The Berlin Wall was a large historic structure that allowed Berlin, Germany to be divided by 1961 to 1989. The wall was built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to stop people from moving from East Berlin, GDR, part of the communist GDR, to West Berlin, occupied by the democratic allies. It was a physical and ideological barrier and escaping through or around it was a real challenge. Then would you just walk around the Berlin Wall? Let’s find out.
Physical Obstacles of the Berlin Wall
But first, the physical hurdles of the Berlin Wall need to be understood before asking if you could get around it. The wall was something like 12 feet high and about 4 feet wide, built with reinforced concrete segments. The shape at the top was rounded pipe, making it hard to get hold of or grasp.
On the eastern side there was a ‘death strip,’ that was a no man’s land. Trenches, barbed wire fences, guard towers, tyrants, the death strip. A few barriers existed to the west, like fences and customs controls. It was a perilous business to cross the wall.
Guarding the Wall
Armed border guards guarded heavily the Berlin Wall. They had power to shoot down anyone running to the West without legal notice. Many people had died trying to escape. The GDR authorities established a ‘shoot to kill’ policy and it was extremely dangerous for someone trying to get over the wall.
The Escape Attempts
But many people tried to flee east Berlin. Some daring enough attempted to go under the wall through underground tunnels, which were complicated plans and kept very secret. At least a few others attempted to get over the wall via ladders, bridges or even grappling hooks. But these were rare and very risky.
The most noteworthy escape attempt was by hot air balloon. In 1979 a group of friends were the “Escape Action Group” and they did manage to build a hot air balloon with a homemade burner. They made it over the wall and out of East Germany into West Germany, avoiding the border guards. It was a rare escape, a very rare escape, and required extraordinary creativity and courage.
The chances that you would go around the Berlin wall.
In the reality though, most people weren’t going around the Berlin Wall. It was almost impossible to pass and was built on massive heights with the massive reinforcements along with lots of fortifications. The GDR went to extremes to keep the people on their side of the fence — and the penalties for getting caught were brutal.
Some few remarkable people succeeded in following through the difficult obstacles and slip away from the border guards, while a good amount was not so lucky. They were simply taking too much of a risk.
Conclusion
The Berlin Wall was a great wall to prevent people from leaving East Berlin to go to the West to get a better life. There were a few that found ways around it, tunneling or the hot air balloon, but most of them were all but impossible. It was dangerous to cross the wall, very slim chance of success.
A very historic moment happened on November 9, 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall. It signaled the close of the era of division and Germany’s reuniting. The hardships and difficulty of the Berlin Wall are something we should have knowledge of, and understanding about the struggle for freedom and determination to achieve a better life.