REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

1. Introduction
LIVING BESIDE THE BERLIN WALL
Lars HANEBERG 1
The Berlin Wall was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) starting
on 13 August 1961. It completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany
and from East Berlin. [1] The wall separated the city into two parts for more than 28
years. There appeared many curiosities. Streets and the S-Bahn are broken, stations of the
U-Bahn are closed and even cemeteries are not spared.
This incisive event for Germany and Europe had a direct impact on not only the states
and politics but also the people. People in the East and the West were affected by it – and
so was my family, who lived over 20 years at the iron curtain. This paper examines the
main elements of the history with a personal perspective of a child and adolescent who
lived at the Berlin Wall.
2. Construction of the wall
At night of the 13th August 1961, a Sunday, the division of Germany and particularly of
Berlin was accomplished in a cloak-and-dagger operation. Almost 15.000 construction
workers – strictly supervised by the GDR Border Guards – started to build the “Iron
Curtain” that divided Europe during the Cold War.
That night my parents travelled by train from Austria to Berlin. The journey was
interrupted by an unscheduled stop at Prague. My parents were surprised to see Czech
policemen enter the train and force all GDR citizens to get off the train. Not before the
arrival of the railway station in West Berlin they were informed about the construction of the
Berlin Wall. The very next day many colleagues of my parents were absent – all the border
crossers from East-Berlin. None of them ever returned to work. The family separations were
even more terrible. At that time no telephone contact at all was possible. Written contacts
were controlled by the eastern side constantly. Only after the passport agreement in 1963
people from West-Berlin were allowed to visit their relatives in the east. [2]
The Berlin Wall was officially labeled by the GDR authorities as "Anti-Fascist
Protection Rampart“, a very prominent example of the ideological GDR neologism. The
Government claimed the wall to have been built as a protection of the population from
fascist elements; thereby implying that West Germany had not been fully de-Nazified. [3]
In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and brain-drain that took
place in the GDR during the post-World War II period. The West Berlin city government
referred to it as the "Wall of Shame" [4], condemning the Wall's restriction of the
freedom of movement.
1 Chair of Accounting and Corporate Governance, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg,
Germany.