GDR history
Commemorations and reminders on the anniversary of the construction of the Wall
Workers increase the sector barrier on Bernauer Strasse in Berlin. Construction began on August 13, 62 years ago. photo
© dpa
At least 140 people were killed at the Berlin Wall or became victims of the GDR border regime. They are commemorated 62 years after the start of the construction of the wall. Politicians warn with a view to the present.
On the 62nd anniversary of the construction of the Wall, the victims of the GDR border regime has been reminded. Numerous personalities from politics and society came together at the Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse in the capital to commemorate the people who died or were killed trying to escape.
Economics Senator Franziska Giffey (SPD) laid a wreath for the Berlin Senate. “Even after so many years, it is important to remember and to make people aware again and again that democracy and freedom cannot be taken for granted and that people fought for our reunited Germany and today’s free Berlin or even for their desire for freedom died,” Giffey said in a written statement.
Thuringia’s Prime Minister found emotional words for the victims. “The wall tore families and friendships apart, it uprooted people and led to an incredible amount of suffering,” said the left-wing politician, according to a statement from the Thuringian State Chancellery. One is also thinking of everyone “whose striving for freedom led to spying, persecution and exclusion or imprisonment”.
“The SED leadership had the people in the GDR walled in and thus cemented the division of Germany. In the worst case, people who tried to flee paid for it with their lives,” said Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SDP) according to a statement on the occasion of the central commemoration event of the federal state in Teltow. “It’s still unbearable today. It’s all the more important to fight against forgetting.”
Berlin separated for more than 28 years
The construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 13, 1961 and sealed the German-German division. The leadership of the GDR wanted to stop the mass exodus of people to West Berlin and the Federal Republic, which was slowing down the GDR economy and destabilizing the state.
The bulwark, around 155 kilometers long, divided Berlin for more than 28 years and separated the western part of the city from its surroundings. According to the Berlin Wall Foundation, at least 140 people were killed at the Wall during this time or lost their lives in connection with the GDR border regime. In addition, at least 251 travelers died during or after controls at Berlin border crossings. After mass protests in the GDR, the Wall was opened on November 9, 1989.
The Federal Government Commissioner for East Germany, Carsten Schneider (SPD), wrote on the online service X (formerly Twitter) that freedom and democracy are not to be taken for granted. “That remains a reminder to all of us: these values must always be defended, then as now, against those who want to destroy them.” Politicians in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also commemorated the construction of the Wall.