25 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall in the German capital on November 9. Eight thousand white balloons flew into the night sky symbolically bursting the Berlin Wall and the failed socialist dictatorship. On November 9, 1989, a peaceful revolution took place in Germany, marking the end of real socialism in Germany and the victory of parliamentary democracy over socialist dictatorship. Between 1946 and 1961, over 2.7 million citizens fled from the 'German Democratic Republic' and East Berlin, with more than half of them being under 25 years old. This reality was one of the reasons that the leadership of the socialist dictatorship in the German Democratic Republic faced serious issues. At that time, half a million people crossed daily between East and West Berlin, easily experiencing the difference between life in a free society and in a dictatorship. In 1960 alone, about 200,000 people left East Germany, which was under Soviet military control, and settled permanently in West Germany and West Berlin. This fact weakened the socialist economy of East Germany daily. Walter Ulbricht, a politician from East Germany, announced in a speech on June 15, 1961, that 'no one intends to build a wall.' Two months later, on August 12, the Council of Ministers of East Germany announced that 'to prevent hostile activities by vengeful and military forces in West Germany and West Berlin,' controls would be implemented at the borders, which is a normal matter for any independent country. However, this government council did not mention the real goal of the ruling proletarian dictatorship at that time, which was preparing the German people and the world for the construction of the so-called 'anti-fascist' wall. On the morning of August 13, 1961, fences were installed at the border of the Soviet-influenced area. Security, military, and police forces of East Germany prevented any movement between the Eastern and Western areas controlled by the United States, Britain, and France. In the following days and weeks, barbed wire was first put up, and gradually the construction of the concrete wall began. For example, in Brunauer Street in Berlin, the wall was built in the middle of the sidewalk and the street. By order of the socialist government, houses near the wall were evacuated row by row, and the entrances of the houses were bricked up. On the same day, August 13, 1961, Willy Brandt, one of the most famous politicians of West Germany who was then the mayor of Berlin, announced: 'The Senate of the city of Berlin complains to the whole world against the inhumane and illegal actions of those who are dividing Germany, those who are tormenting the people of East Berlin and threatening West Berlin.' On October 25, 1961, American and Soviet tanks faced each other at the 'Checkpoint Charlie' border in Berlin. Two global nuclear powers stood just meters apart in the middle of Berlin for 16 hours. The danger of war had increased significantly. The then-President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, took the initiative and immediately contacted Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union and head of the Communist Party of that country, to resolve the situation in occupied Germany among the four victorious powers, the Soviet Union on one side and the United States, Britain, and France on the other, to prevent war. It did not take long for a wall to divide Berlin into two cities. The length of the wall was 43.1 kilometers. The wall drawn around the border of East Germany was 111.9 kilometers long. Between 1961 and 1989, over 600 people fell victim to the machine guns of East German socialist soldiers until the wall finally fell. Not only did an inhumane wall collapse, but it was not long before the socialist dictatorship of the Soviet Union also fell apart on December 26, 1991. History slowly vindicated Kennedy, who said in his speech on June 23, 1963, in Berlin: 'This wall is the most obvious and vivid symbol of the failure and bankruptcy of the communist system, and a naked symbol before the eyes of the world. However, we have no joy from it, as this wall is an insult to history, an insult to humanity, as it has separated families from each other, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, and has divided a nation that longs for reunification.'