Berlin+Wall+-+Steiner

Berlin Wall
The people of East Berlin were not happy that they were under the control of the Soviet Union. Over time they began to cross the border and they went to the democratic controlled West Berlin. The Soviets were angry with the leaving of the citizens of East Berlin escaping. The Soviets were trying to push the other controllers of West Berlin to surrender that land. The Soviets in turn would then control the entire capital of Germany. During this time on average 1500 people crossed to the West daily.
 * The Beginning **

**The start of the wall** The wall was started by the Soviets because in one day they had blocked off West Berlin from the world. The construction on the original wall began on Sunday August 13, 1962. The wall's purpose was to keep the other citizens of the Soviet controlled East Germany. The walls construction in the beginning was a 96 mile long barbed wire fence. In 1962 the construction of a second one of these walls began. The two walls were separated by a 100 yard gap in between them. In 1965 the wall had concrete added to it making it stonger and harder to get through. The most modern of the walls was constructed in 1975 and became known as the Grenzmaurer. The Grenzmaurer had 45,000 sections of concrete that made up the entire wall.

After the wall was constructed 5000 people succeeded in crossing into West Berlin. The need to cross became so desperate that tunnels were used and people jumping rooftop to rooftop on bordering buildings is how they crossed. Even though this many were successful in crossing 100 people were shot dead. The Death Strip was the no man's land in between the two walls. This was were the people who tried to cross ended up getting shot. There is no cover at all in the Death Strip. The entire strip was raked gravel so the soviets could easily see footprints. The worst part is even if no one was around the Death Strip was full of mines and was booby-trapped. There were trip wires and the guards shooting at you made it that much harder. Peter Fetcher was the most famous of all the victims shot. He was an 18 year old boy that was shot in the hip and left there to bleed out. He died as the world media watched his suffering. **The Walls Weapons** In the end the Soviets downfall lead to the fall of the wall. The Soviet troubles had been brewing for a while. On November 9th 1989 a minister of propaganda read a letter saying that the border would be opened for private trips.This news spread causing many to want to cross they gathered by the thousands and a mob was formed. The border guards could not contain the situation so they let them through. This was the official fall of the berlin wall as people began to tear it down over the following weeks. On October 3rd, 1990 Germany was reunited as an entire country. There was no more East or West. Sources:
 * Trying to Beat the Wall **
 * Mesh fencing
 * Signal fencing
 * anti-vehicle trenches
 * barbed wire
 * 300+ watchtowers
 * 30 bunkers
 * Border guards ready to shoot
 * The End of the Wall **

[|www.**berlin**-life.com/**berlin**/**wall**] [|www.reference.findtarget.com] http://labour-peace-action.org.uk/