The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses. The primary intention for the Wall's construction was to prevent East German citizens from fleeing to the West.
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic, was a country in Central Europe that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state, and it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces with the autonomy of the native communists following the Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II; when the Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The GDR was dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), a communist party from 1949 to 1989, before being democratized and liberalized under the impact of the Revolutions of 1989 against the communist states, helping East Germany be united with the West. Unlike West Germany, SED did not see its state as the successor of the German Reich (1871–1945) and abolished the goal of unification in the constitution (1974). Under the SED rule, GDR was often judged as a Soviet satellite state; most scholars and academics described it as a totalitarian regime.
The Peaceful Revolution, as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the German Democratic Republic in 1989 and the transition to a parliamentary democracy, which later enabled the reunification of Germany in October 1990. This happened through non-violent initiatives and demonstrations. This period of change is referred to in German as Die Wende.
Berlin Friedrichstraße is a railway station in the German capital Berlin. It is located on the Friedrichstraße, a major north-south street in the Mitte district of Berlin, adjacent to the point where the street crosses the river Spree. Underneath the station is the U-Bahn station Friedrichstraße.
Charlie & Louise – Das doppelte Lottchen is a German children's film directed by Joseph Vilsmaier in 1994, starring Corinna Harfouch. It is a film adaptation of the 1949 novel Lisa and Lottie by Erich Kästner.
Heino Ferch is a German film, theatre and television actor. His notable film roles include Albert Speer in Downfall (2004) and Harry Melchior in The Tunnel (2001).
Escape from East Berlin is a 1962 American-West German thriller film directed by Robert Siodmak and starring Don Murray, Christine Kaufmann and Werner Klemperer.
Roland Suso Richter is a German film director and producer.
Marienetta "Micki" Jirkowsky was a German woman who became the one-hundred and twenty-fifth known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Jirkowsky was shot and killed by East German border guards during an escape attempt, and at 18 years was one of the youngest victims and the youngest of the 8 women killed at the Berlin wall.
The Tunnel was a 90-minute black-and-white documentary film that chronicled how three West Berlin university students organized the escape of 26 friends and family members by digging a tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall from a former factory in West Berlin into the Communist East. Produced by Reuven Frank and narrated by Piers Anderton, it was an NBC White Paper installment that was broadcast on December 10, 1962, and sponsored by the Gulf Oil Corporation.
The Wall is a 1962 American propaganda film about the erection of the Berlin Wall directed by Walter de Hoog.
There were numerous escape attempts and victims of the inner German border during its 45 years of existence from 1945 to 1990.
Barbara is a 2012 German drama film directed by Christian Petzold and starring Nina Hoss. The film competed at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012, where Petzold won the Silver Bear for Best Director. The film was selected as the German entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the shortlist.
Hildegard Johanna Maria Trabant was an East German woman who became the fiftieth known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Trabant was shot and killed by East German border guards during a crossing attempt, one of only eight women victims of the Berlin Wall, and was the only escapee victim known to have a record of loyalty toward the East German regime.
Egon Schultz was a German sergeant of the East German Border Troops who became the fifty-second known person to die at the Berlin Wall. While responding to the discovery of "Tunnel 57," Schultz was killed during a shootout with the tunnelers. Schultz subsequently became a national hero in East Germany, with hundreds of memorials and schools named in his honor. His death caused a public sensation in both East Germany and West Germany. Following the reunification of Germany and the report that Schultz was actually killed as a result of friendly fire, many of the memorials to Schultz were removed, although a new memorial plaque was erected at his death site at Strelitzer Strasse 55, Berlin, in 2004.
Tunnel 57 was a tunnel under the Berlin Wall that on 3 and 4 October 1964 was the location of a mass escape by 57 East Berlin citizens to West Berlin. Built from the basement of an empty bakery at 97 Bernauer Straße in West Berlin, under the Berlin Wall – which at that time and place consisted of empty, bricked up apartment buildings on the east side of Bernauer Straße – all the way to a disused outhouse in the rear courtyard at 55 Strelitzer Straße in East Berlin. At a depth of 12 meters (40'), and a length of 145 meters (475'), Tunnel 57 was the longest, deepest and most expensive flight tunnel built in Berlin. 35 West Berliners, including Wolfgang Fuchs, the future astronaut Reinhard Furrer, and many students from the Freie University in West Berlin, helped to build the tunnel from April till October 1964, until on 3 and 4 October 57 people fled the GDR via the tunnel.
Dorit Schmiel was a German seamstress who became the thirteenth known person to die at the Berlin Wall. Schmiel was fatally shot by East German border guards while attempting to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin with a group of friends, including her fiancé. Schmiel was one of only eight women to die at the Berlin Wall, and at 20 years-old was the second youngest woman victim.
Führer Ex is a German neo-nazi drama film directed by Winfried Bonengel and based on the autobiographical book Die Abrechnung by Ingo Hasselbach. It was entered into the 59th Venice International Film Festival.
Jutta Fleck is an attempted escapee and former political prisoner of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. She is known as "The Woman from Checkpoint Charlie". Following a failed attempt to escape from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with her daughters in August 1982, she was imprisoned in Hoheneck Women's Prison and, after being deported to West Germany, spent four years protesting for her daughters' release from East Germany.
