25th Anniversary of Fall of Berlin Wall

 As a high school student I used to admire superb athletic performances of two countries German Democratic Republic (GDR) or East Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or West Germany at the Summer Olympics of 1988, Seoul. Both of them snugly occupied the second and fifth positions respectively in the medal tally. I fervently hoped that these sister countries would have given a tough challenge to the highest medal holders URS (Soviet Union) had they sent their athletes contesting under a single banner. Eventually, United Germany contested as a single team in 1992 Barcelona Olympics and secured third position. This achievement was just tip of iceberg when compared to larger gains both the countries accomplished over a period of time. Though I couldn’t comprehend much and understand the implications of fall of Berlin Wall in 1989 at that time, I was happy that both countries marched ahead to seek reunification.

November 9^th marks the 25^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The initial simmering and large scale protests surfaced in Leipzig, a town in East Germany on Oct 9^th a month ahead of the historic event. Fresh with fiasco of the Tiananmen Square protests, the regime had pressed in military to suppress the dissent. The massive event was triggered off by a news telecast on Nov 9^th wherein a Politburo member accidentally announced new plans for opening of the Berlin wall. Inadvertently, thousands of enthusiastic people thronged the wall to check the validity of the news. Dismayed by presence of scores of people, guards at Berlin wall had first opened the border crossing at Bornholmer Street. Soon people began to cross the wall enmasse. Motivated and clueless about the flurry of activity at a single gate, guards at various crossings began to open them. Thus by midnight of Nov 10^th nearly all the gates were opened in an uncoordinated fashion paving way for new realm for a united Germany.

Towards the end of World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt of U.S, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premiere Joseph Stalin at Yalta Conference decided to divide the demilitarised Germany into four Zones to be occupied by England, France, US and Soviet Union. Soviet in the meanwhile populated the capital located in the East which was divided into four parts as well. The US, England and France zones in the west became Federal Republic of Germany while the Eastern region that has close ties with Moscow was christened as German Democratic Republic. Both German nations were conferred UN membership in 1973. From 1949 to 1961 over two million people migrated from East Germany to West as refugees. Owing to large scale migrations, the economy began to crumble in East Germany. To curtail the movement of people, Soviet Union came up with a drastic idea of erecting a wall in Berlin and referred to it as Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart with a promise of unrestricted movement.  They argued that the purpose of the wall is to defend its citizens from the predations of the capitalist West.

The wall sealed West Berlin from East Germany and East Berlin thereby controlling the migration to West Germany. The original wall 96.3 miles long was composed of barbed wires was erected on Aug 13^th 1961. Later on the wall was intensely fortified with 12 ft long concrete slabs topped with a concrete pipe to make it more difficult to climb. It was erected to prevent tens and thousands of East Germans from fleeing to West Germany. The wall was under thick surveillance of military personnel armed with machine guns. For 28 long years thousands of families were separated by this wall.

On his visit to Berlin in 1989, Ronald Regan challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall to fulfil his promise of increasing freedom in Communist States.  Following the collapse of economy of Soviet Union in 1989, East Germany too suffered the brunt. By mid 1989 Hungary, a satellite communist country facilitated the migration through it territory to East Germans who wanted to cross over to West Germany thereby rendering the wall ineffective. Marred by continuous protests GDR regime had resigned on November 7^th 1989. With official announcement of government on Nov 9^th to allow the citizens of East Berlin to cross into West Berlin, people on either side of the wall assembled and pulled it down. Brandenburg Gate the most prominent landmark and crossing point between the two regions was officially opened by Dec 22^nd 1989.  On 3^rd October 1990, a new Germany with the flag of Federal Republic of Germany was unveiled at Reichstag to commemorate the emergence of unified Germany.

Erstwhile West Germany symbolised capitalism and democracy whereas East Germany signified dictatorship and communism. East Germany under the communist regime was sealed off through restrictive laws, armies, ideologies and severe sanctions imposed on press. The fall of the Berlin wall thus symbolised the triumph of democracy over communism. People felt suffocated under the restrictive regime and even economy began to stagnate in East Germany. Aspiring for greater economic opportunism and freedom, millions of East Germans risked their lives to migrate to West Germany.

Post 1990 united Germany emerged as a very strong nation with a fourth largest economy in the World. With an enviable unemployment rate of 5.1, the lowest in the entire Europe, it is major heavy weight of European Union. The fall of the Berlin wall culminated the end of Cold-war era. It proved that governments which violate the human right to freedom of movement will never be tolerated by people. Eastern bloc till 1990 tried to create an impression that East European countries preferred or supported Communism but the bubble burst out with dissolution of USSR and fall of communist regimes in other European countries in succession.

Now after nearly 25 years, international politics is at cross roads. An emboldened annexation of Crimea by President Putin signals the threat of second cold war. Amidst the concerns of economic stagnation, unemployment in Europe and the inconsequential fondness of Hungary for the Communist regimes of Singapore and China has reignited the faded cold war tensions.

 

@ Copyrights reserved.