In Berlin 2

So far we’ve packed our days, boat trips and museums and it’s difficult to say much about them, too many stories of the war and I won’t do them justice here.

I think maybe I’ll just convey my overall impression of the ordinary people who lived here and maybe some of the soldiers on the East side of the wall who now have a voice.

I was surprised how many people were being watched by the secret police. Suspicion everywhere! Even a woman looking for a lost 3 year old, was blanked by the authorities and nothing was done because she was ‘under suspicion’

Many East Germans had their homes demolished to accommodate the wall construction.

There were stories of soldiers who fled to the western side and felt sad about their comrades, who they knew to be good people often deliberately shooting wide of fleeing people and risking their own incarceration.

Obviously there are lots of stories of escapes, terrible and the fantastic!

Berlin was divided and the Western side was like an island within the Soviet controlled East Germany. The history is too complicated to relate here.

About three and a half million migrated West between 1945 and the construction of the wall in 1961. Many just simply walked across during that time and there seems to have been various passes to allow for people to work on either side of the divide. Then once the wall was built, more than  5,000 people escaped over and under it which is no mean feat, as it was two walls with and expanse of land with various hazards  in between. Approximately 100 were shot although I’ve seen various figures. There were other routes via the river and many met thier end there too.

The wall came down in 1989 by accident, during a time of Soviet revolutions and the head of the East German Communist Party at a press conference had not read his notes thoroughly when he announced that citizens of the East could cross the border whenever they liked.

It was meant to be a phased access with visas etc but that is not what was said to the world’s press and crowds insisted to be let through much to the consternation of the guards who knew nothing about it!!

We saw so many places including parts of the wall, genuine and reconstructed. We visited Check Point Charlie another iconic site and just as hazardous today with it being in the middle of a busy road!

Next from somber to the frivolous!!!