The
Wall
“Mr.
Gorbachev! Open this Gate!”
“Mr.
Gorbachev! Tear down this wall”
So
went the call in 1987 from the Leader of the Free World, Mr. Ronald
Reagan, President of the United States of America, to the Chairman of
the Communist Party of the UdSSR., Mr. Michael Gorbachev.
Mr.
Gorbachev! Tear down this wall!
In
February 1945, the defeat of Nazi Germany was imminent, the leaders
of the three most important powers of the world met in Yalta.
Mr.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, (USA) Mr. Winston Churchill, ( U.K.) and
Genosse
Joseph Stalin (UdSSR) had come to decide the fate of Germany after
the conclusion of World War 2.
The
division of Germany into four territories was decided upon.
There
was to be an American, a British, a French and a Russian sector.
The
Russian occupied sector became “The German Democratic Republic”
(the GDR), the rest of the country got to be “West Germany.”
The
GDR quickly became the most brutally run Communist Dictatorship, with
the word “Democratic” the most cynical designation.
Between
1945 and 1961 almost four millions citizens fled from East to West
Germany for a better and free existence. In order to prevent a
continuation of this mass flight, the GDR erected in 1961 a wall of
concrete, 3.5 meters high and topped by barbed wire, guarded by
watch towers equipped with search lights and machine guns. This, so
the East German government cynically announced was to protect East
Germany from the “Fascist Element” of the West.
In
fact, the official name for this monstrosity was: “The Anti Fascist
Protection Rampart”.
During
the existence of this abomination, over 100,000 people tried to
escape. Only about 5000 succeeded in their effort to cross from East
to West Berlin.
The
border patrols were under “shoot to kill” orders and an estimated
150 to 200 persons were killed while attempting to flee across what
was called “the death strip” into the West.
On
the 9th day of November of 1989, two years after President
Ronald Reagan's call, the wall came down, and the East Block of
Communist Nations began to crumble.
This
Saturday, the 9th day of November 2019, Germany, in fact
the rest of the world, may celebrate the 30th anniversary
of this epic event.
Bertstravels
visited this
wall, or what was left of it, in July of 1990.
The Brandenburg
Gate, Checkpoint Charley,
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