A lesson learned from the fall of the Berlin Wall

This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

It so happens that this year August 13 fell on a Friday. For those who are superstitious it’s a bad omen. 

But another August 13 brought much bad news to many people.

On Sunday, August 13, 1961 the people of Berlin woke up to the devastating news that their city was being divided in two.

After World War II Germany was divided between the four victorious powers, the Soviet Union, the USA, Britain and France. The eastern part of Germany was under the control of the Russians. But Berlin, which was in the heart of eastern Germany came under the control of the four powers. 

In 1949 when East Germany was set up as an independent State, East Berlin became its capital city. 

From 1950 West Berlin was governed by the Berlin Senate and was politically and socially linked to West Germany but in law it was not part of West Germany, officially known as the Federal Republic of Germany.

Early on August 13, 1961 East German troops and police began erecting a 156-kilometre barbed wire fence cutting off West Berlin from East Berlin and East Germany.

The barbed wire was duly replaced over the years by a large cement wall dividing the city and dividing East from West Germany. Between that fateful Sunday in 1961 and 1989 the East German authorities spent massive sums of money fortifying and strengthening what they called the Anti-Fascist Protective Rampart but was called the Wall of Shame by West Berliners.

The East German authorities built the wall to stop the haemorrhage of people, especially highly qualified and technical people from moving from East to West. It is estimated that 19,000 people left East Germany for West Germany via West Berlin in June 1961.

Approximately three million people moved from East to West between 1948 and Sunday, August 13, 1961. It was obvious to the East German authorities the only way to stop the flow of people was to build a wall, making it physically impossible for them to exit the country.

I worked in West Berlin in the mid -1980s. Never once in my time living in the divided city did I think for one moment that the Berlin Wall would come down in my lifetime.

In those years of a divided city, West Berlin became a quaint place to live and it attracted interesting people, especially from West Germany. German men, who lived in West Berlin were not obliged to do military service. 

The West Berlin authorities offered many incentives to attract people to the city. The city enclave in the heart of East Germany became a type of Mecca for artists and musicians and indeed refuseniks of all shapes and sizes.

Watching on television the Wall come down on Thursday, November 9, 1989 I made a solemn promise I would never again pay heed to anyone who tells me that something or other is impossible or can’t be done. That is of course, unless it defies the laws of gravity or other physical impossibilities.

And it’s important to note that not one life was lost in taking down that wall.