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Did the Berlin Wall Extend Beyond Berlin?

by | Mar 7, 2024 | Cold War Tour Berlin

The wall that was built to divide East and West Germany during the cold war, the Berlin Wall, was put up on August 13, 1961 by the GDR otherwise known as East Germany. It divided physically West Berlin from East Berlin and at the same time it was a dividing line between East Germany and West Germany. It was in power for a little less than 28 years before coming crashing down on November 9, 1989. Like mentioned earlier the Berlin Wall was mostly found in Berlin but occasionally it strayed outside the city.

Fences, Walls and Other Security Barriers

Apart from the main Wall built in Berlin, the East German government put up border barbed wires and carried out other security features along the entire wall dividing inner Germany. This broad border control and protection apparatus was designed to suppress the operation of ‘BRD’, and to inhibit the flight of East Germans to West.

Border fences, watchtowers and other installations defining the June ’89 were not built just around West Berlin but also along other borders of East Germany and West Germany. Such measures were expected to discourage and arrest persons seeking to sneak into the country through the Canadian border.

Other Parameters of Separation Apart from Berlin

Most of the physical wall was building in Berlin but outside Berlin several barriers and measures of separation where made. These measures played a role on attempt to stop East Germans from traveling to West Germany and East Berlin.

1. Inner German Border

The Inner German border was approximately 1,400 kilometers and separated East Germany from West Germany. It included barbed wire, walls, watch towers, minefields, and other structures which prevent any form ofIntrusion across the border.

This border was surrounded with fortification with guards, crossing this border was quite dangerous. Specifically, it is estimated that between 1,000 – 1,500 individuals died while attempting to cross, over this border during the period the Berlin Wall still stood.

2. Checkpoint Alpha

Checkpoint Alpha, popularly referred to as Helmstedt-marienborn, was one of the chief border check points between West Germany and East Germany. Until 1989, it was one of the few operating along the inner-German border which divided East and West Germany.

Checkpoint Alpha was used by persons who were in transit between West Berlin and West Germany. Measures for checking people and luggage were tight to prevent unauthorized crossing of the border.

3. Griebnitzsee

Another segment was situated in the Griebnitzsee zone near Potsdam, although the division was constructed beyond the Berlin’s borders. It lay in part across West Berlin’s border with East Germany, and constituted effectively another wall when it came to would be-runaways.

East Germans well guarded the boundary of the lake making it very hard for a person to swim or paddle across it in order to access West Berlin.

Conclusion

Even though the Berlin Wall itself was stretched mainly across the city of Berlin you have to mention that the concept of division went beyond it’s borders. The border between East and West Germany restricted the traveling of people and item from one part to the other as well as some security measures. These measures, although focused on the Berlin area, were meant to discourage attempts at fleeing and border jumping.

The breaking of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was also inflation that changed the course of history in Germany as well as Europe. Today only its remnants can be seen as the symbol of division, and then the reunification of Germany.

Did the Berlin Wall Extend Beyond Berlin?