35 years after the fall of the wall: A search for clues

DW (English)

The Berlin Wall was built on August 13, 1961. It fell on November 9, 1989. What remains of this iconic structure today? We set out to investigate.

Transcript

00:00This year marks 35 years to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

00:03It once divided Berlin and Germany for decades, bringing misery to many people.

00:09So, what's left of it today?

00:11When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, I wasn't born yet.

00:17But later I saw the videos.

00:21All the many emotional people.

00:26What seemed impossible had come true.

00:31A peaceful revolution.

00:34So, let's start exploring the wall in Berlin and Germany.

00:42Our first location is Checkpoint Charlie on Friedrichstrasse,

00:45which was one of the most famous border crossings ever.

00:50It's hard to imagine today that World War III almost broke out here.

00:54At the end of World War II, the Allies had divided not only Germany,

00:57but also Berlin into four occupation zones.

01:00The western zones were administered by the US, British and French,

01:03and the eastern zone by the Soviets, known as the GDR.

01:07At first, people could still cross the border,

01:09but that ended when the GDR built the wall on August 13, 1961.

01:13The wall was built and all of West Berlin was sealed off.

01:18Here at Checkpoint Charlie, American and Soviet tanks drove up,

01:22armed with live ammunition, and stood facing each other for more than 16 hours.

01:28Berlin and the world held their breath.

01:31Fortunately, the tanks withdrew, the situation calmed down,

01:34and the wall became a sad part of everyday life.

01:38There's not much left of the wall at Checkpoint Charlie today.

01:41It's mainly a popular photo spot.

01:44But you can find out what the wall actually looked like in other places.

01:49Our second stop is the memorial on Bernauer Strasse.

01:53It consists of a large open-air exhibition and a documentation center.

02:01These poles show where the wall once stood,

02:04mainly through the middle of Bernauer Strasse.

02:10When the wall was built overnight on August 13, 1961,

02:15desperate people jumped out of the windows on Bernauer Strasse.

02:19Their houses were in the east, but the street was in the west.

02:24Over the years, the simple wall became a sophisticated border fortification system.

02:34140 people died either by being shot or from accidents

02:39that occurred while trying to escape at the Berlin Wall.

02:42The memorial at Bernauer Strasse is very moving,

02:45since it's a stark reminder of the once tragic history of the city.

02:55Our third spot is completely different.

02:58It's colorful, cheerful, and original.

03:00The East Side Gallery.

03:04It is 1.3 kilometers long and was painted by artists from all over the world

03:09after the fall of the wall.

03:11It is in fact one of the largest open-air galleries in the world.

03:15It's just fun to walk along here and look at over a hundred paintings.

03:24We are now leaving Berlin and driving to our fourth location,

03:27a place called Point Alpha.

03:29This US observation post was on the border of former West Germany,

03:34exactly between the present-day states of Thuringia and Hesse.

03:41Point Alpha was considered a major hotspot in the Cold War.

03:49And that's because the US troops were certain

03:51that if the Soviet troops were to invade the West,

03:54they would invade here.

03:56The terrain is relatively flat, so during a surprise attack,

03:59Soviet troops could have penetrated very quickly and deeply into West Germany.

04:04That's why the Americans built an observation post right here,

04:08as close as possible to the GDR border fortifications.

04:13The fifth and last stop on our journey lies on the border

04:16between Thuringia and Bavaria, the small village of Modlagojt.

04:21This small stream has always been the natural border

04:23between Thuringia and Bavaria,

04:25and it was never a problem until 1945,

04:29when the Allies divided Germany between themselves.

04:32Suddenly, West Modlagojt was in the American zone,

04:35while East Modlagojt was in the Soviet zone.

04:38The administrative border had suddenly become a national border,

04:42separating friends and families.

04:44People from the western part of the village

04:46could no longer go to the same school or bar

04:49because they were now in the East.

04:51It was also forbidden for people on opposite sides

04:54to wave or even greet each other.

04:56This eventually became impossible anyway,

04:59as the border fortifications were extended,

05:01pushing people farther apart.

05:03American soldiers nicknamed the place Little Berlin.

05:07The people of Modlagojt left part of the wall standing

05:10so that future generations could understand

05:12what it meant to live in a divided village,

05:15in a divided country.

05:17This concludes our search for traces of history

05:2035 years after the fall of the wall in Berlin and Germany.

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