In 1989 the demolition of the Berlin continued by both Eastern and Western Berliners
After World War II tougher restrictions were put on Germany compared with the First World War. Part of the restrictions included the country being put under the control of the major powers of the ‘Allies’ (United Kingdom, United States, France and Russia) with each country controlling a section.
On the 23rd of May 1949 the Western areas were united as the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or BRD) and shortly after, on the 7th of October 1949, the Soviet controlled side or Eastern side became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, or DDR) with control of the capital city of Berlin was also split accordingly. East Germany was under much stricter control from Russia and the economy had much slower growth making life harder for the people. West Germany enjoyed economic growth and soon became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or NATO (an intergovernmental military alliance).
On the 13th of August 1961 construction began of a huge wall which stretched 106 miles, splitting Berlin in two. The barrier, which was constructed by the Soviet Union, consisted of a concrete wall that was was 3.6 meters high and contained 302 watch towers, anti vehicle trenches and several bunkers. The Soviet claim was that the wall was to prevent fascist influences of West Berlin from interfering with the communist government of East Berlin. The West maintained that the barrier was constructed to prevent the mass migration of Eastern Berliners to the west which, until the construction of the wall, had been continuous since the division of Germany with some 1 million defectors from east to west in early 1950’s alone.
The Berlin Wall became a significant symbol of the Cold War and part of the “Iron Curtain”. But on the 9th of November 1989 after long periods of protests from East Berliner’s the East German government announced it had lifted the restrictions and East Germans would once again be able to visit West Berlin. It was reported that on that day 3,500 people crossed into West Berlin every hour despite a political group known as the Democratic Awakening attempting to persuade them to stay.
The people of Germany began demolition of the wall on the evening of the 9th of November using pick axes and sledgehammers which continued through the night into the next day. By the 11th of November huge sections of the wall were pulled down by and, despite official demolition not beginning until the summer of 1990, the people of Germany were united once more.
