August 13- The Berlin Wall

As history is mostly written by the victorious, let's hear the other side for once:

On August 13, 1961, the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) led by Comrade Walter Ulbricht (1893-1973),General Secretary of the SED, finally enforced a resolution that it had passed a few days before.
It had decided that in order to eliminate the hostile provocations of the revanchist and militaristic elements in West-Germany and West-Berlin, a border was to be erected between the GDR and the Western Sectors of Greater Berlin, as it was usual between two sovereign states. This border intended to establish a reliable surveillance and effective controls on the Berlin borders, to prevent further subversions from the West.
The Berlin working class, in alliance with the comrades of the National People�s Army (NVA) and the comrades of the German People�s Police (DVP) built a barrier against fascism (�Antifaschistischer Schutzwall�) and thus put an end to the activities of the West-Berlin agent provocateurs, slave traders and revanchists against the GDR.
August 13, 1961 was a day of victory for the forces of peace and Socialism. Defeated were the forces of war and reactionism. This victory over the reactionaries in Bonn and their henchmen in West-Berlin was achieved by all peace-loving Germans
On August 13, it became clear: Progress was not determined by the militarists, but by the strong forces who held the future of Germany in their hands. These were the peace-loving Germans, who had a solid and reliable base in the GDR.
(Free Translation from original GDR documents)



This poster demonstrates the GDR�s problem.
Two ways!
Life in our democratic sector (East Berlin) is soon becoming the example for the whole of Berlin.
( And in order to stop the people of West-Berlin to escape into the East, some protective measures had to be taken.)

There is, however, another version of events:

At 1 o�clock in the night, on August 8, 1961, units of the border- and regular police, units of the �Ministerium f�r Staatssicherheitsdienst (Stasi) and units of the NVA began to close off the 160 km long border between East-Berlin and the GDR on one side, and West-Berlin on the other. Initially East-Berlin was hermetically sealed from the West with barbed wire, wooden barricades and anti-tank obstacles. Soon after, a walled barrier complex with watch towers, floodlights, mines and other installations was built: The Berlin Wall.



The Berlin Wall

With the construction of the Berlin Wall, the GDR government tried to prevent the mass emigration of its population into West-Berlin and West-Berlin, and to stop the looming collapse of its economy caused by this exodus. More than 2.6 Million, with an unproportionally high number of professionals and skilled workers amongst them, had left the GDR since its formation in 1949 till August 1961. Dissatisfied with the authoritarian regime of SED and attracted by the far higher standard of living in West-Germany, GDR citizens had used the relaxed controls between the allied sectors in Berlin to leave their country, and had left the GDR dangerously short of manpower.
The government of the GDR saw no other solution than to block the borders between the two Germanys. The plan succeeded, the mass exodus was stopped, the GDR economy recovered and in later years the country enjoyed the highest standard of living in any Comecon country.
But that was not enough for the good citizens of the GDR. 28 years later, even the Berlin Wall couldn�t stop them anymore to seek their fortune in the West.
The Berlin Wall came down on November 9, 1989, but that�s another story... and probably will be told on November 9.

What else happened on this day?

1521 - Tenochtitl�n , the capital of the Aztec Empire in Mexico, is captured by the Spanish Conquistadores, led by Hernando Cortez after an 85 day battle. Most of the city, that had a population of 200-300.000 during its peak, is destroyed during the fight.

1940 - The Battle of Britain gets off to a start as the German Luftwaffe launched raids against the Royal Air Force and the aircraft industry in England. Nazi-Germany intended to destroy any possible air-resistance against the planned invasion of the UK.

Full list:

Wikipedia

Edited by Komnenos

1860: Annie Oakley born