Berlin Wall Comes Down

Physical barrier between East and West Berlin

Date August 13, 1961, to November 9, 1989

The Berlin Wall, created at the height of Cold War tensions, remained a symbol of those tensions, as well as an actual barrier between the West and the Soviet Bloc, until it was opened on the night of November 9, 1989.

In the wake of Germany’s 1945 defeat in World War II, Germany and its capital Berlin were divided into British, French, American, and Soviet occupation zones. Berlin was located deep within the Soviet zone, but it too was divided into four quadrants. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sought to force the British, French, and Americans to withdraw from Berlin and denied them ground access to the city in the Berlin Blockade of 1948-1949. After Stalin lifted the blockade in 1949, the British, French, and American occupation zones in Germany were merged to create the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) on May 12, 1949, and the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) on October 7, 1949. Many citizens of East Berlin and East Germany migrated to West Germany in search of greater freedom and economic opportunity.

The loss of hundreds of thousands of skilled workers to the West during the 1950’s and early 1960’s caused the Soviet Union and East Germany to seal off the border between East and West Berlin on August 12, 1961, and workers began stringing barbed wire along the border on the East German side. As East Berliners realized what was happening, many escaped through or over the wire, including East German border guards. In the following days, concrete blocks and barriers began to replace the barbed wire. When completed, the Berlin Wall ran through streets and along canals and even apartment buildings, comprising sixty-six miles of twelve-foot-high concrete wall and forty-one miles of wire fencing. On June 24, 1963, 1 million West Berliners listened as President John F. Kennedy made his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” (intended to mean “I am a citizen of Berlin”) speech.

Reagan’s Visits

During the Berlin Wall’s existence from August 13, 1961, to November 9, 1989, it is estimated that about two hundred people were killed attempting to cross over or under the wall, with another two hundred injured, while about five thousand successfully escaped. By the early 1980’s, political conservatives President Ronald Reagan and Chancellor Helmut Kohl were in power in the United States and West Germany, respectively. In June, 1982, Reagan visited Germany and received a tour of the Berlin Wall, which he pronounced to be “ugly.” In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union. His reform policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) initiated a series of changes in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe.

On June 12, 1987, Reagan, accompanied by his wife Nancy, Chancellor Kohl, and other dignitaries made a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, part of the Berlin Wall. Angered that his speech would not be heard by East Berliners because East German authorities had moved people out of earshot of loudspeakers set up to broadcast the speech toward East Berlin, Reagan, his voice rising with emotion, demanded: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Several months later, on November 4, 1987, in a televised speech, Reagan speculated how wonderful it would be if he and Gorbachev could take down the “first bricks” of the wall.

The Wall Comes Down

In January, 1989, East German leader Erich Honecker stated that the Berlin Wall might exist for another fifty or one hundred years; in less than a year, his prophecy was proved wrong. As reform movements emerged in Eastern Europe in 1989, Honecker attempted to remain steadfast, but events overtook him. Massive demonstrations in East German cities in September and October, 1989, swelled beyond the government’s ability to squelch them. On October 17, 1989, Honecker was replaced by Egon Krenz, who met with Gorbachev on November 1, 1989, at which time Gorbachev urged Krenz to allow East Germans to travel freely. In the wake of a demonstration of 500,000 East Berliners on November 4, 1989, the East German government decided to end restrictions on travel to the West.

At a press conference on November 9, 1989, in East Berlin that began at 6:00 p.m. Berlin time, East German official Gunter Schabowski began reading a lengthy announcement about the end of travel restrictions. About 7:00 p.m., in response to reporters’ questions as to when this would take place, Schabowski replied “immediately.” Actually the changes were to take place on the next day, November 10, 1989, but he had not been given this information. Journalists ran to report the news, which quickly spread in both East and West Berlin.

East Berliners gathered at the seven checkpoints seeking to enter West Berlin, but the East German border guards had not been informed of the lifting of travel restrictions. Repeated calls placed by the guards did not provide clarification, while more and more East Berliners crowded the checkpoints. West Berliners gathered on the other side, chanting encouragement to the East Berliners. Between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m., East German border guards began to open the gates, allowing the East Berliners to enter West Berlin, where they were greeted by cheering West Berliners. People climbed on portions of the wall to celebrate, while others chipped off pieces to keep as souvenirs or to sell; such actions might have gotten them shot earlier in the day. After 11:00 p.m., the Eastern German government officially ordered the crossings open. Within days, large sections of the Wall were opened to create more crossing points.

Impact

The breech of the Berlin Wall set in motion an unstoppable demand for the reunification of Germany. Egon Krenz resigned in December, 1989, and his government was replaced by a non-Communist government. Gorbachev indicated that the Soviets would not oppose reunification, although other European countries, such as Great Britain and France, were concerned about how a united Germany would affect the balance of power in Europe. U.S. president George H. W. Bush supported Chancellor Kohl’s proposals for reunification. In June, 1990, the East German government began removing the Berlin Wall altogether, and on July 1, 1990, currency exchange by East Germans for West German currency heralded an important step toward reunification, which formally occurred on October 3, 1990.

The changes in Berlin and Germany were part of widespread change throughout Eastern Europe as communist regimes collapsed in 1989, and component parts of the Soviet Union proclaimed their independence, resulting in the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in 1991. Had the Berlin Wall not been breached so soon after his speech, Reagan’s demand for it to be torn down might have been forgotten. As it was, however, the phrase “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” became one of the most famous to be uttered during the 1980’s, and it would later be treated as emblematic of Reagan’s presidency.

Bibliography

Cannon, Lou. President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime. New York: Public Affairs, 2000. This study of Reagan’s presidency provides detailed material about Reagan’s trips to Berlin.

Hilton, Christopher. The Wall: The People’s Story. Stroud, Gloucestershire, England: Sutton, 2001. A journalistic account of the impact of the Wall on the citizens of Berlin.

Wyden, Peter. Wall: The Inside Story of a Divided Berlin. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1989. A comprehensive treatment of the building of the Wall, its impact on Berliners, and it’s place in the Cold War.