August 13th - the Anniversary of the Rise of the Berlin Wall

On August 13th, we celebrate the anniversary of the rise of the Berlin Wall, writes BGNES.

After World War II, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union occupy Germany and its capital, Berlin. When the Soviet Union imposed the Berlin blockade in 1948, the great tensions between the Western allies and the USSR came to light.

The fear of the communist regime has led to an increase in the number of East Germans emigrating to West Germany. Between 1949 and 1961, about 3 million citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) traveled through Berlin to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

For GDR, the failure of the planned economy imposed by Moscow, coupled with the escape of workers and the trafficking of goods between the East and the West, is a serious economic problem. The decision was made - the construction of a wall. Work begins in the early hours of August 13, 1961.

So, today, 56 years ago, Berlin woke up in shock: the East German army began building the scandalous wall. It was originally located in the middle of the city and gradually expanded in the coming months. The wall completely divides West Berlin.

The wall quickly became a symbol of the Cold War and divided thousands of families for a whole generation. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan asked Mikhail Gorbachev to "break down this wall."

Two years later it officially fell, leading to the reunification of East and West Berlin, as well as to the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.