How the Berlin Wall Worked

Watch my exclusive Nebula video about the Balloon Escape:

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Examining the border wall that separated East and West Berlin.

Images via Getty, AP Newsroom, Reuters
Map source by MapTiler / OpenStreetMap Contributors via Geolayers 3

[Tayln]

The longstanding difference between the two sides of the wall is crazy to see. There are many statistics in which you can still see the divide where the wall used to stand.

[kormagogthedestroyer]

As John F Kennedy put it: “Democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in.”

[Dr.W.Krueger]

Escaped with my family to the "golden west" in 1970. Thanks, father. Best present you could make to a child growing up.

[Kkubey]

A former teacher of mine who was a guard at the wall for the east when he was young told us how he started questioning it once he realized that it looked like it was keeping them in rather than keeping others out. He said he was glad that he never encountered anyone during his duty, because if he had, he wouldn't have had the chance to deny doing his job. Knowing this, the seemingly inhuman guards become more complex too. You see someone approach and know that they will change the rest of your life right there, if you weren't unfortunate enough to encounter someone several times.

[MarijnRoorda]

I actually remember when my parents took me and my brother to see the wall. We were on vacation in west germany, and one day we went there to Berlin, just to see the wall. Several years later we saw on CNN how the wall was torn down. My father felt it was important his kids got to see it, as he had been a journalist who on several occasions had been to the Warschaupact for stories he wrote for magazines. I guess it was trips like this that instilled in me a desire to know about history, how it gets repeated, and how we rarely seem to learn from it.

[rabitec.]

My grandmother escaped from the east on new years eve of 1961 by passing through the border checkpoint with the pass of a woman from Belgium that looked very similar to her which was smuggled in by my granfather who was living in Westberlin when visiting her. Of course the border guards noticed the missing immigration stamp on the pass but after 12+ hours of cross-examination they let her go.

[Yora]

My grandparents had their house less than a kilometer from a small river that marked the northernmost section of the border. And there was a little pub right down at the river where my grandfather would sometimes take us to get icecream when I was 5.
That section of the border was basically a swamp, so the actual fortifications were a couple hundred meters inside East German territory, and completely hidden by the trees growing on the east bank. So it really just looked like a completely unremarkable little river maybe 15 meters across. However, my aunt says when she was playing down at the river with her friends, they sometimes saw East German soldiers patrolling the other side, and sometimes you could hear mines getting set off by deer in the distance.
It's really weird to realize later that the Iron Curtain ran just behind my grandparents backyard.

[hallquiche]

Berlin has to be one of the most historically interesting cities in the world. This, the Cold War era alone is like something out of a dystopian movie. A huge city divided in ideology, economy, technology, currency and general way of life, yet the people on both sides want the wall torn down. It went from being the centre of the Nazi-regime to being a chess board where western capitalism and eastern communism competed, and the inhabitants played the part of pawns. There was no time to adapt.

[americanindeon]

I was stationed in Berlin from 88-92 and worked in the Meddac (hospital). I took a trip to East Berlin Before the wall came down. You had to get special permission and go as a group in our Class A uniforms so there would be no confusion that we were there to do anything other than shopping and eating. I didn't buy much while there because most of the things I wanted to buy was fine China and crystalware which I couldn't store anywhere since I lived in the barracks. I was off duty for the two days when AFN (news) came on the TV saying that the wall was open. I watched in shock and confusion, then realized I had a decision to make. Was I going to say and watch it on TV and wait for the orders to come from Headquarters to stay what we could and couldn't do? One of my roomates and I decided we were leaving before official orders came down to lock us o base. One of the best decision I ever made. We left! We got to be right smack in the center of this world changing event. CheckPoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate (within walking distance). I got to get on top of the wall and got a few pictures (I wish a digital camera was thing then). I helped East Germans up and over the wall. I ventured where no American had been in civilian clothes, East Berlin. I stayed to celebrate all night and into the morning. I knew I couldn't go back to the barracks because they were not allowed to leave. So I stayed out, but eventually I went to my girlfriend's apartment and got some sleep. It was in the early morning hours and I didn't go far as I was scared something might happen to me. In the days and weeks after the wall opened up, I went deeper into the east with my German Girlfriend on our bikes. Trust me know I was taking part in world history and I took it all in.

[eringanley]

That shot starting at 6:30 is absolutely insane, beautifully modeled. Incredibly sad what it is depicting though, and the lengths went to in order to keep people separated. Great explanation and breakdown, thank you!

