Construction of the Berlin Wall

The DDR erects what it calls the “Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart”

The socialist economy of the DDR never performed well and was unable to give its people the standard of living to which they aspired. This combined with the increasingly repressive nature of life under socialism persuaded many East Germans that life would be better in the West if only they could make it across. The early 1960s saw an ever-increasing number of East Germans travel to the open city of Berlin where they were able to cross to the West with relative ease. This exodus of young, well-qualified people from the DDR led to an acute skills shortage and hampered attempts to modernize the East German economy. When rumours began to circulate that the East German government was planning to close the last escape route to the West, DDR leader Ulbricht was forced to hold an international press conference in June 1961 at which he declared: “Nobody has any intention of building a wall.” In reality, East German decision-makers had already travelled to Moscow several times to discuss measures to seal off Berlin.

Once Ulbricht had finally received permission from the Soviet leadership to build the Berlin Wall, the DDR government acted swiftly. In the hope that people would be distracted over the weekend, Ulbricht ordered the East German security forces to close the border crossings to West Berlin and blockade the outer ring road around the city on 13 August 1961. Barbed wire fences were soon replaced by a two-metre-high guarded wall. Intimidated by the mobilized soldiers and police, the stunned population could do little, and individual protesters were arrested. Through traffic on the underground and suburban railways ceased, and the number of border crossing points was significantly reduced. Windows and doors in houses near the border were bricked up. A united city had been divided by a militarized frontier, with guards instructed to shoot to kill. The Berlin Wall, which deprived millions of East Germans of their last route to freedom, was described by the DDR regime as the “Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart”, designed to protect its own population from malign Western influence.