Berlin Wall
During our trip in Berlin, we visited the
Wall by bike. We had a guide who
explained us the story of the Wall
East Berlin belongs to Soviets and
West Berlin was occupied by the
US, France and the UK. People who
lived in East Berlin emigrated to
West Berlin (2 millions of eastern
Germans) and, to stop this
phenomenon, the East authorities
built the Wall.
The Wall was built in 1961 by GDR
authorities to separate East and West Berlin.
It was during the Cold War (1947 – 1991).
It was far more than just a wall, it
was a symbol for misery and the
most visible sign of the struggle
between two systems.
For almost 30 years, this 143-kilometer-long
so-called “death strip” cut through the city
and the lives of its people. Many people who
had family or friends in the other side of the
Wall, or wanted to flee the harsh life in Berlin
tried to get over the Wall. During this period,
around 5,000 people attempted to escape
over the Wall.
Because of the Wall, it was difficult
to move from West Berlin to East
Berlin. When people wanted to
move, they were searched,
interviewed and examined on
checkpoint, as we should have seen
in Checkpoint Charlie on Tuedsday
during our trip.
It was almost impossible to escape
because of the monitoring, there
were many control towers and
guards. These ones shot down
people trying to escape.
The fall of the « Wall of shame » as
was also called Berlin Wall, it
occured in 9th november 1989.
It represents the end of communism
in Europe and the fall of USSR.
Today, as we can see during our trip in Berlin,
there are pieces of the Wall in some streets of
Berlin :
Today, we can see graffitis on some pieces of the
wall, it became artwork.
It's to remind people the errors of the past and the
differences in quality of life.
Our guides told us about all of it and
they always had funny stories about
their life and their families. They said
that when the fall of the wall occurs, it
was like an opening in the whole world.
We discover all of it thanks to an
interactive bike ride with funny and
kind guides :)