-17 million East Berliners
-three million people that had fled to Western Berlin
-Russian government knew they would have to do something
-build a wall covering over 90 miles surrounding the city.
-August 13, 1961
-first portion built on August 17
-mine fields and obstacles to prevent anybody from crossing
-100 meter area leading up to the wall
-The Death Strip
-1975-1980 fourth generation wall built
-Guards ordered to shoot people escaping
-Reasons for escaping to East Berlin
-Communist government
-financial aid from the United States
-3 million people had fled to West Berlin
-difficult for the East to keep up with technology
-West lost some important people
-East 30 years behind than the West
-currency differences
-West Berliners earned more $ than East
How People Tried Escaping the Wall
-interzonepasses
-illegal ways of getting through -tunnels, climbing over the wall, escaping by flight.
-Tunnels dug in grave yards and people's homes
-In one case, people had went to a grave yard and pretended to have a funeral, then when they would lower the body down into the pit, the "dead" person would get out of the coffin and drawl down the tunnel to the other side.
-Climbing over the wall, a lot more risky
-Most people wait til night
-One successful story of climbing over the wall involved a chair lift and a rope attached to a hammer. The family that did this crawled onto the roof of a nearby building. They then tied one end of the rope to the building they were on, and the other end to the hammer. The next step would be to throw the hammer across the wall and hook it onto another building. Once that was done they used the chair lift to glide across the rope with.
-most well-known, escape by flight
-hot air balloon to float over the wall
-They would construct a metal enclosure to use as a basket for standing in, and install railings to keep from falling out. Attached to that was a variety of fabrics stitched together. Those were used as a balloon that would be inflated by some gas burners from their home. The first effort at trying to get the balloon airborne failed due to forceful winds, but the second attempt was a success. They reached a surprising height of 2,400 meters, at that height it was probably hard or close to impossible for guards to spot them.
-5,000 people escaped
-3,200 were arrested
-160 people killed
-120 injured
-November 9, 1989
-People began cheered as bulldozers dismantled the wall
-East Berlin finally allowed to cross the border
-Demolition ended on October 3, 1990
-The destroying of the wall was the beginning steps in the reunification of Germany.
