The Berlin wall

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The Berlin Wall

The Berlin wall came down twenty years ago on the 9th November 1989.
It was put up in 1961 to stop East Germans leaving to go to West
Germany. Well over a 1,000 people a day were roughly leaving in 1961. The wall was 3.6 metres high, 1.5 metres wide and it was 1,380
kilometres long.

In 1949 West Germany was created into the German Federal Republic
and East Germany which was controlled by the Soviet Union became the German Democratic Republic. This is rather ironic as there was nothing democratic about East Germany. They also suffered from a better quality of life they were poorer and had to deal with food shortages. So it is not surprising that so many wanted to leave and go to West Germany where life was better.
The wall was first erected as a barbed wire fence. But as that didn't stop people more and more was done to do so. Armed guards shot people
trying to leave. Eventually the wall was put up but even the difficulty of climbing over it and the possibility of being shot didn't stop people trying. Many were shot dead. They thought of all kinds of ways to get through they dug tunnels and even a hot air balloon that was made out of tiny bits of nylon was used.
As the communist Soviet Union began to fall apart from the 1970's things were very bad. But when in 1989 Hungary opened it's borders and travel restrictions were relaxed East Germans began leaving on mass. There were also student protests. All
this made the fall of the wall inevitable.
People quite literally began to knock down the wall themselves using pick axes and other tools to do so. Germany was officially united in October 1990.

© Children's Web Magazine 2009