[GraemeCampbellMusic]

I saw it as an 11 year old in 1984. My dad worked as a civilian for the British Army in W. Germany and we went on a trip to Berlin. There were viewing platforms on the west side where you could look over. We also saw a checkpoint being repaired and East German soldiers guarding the workers so they wouldn’t run off. I’ll never forget it .

[KrazyVenomTTV]

I was stationed at the US Army Garrison at Ledward Barracks in what was then Schweinfurt, West Germany. We were 20 miles (32.2 Kilometers) from the then border. I was a combat medic who was in charge of driving an M113A2 MEDEVAC vehicle. Many times did the infantry have to go to the border and take their turn. Part of that was to help East German citizens into West Germany if needed. I was at a remote location one time, providing medical support for the troops there. What you didn't mention was the mine fields and anti-vehicle ditches that were outside of populated areas. I have witnessed the attempt of 28 East German citizens make an attempt to escape to West Germany. They were in a big truck with an open area in the back. It looked similar to the US Army's 2.5-ton truck, commonly called the duece-and-a-half. Of the 28 people crammed into this truck, only 2 made it to the west side alive. The others were shot and killed by East German guards. We could do nothing unless they shot at US Troops. All we could do is watch people die. As a medic, the two who survived were the only two that actually made it the camp, although both were badly injured. I could only save those two. But so many more died not only that day but throughout the time of East & West Germany. Much of the things that went on still haunt me to this day.

[brainnotfound]

My mom was born and raised in the DDR (East Germany). When she was 18, she fled with a friend of her by train and had insane luck, that the guards forgot to control her. When she came to Prague, she was there with many other people who fled from the DDR. Only three months after her escape the wall fell and she was able to move to West Germany (the BRD) and go to university, where she met my father.

[arjaxlarjax]

There's a section of the Berlin Wall in my home city, Canberra. It sits out the front of the Harmonie German club. My father and I visited it a few weeks ago and had a very solemn moment staring at this monolith that once played a part in cutting a city and more symbolically a nation in two. When my Father was watching it fall on the news in 1989 with his family it was a moment unbelievable to everyone there, like up become down in a matter of hours. Great video as always 👍

[jeffhardy]

As a German, it's crazy to see what our grandparents went through, witnessing the building of the wall. Whenever I think I live in a crazy time, I think back to this.

[WW-hrhd]

Some of the eeriest consequences of the wall and division of the city were "ghost stations" on the U-Bahn (subway). Before WWII Berlin had an extensive subway system, or U-Bahn. After the wall went up the U-Bahn was divided just like the city. Some of the lines existed entirely on one side or the other. Some lines that originally spanned both sides of the city were cut in two. Trains would travel up to the newly created dead-end, then turn around and go back from where it came.

There were a few lines that served West Berlin, but crossed under a small section of East Berlin. The stations which those lines had once served in East Berlin were now closed. The street entrances were blocked off and bricked up. Barbed wire was strewn along the edge of the platform to prevent any East Germans who had somehow found their way into the station from boarding a train bound for West Berlin.

The stations were dimly lit, and the booths that had once sold tickets became guard stations. Trains would slowly pass through the station, but would not stop. As it passed by the dark empty station, West Berliner passengers would see a station frozen in time, untouched from the moment in 1961 when the wall was erected.

[steammanx]

"Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in."
- JFK

[jimlawton]

I will say, I signed up to nebula so I could watch the balloon escape story, and it did not disappoint! Honestly had me on the edge of my seat and happy crying. Hopefully that’s not a spoiler!

[sandervdbrink]

Border guards were obliged to fire warning shots before shooting at escapees. This was also a problem when for some time a automatically shooting system was introduced.
Another nice detail to mention is that on the western side of the wall about a meter of ground was still officially East German land. So anyone decorating the wall at the time was standing on East German soil.

[unitedstatesoffugu]

My West-German parents travelled to China in the late 80s and for some reason, their itinerary brought them through Berlin (and from there via Moscow to Beijing). Years later, we went on a family vacation to the unified Berlin and as we drove towards Brandenburg Gate, my mom started to cry. When she saw the Gate the last time, it had the Wall around it. It was off limits. I was still very young but I think witnessing this emotion, triggered by a past I never lived in, shaped my understanding and appreciation of our current times a lot.