Daily News Article - November 9, 2009
1. List the world dignitaries and leaders who attended the commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany today.
2. Apart from being the date the Berlin Wall fell, what has November 9, 1989 come to symbolize?
3. Describe some of the activities taking place to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago today.
4. a) How many miles long was the Berlin Wall?
b) For how many years did it separate East and West Germany?
c) Why was the wall built?
d) In your opinion, is there is a difference between a government building a wall to prevent citizens from leaving thier country and building a wall to prevent non-citizens from entering a country?
5. Read about the Berlin Wall in "Background" below and watch the videos posted under "Resources."
Some newspapers are reporting on President Obama's choice to decline Chancellor Merkel's invitation to attend the commemoration. Do you think it was important for the President to attend? Why or why not?
THE BERLIN WALL: The Berlin Wall was a wall in Berlin, Germany that separated Communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin. It was one of the most visible symbols of the Iron Curtain. The wall was built in 1961 by the government of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) to stop the tide of emigration to West Berlin.
Because of dissatisfaction with the economic and political conditions (forced collectivization of agriculture, repression of private trade, supply gaps), an increasing number of people left the GDR. From January to the beginning of August 1961, about 160,000 refugees were counted.
Armed guards patrolled the eastern side of the wall. In 1962, Peter Fechter was shot while attempting to cross into West Berlin, and slowly bled to death in front of a large crowd, which started a riot and led to Fechter becoming a symbol of resistance against the wall. Onlookers did not attempt to aid Fechter, as they feared the communist guards might fire upon them as well.
The symbolism of the wall as a representative of the divide between capitalism and communism was not lost on American President Ronald Reagan, who, in a famous 1987 speech, urged Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!" These words proved prophetic, on November 9, 1989 the German Democratic Republic announced that the border would be re-opened. The wall was promptly destroyed. In the following year the parliament of the German Democratic Republic voted for reunification and became new states (Bundesländer) of the Federal Republic of Germany.
CONSTRUCTION OF THE WALL: The Wall was erected overnight on 13-14 August 1961. This was a Saturday night and most Berliners slept while the East German government began to close the border and install barbed wire fences through Berlin. The first concrete sections were installed on 15 August 1961, and over the following few months the concrete block sections were extended. In June 1962 the wall was further consolidated, and in 1965 the "third generation" of Wall replaced this earlier construction. Consisting of concrete slabs between steel girder and concrete posts with a concrete sewage pipe along the top, this was itself replaced in many areas after 1975 with newer concrete segments which were more resistant to breakthroughs.
ESCAPE ATTEMPTS: East Germany jailed more than 75,000 people who tried to flee to the West across the Wall, and 809 died in escape attempts. Of those who died, 250 were killed at the Berlin Wall itself; 370 died on the border between East and West Germany; and 189 had been trying to get out via the Baltic Sea. An average of seven people were jailed every day for trying to get out between 1961 and 1989. Many thousands of East German border guards (Grenztruppen, known colloquially as "Grenzers") also tried to escape, and around 2,500 succesfully made it to the West. However, 5,500 were captured in the attempt and received an average jail sentence of five years, compared to civilians who were imprisoned for an average of one or two years.
Historians researching the files of the Stasi found that in 1961 the secret police devoted virtually all of their resources and their 50,000 staff solely to stopping people leaving the country. Anyone thought likely to flee was forcibly moved away from border areas. Other people were encouraged to spy on their friends, neighbours and colleagues and inform on them if they were considering an escape. (from conservapedia.com)