The History Behind the Wall
The Berlin Wall went into construction in 1961. It began as a fence put up overnight and over time the outer wall was put up section by section. This would be the first version of the wall more updates would be added over time. People on both sides were scared. People from the east fled to the west before it was too late and some people from the west scared of being encircled by an imposing wall fled farther into the western world. After the first version of the wall was built guards were added to watch the wall. They were ordered to arrest or shoot anyone trying to escape.
The boarder around West Berlin really started to become a wall in the middle of 1962 (Schmidt 63). Updates were made to the fence, blocks were used for this version of the wall. Watchtowers and other defenses were added slowly over time (Schmidt 67). The next version was the large slabs of concrete we think of the wall being made of. Another wall was built on the other side of no man’s land. The original versions were not built to be permitted and most of the east German government did not want a walled boarded in the first place (60). Things changed over time as did the meaning behind the wall and the reason for its continued existence.
What Remains of the Wall: After 1989 and Onward
When the wall fell at the end of 1989 and people from the east entered the west half of the city, there were celebrations. Some people began to stand on the wall and tearing down sections of the wall in the middle of said celebrations. It became clear that the GDR had gone out of power due to a misinterpreted bit of bureaucracy. The people were done with the government: the wall was no longer a scary symbol of control. The wall then turned into a symbol for the end of the cold war and the end of a separated Germany.
With this charge came a new industry with people taking pieces of the famed wall. Colorful chucks of concrete chiseled and sold to the new influx of tourists. Other sections of wall were demolished to reopen roads and other awkward places for a wall to be. It would take a while for people to realize this piece of history was going to be completely gone soon and that they may want part of it to stay as a memorial and a place future generations can see real history.
The Monument: Bernauerstraße
People decided to create a memorial site for the Berlin wall and for the people killed and affected by the wall. One of the issues was finding a place for it (Knischewski , Gerd, and Spittler 280). A lot of the wall was damaged or torn down by this point. so when it was decided that Bernauerstrasse would be the site of the memorial some people did not like the placement (Knischewski , Gerd, and Spittler 284). The wall was built over a road and next to a busy street of Bernauerstrasse, so some people wanted to have the road back.
