German officials marked the 62nd anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s construction in Berlin on Sunday. Construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961.
Communist East Germany, officially known as East Germany German Democratic Republic (GDR), erected a 155-kilometer (96 mi) long barrier to keep citizens from fleeing to West Berlin. East German border guards guarded the wall and shot anyone who tried to escape.
Giffie in Berlin: ‘Freedom cannot be taken for granted’
At the Reconciliation Chapel in Berlin, the city’s state senator for economics, energy and business, Franziska Giffi, attended a memorial service along with other German officials. Afterwards, Giffey and others laid wreaths at the wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse in the city.
City officials remember Berlin Wall victims paid the price for their freedom Image: Fabian Sommer/DPA/Photo Alliance
“Even after all these years, it’s important to continue to raise awareness that democracy and freedom are not taken for granted,” Giffey wrote on Platform X, formerly known as Twitter. She pointed out that people lost their lives for the freedom of a united Germany and a free Berlin.
The Berlin Wall Foundation estimates that at least 140 people died trying to cross the wall from East Berlin to West Berlin.
One of the victims who will be remembered on Sunday is Peter Fechter.
Fechter’s plight drew crowds on both sides of the Wall, and the young man became the most famous victim of the Wall’s atrocities.Image: dpa/Picture Alliance
The 18-year-old tried to escape over the wall in 1962, but was shot in front of it. The badly injured Mr. Fechter cried out for help, but the East German border police did not help him.
West German police saw Fechter but were unable to help for fear of putting themselves in danger. Fechter stopped screaming 50 minutes after being shot, and the East German media later announced his death.
A memorial service is planned for Fechter’s death on Zimmerstrasse. Zimmerstrasse is near the famous checkpoint his Charlie.
A memorial service was also planned in nearby Brandenburg.
Living in the East, but going to movies and concerts in the West, and vice versa. Before the wall was built, Berlin was an open city. We revisit an important space of cultural exchange.
Image: DW/H. Rawlinson
Cinemas along the Iron Curtain
In the 1950s, a number of “border cinemas” opened along the border of the West Berlin district. Corso, also known as Lichtburg, was one of the largest. The concept was the brainchild of Oscar Marty, the film officer for the U.S. High Commission against occupied Germany. Its purpose was to promote the “free world” values of the West and the East.
Image: Gert Schütz/akg-images/picture Alliance
Entrance fee discount for East Berliners
The City Border Cinema (background) at Checkpoint Charlie was also very popular. Cinemas offered discounted movie tickets to residents of Soviet districts. At the time, the official exchange rate between East German marks and West German marks was 1:4, but the rate was reduced to 1:1 for moviegoers visiting from East Germany.
Image: akg-images/Image Alliance
Most border cinemas were on the most important road connecting East and West Berlin. It opened early in the morning and was allowed to show programs all day long. The construction of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the border cinema era. They have either been closed or converted to something else.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/N. Armor
jazz concerts in the west
For a long time, jazz, like other Western music genres, was labeled as “the poison of imperialism” in East Germany. And young East Berliners flocked to concerts in the West, such as Louis Armstrong’s legendary performance at Sportpalast in West Berlin in 1955. It did not please the East German regime at all. After all, the company wanted to persuade young people to embrace its ideals.
Image: Heritage-Image/Photo Alliance
meet popular demand
The racist East German authorities denounced jazz as an “imperialist monkey culture”, but at some point realized they could not prevent jazz from growing in popularity. In the mid-1960s, he finally invited Mr. Armstrong to East Germany. He was the first US star to make a guest appearance there. By then he had already been three and a half years since the Wall was built, and he was in the middle of the Cold War.
Image: akg-images/picture-alliance
The Clärchens Ballhaus (named after its original co-owner, Clara Bühler ) in East Berlin was a dance hall and conference space popular with East and West Germans alike. Founded around 1900, it was privately owned throughout the East German era. The legendary Berlin pub survived two world wars and the division of Germany. It is still a popular tourist attraction in Berlin.
Image: Rolf Zöllner/imago Images
electronics house
West Berliners went not only to dance the night away, but also to the eastern part of the city for shopping. In addition to books, photographic equipment and paper were in high demand and were available at low prices at the Haus der Elektroindustry in Alexanderplatz.
Image: Thomas Bartilla/akg-images/picture-alliance
head east for a haircut
Services were also cheaper in the East, which included a visit to a hairdresser. As a result, many West Berliners headed to the eastern part of the city in search of a chic new hairstyle. The price was about 1.10 East German marks, equivalent to 25 West German Pfennig. In the West, a maximum of 4 WDG had to be forked out to make a similar cut.
Image: akg-images/Image Alliance
West Berliners interested in opera, theater and museums visited places such as the Distel Cabaret Theater and the Berlin State Opera during their trip to East Berlin. Most of the artists there were from West Berlin. However, when the wall was built in 1961, they were forced to give up their work at the State Opera. Due to staffing shortages, many positions remained vacant.
Image: Adult Image/Stana
Chancellor of Thuringia: ‘The wall tore apart families and friendships’
In addition to the deaths it caused, the Berlin Wall separated German family and friends.
“The wall has torn families and friendships apart, uprooted people and caused unbelievable suffering,” Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow said on Sunday. Thuringia was formerly part of East Germany.
Ramelow said he was thinking of those “who were espionage, persecution, exclusion and imprisonment as a result of their struggle for freedom”.
The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, which ultimately led to the unification of Germany, also marked the end of the Berlin Wall. cold war.
wd/jcg (epd, dpa)
While I’m Here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what’s happening in German politics and society. Here you can subscribe to his weekly e-mail newsletter “His Briefings in Berlin”.
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