After World War II, Germany was divided between East and West. The West, with the help of the US and Britain, flourished and modernized. The East, under the influence of the Soviet Union, struggled. About 3.6 million East Germans, 20% of the population, fled between 1945 and 1961.
East Germany, known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR) or Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), didn't want the rest of its citizens to leave for the richer West, so in August 1961 it built barriers to keep its people in. The official GDR line: It wanted to keep "decadent, immoral westerners out."
The Berlin Wall divided Bernauer Strasse in the northern part of the city. When the GDR sealed the border on Aug. 13, 1961, it devastated the neighborhood.
Günter Wetzel and Peter Strelzyk succeeded in fleeing East Germany for West. They built a hot air balloon to escape with their families in September 1979.
Published:Caption:Shara TibkenPhoto:Courtesy of Günter Wetzel
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Fleeing via hot air balloon
Wetzel and Strelzyk used only a magazine article as a guide when building their hot air balloon to escape East Germany. They didn't have time to weave a fancy basket. The balloon carried eight people.
Published:Caption:Shara TibkenPhoto:Courtesy of Günter Wetzel
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Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989. Today, there are still spots around Berlin where you can visit remnants of the wall, like on Bernauer Strasse.
The Cold War was thawing toward the end of 1989. On Nov. 9, a spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party said GDR citizens would be able to cross into the West.
The Berlin Wall fell on Nov. 9, 1989. In November 2019, the the city held a weeklong celebration for the 30th anniversary. That included a display at the famous Brandenburg Gate.
Only a few days after the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9, 1989, artists started painting the east side of the structure. This area became the East Side Gallery.
It's the longest preserved piece of the Berlin Wall. Over 100 artists from 21 countries painting images on a 1.3km stretch of the former border barrier.
The more than 100 paintings demonstrated "that in the end, the desire for freedom and creativity is stronger than sanctions and force," said a display at the East Side Gallery.
The East Side Gallery has gone through two major refurbishments, in 2000 and 2009. The artists had to repaint their murals after the wall was repaired to address weather, graffiti and other damage.
The back side of the East Side Gallery was initially kept white, and it has become a popular graffiti canvas. The city recently repainted that side white to play a video exhibit about the fall of the wall for the 30th anniversary in November 2019.
On the back side of Berlin's East Side Gallery is an open-air exhibit commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall. And on the Spree River is a light exhibit called "What is here now, what once was here."
Light artist Rainer Walter Gottemeier installed 50 neon rod buoys and numerous flashing signal rescue lamps to symbolize the border between Kreuzberg in the former West Berlin and Friedrichshain in the former East.
