On Walls: 20 Years After the Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961, East Germany divided the city of Berlin and its people with a concrete wall and barbed wire. This month marks a painful anniversary of a construction both symbolic and physical that defined the latter half of the twentieth century as a period of division and suspicion, ideological confrontation and isolation.
On August 13, 1961, East Germany divided the city of Berlin and its people with a concrete wall and barbed wire. This month marks a painful anniversary of a construction both symbolic and physical that defined the latter half of the twentieth century as a period of division and suspicion, ideological confrontation and isolation.
Last week I attended a fascinating event at the Newseum organized by the German Embassy commemorating the building of the Berlin Wall. Eyewitnesses recounted the events of the summer of 1961 and shared their experiences of how things developed in Berlin and Washington. Two questions in particular triggered an insightful discussion on the importance of the Berlin Wall today.
Could the Wall have been avoided? And was its fall predictable?
In the 1950s, East Germany was losing its population as refugees fled to the West. As the migration continued, a fortified border began to seem like the only approach to isolating the West, both politically and economically. The East-West divide already existed in the mind of East Germany's leader Walter Ulbricht; the Berlin Wall was its inevitable physical manifestation.
On this side of the Iron Curtain, the West was concerned that any move to stop East Germany's construction would be very risky. Although the Wall was unwelcome, President Kennedy expected it would at least stabilize a tense situation at a time when the threat of mutual nuclear annihilation seemed very real. Apparently, better a wall than another war.
The Berlin Wall proved to be a short-sighted solution. It barely lasted the length of the bipolar Cold War. And indeed, as soon as the international system started to change, the wall tumbled down.
The Berlin Wall was torn down on November 9, 1989. This year we will celebrate the twenty-year anniversary of the fall of a painful, inhuman wall and the symbolic end of an era of dividing lines. There is still much work to be done to erase the vestiges of a 20th-century mindset of dichotomies that continues to cut through many countries and regions around the world. This is why understanding, remembering, and celebrating the lessons of the Berlin experience is important and relevant for places far beyond Europe. It is an inspiring anniversary that hopefully will spread optimism and trust, and encourage other parts of the world to build bridges between communities rather than walls that perpetuate insecurities and prejudice.
