Читать книгу Where in the World is the Berlin Wall?. 170 Sites around the World онлайн
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Cover pictures:
Simi Valley, California, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum (ssss1),
Sosnówka, Poland (see ssss1), Yokohama, Japan, TÜV Rheinland Yokohama (ssss1)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Anna Kaminsky
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Maria Nooke
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Anna Kaminsky
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Axel Klausmeier
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Rainer E. Klemke
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Leo Schmidt
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Ronny Heidenreich
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PREFACE
From the 13th August 1961, the Wall – built by the communist rulers in East Berlin – not only divided the German capital into East and West. The Wall was also a symbol of the inhuman regime behind the “Iron Curtain” and of the divided world – the Soviet-ruled communist dictatorship in the East block and the democratic states in the western hemisphere.
In the summer of 1989, the communist states were already in a state of ferment and their people had already begun to voice their protests with ever-growing courage. Neither those in the East, nor those in the West could have imagined the Wall would fall anytime soon, nor could they have imagined that the communist dictatorship would be vanquished and the Cold War would come to an end. Whilst the GDR government continued to talk at great length about the permanency of the Berlin Wall, trade union federation “Solidarity” celebrated the first legislative elections in Poland. The GDR government continued to open fire on citizens who wanted to choose their own path in life and fled to the West. At the same time, Hungary began to open the “Iron Curtain”. As late as 5th February 1989, East German border troops shot 20-year-old Chris Gueffroy as he attempted to get over the Wall and into the West. Hundreds of people were shot at the Berlin Wall and Inner-German border as they tried to flee East Germany. The inhumane border regime and the Wall destroyed the lives of countless people who lost friends, family or their homes and were often separated from each other for decades.