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In Berlin, too, there were similar incisions when the border was closed in 1952: 200 streets were closed. Almost 75 percent of transport links between West Berlin and the surrounding areas were no longer in use. Control strips were dug up on numerous sites around Potsdam and West Berlin. Vast areas of private land (often belonging to the West) fell victim to securing the border.
Compensatory damages to land owners were few and far between and many landowners received absolutely nothing. As well as the measures being taken along the border, telephone lines and electricity supplies between East and West Berlin were cut off. The GDR wanted an independent infrastructure for East Berlin. However, the number of people leaving East Berlin did not decrease.9 Most of the escapees continued to try their luck over the border in Berlin, which remained open. Controversial domestic political situations, like those during collective farming and the forced development of Socialism ahead of the people’s uprising on 17th June 1953, were reasons for many GDR citizens to leave East Germany.