampposts that flooded the death strip with glaring light at night. Set up at
regular intervals along the entire border were 300 watchtowers staffed by guards with shoot-
to-kill orders. Only nine towers remain, including the one at
Erna-Berger-Strasse
near Pots-
damer Platz.
In West Berlin, the Wall came right up to residential areas. Artists tried to humanise the
grey concrete scar by covering it in colourful graffiti. The West Berlin government erected
viewing platforms, which people could climb to peek across into East Berlin.
