Berlin Wall

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The Antifaschistischer Schutzwall or Anti-Fascist Protection Wall (unofficially known as the Berlin Wall or derogatorily as the ‘wall of shame’) was a barrier that the German Democratic Republic constructed to prevent anticommunists from easily infiltrating the country[1] and discourage skilled workers (such as essential doctors and nurses) from permanently leaving.[2] It is one of the most infamous symbols of the Cold War.

History

In the immediate postbellum period, the Soviet Union proposed for Germany to be kept as a fully demilitarized state, and called immediate elections for all offices, the complete denazification of all public institutions and all the properties belonging to the German industrial families (who benefited greatly from the slave labor in the concentration camps) ought to be seized and democratized. The governments of the British Empire and Imperial America, being what they are, refused to this idea and began with the now very familiar Marshall Plan, repairing all the capitalist institutions, propping up the very industries (and families) responsible for the deaths of millions and keeping former NSDAP members in many key positions (by the 1960s and 1970s there were more Fascists in the Federal Republic of Germany’s government than during the Third Reich), in an all-out-effort to reconstruct capitalism in a war-ravaged Europe and stop the spread of socialism.[3] All of this lead to the decision to split Germany. Though in the case of the Soviets and the GDR they got the worst part of the deal and the reconstruction was going to be more difficult as, back then, what became the GDR only had 30% of the industrial base of Germany but 45% of it was destroyed during the war, compared to the 70% and 20% for what became the Federal Republic of Germany.

East Germans could freely commute to and from the FRG, being able to work in the West and go back to their homes in the East. But in the 1950s, the American and British governments began a campaign of sabotage to try to instigate an economic crisis in the East. They began to hire activist groups and individuals from both sides of the border to make life as difficult as possible for East Germans and to make the GDR look bad. The activities that they were financed to do ranged from delinquency to outright sabotage and terrorism; they employed arson, explosives and the like to sabotage power plants, shipyards, public building, derail trains; sabotaged machinery with acid vials, poisoned 7,000 cows of a cooperative, forged all sort of documents to cause confusion within the GDR’s industry and promote resentment of the GDR’s population.[3] According to Western intelligence itself, there was also a series of ‘swastika incidents’ a few months before the wall's construction.[4] Another early incident was the bombing of a military airport by West-funded terrorist groups, carrying out other organized acts of sabotage and terror in the GDR.[5]

Another aspect of this campaign was an effort to induce a brain drain from the GDR by targeting highly skilled and educated groups and individuals that could be convinced to quit their jobs in the GDR for ‘better paid’ jobs in the West, eventually leading to a drain of around 60,000 professionals and causing a severe industrial crisis, with the added value of the West benefiting from the free education they got in the East. All this is what forced the GDR's hand into constructing the wall around West Berlin and the Inner German Border.

The open border in West Berlin had four benefits in particular for the Western secret services. It meant that East Germans could leave the GDR via West Berlin. Some were refugees, leaving it for good; others were only leaving for a day or two, either visiting relatives or friends in the Western sectors or just shopping. All these people were vulnerable to Western influence. Most important were the refugees. Once in West Berlin they were interrogated and asked to name people still in East Germany, usually colleagues at work or friends, who would be willing to cooperate with Western intelligence. Contact could then be made with those named, again exploiting the open border in Berlin, either via a letter, often posted in the GDR itself by a courier who crossed over into it from West Berlin, or by a courier who would visit the target. The target would be invited to visit West Berlin; where he or she would be asked to cooperate in espionage activities. This was the principal way of recruiting spies, yet there were others too. East Germans who were merely visiting West Berlin were also approached, using a variety of means and excuses, and successfully recruited. They would return home and spy for the West.
[…]
The second benefit of an open border was that the informant, once recruited, could travel regularly to West Berlin to hand over information to his controller. […] Third, the open border allowed Western agencies to inspire the defection of people who were of value to the Communist regimes of the Bloc. Such people were identified and contacted in similar ways as informants. Refugees and spies named people who held important jobs and commented on their politics and character. If they were deemed sufficiently skilled and experienced and it seemed as if they would accept a job in the West, such a job would be offered to them. They would then make their way to the West, with their families, over the open border in Berlin. The American secret services played the leading role in these operations, which were meant to reinforce the embargo on the export of strategic goods to the Soviet Bloc. Declassified US Government records on the Truman Administration’s psychological warfare programme confirm that inducing the defection of valuable people was seen as a useful means of reducing Communist control of the Bloc. The policy of economic warfare also influenced the character of espionage, as both documents demonstrate: economic spying concentrated on the key sectors of the East German industry, to determine whether the regime’s economic targets were being achieved. Spies were also tasked to supply intelligence on the GDR’s import and export trade, to discover economic vulnerabilities which could be exploited by extending the trade embargo.
[…]
Fourth, members of West German anti-Communist organizations funded in part by the Western secret services could enter the GDR over the sectoral boundary, spread anti-Communist propaganda, and supported anti-Communist politics. […] In accordance with the instructions and general orders which were obtained, these groups, predominantly equipped with radio-technical aids, were, among other things, to report on the mood and condition of the population, signs of discontent, starting fires as well as other acts of sabotage and subversion, imbalances in the people’s economy, particularly shortages in the provision of goods, and on the situation in agriculture.

Despite all this, people were still allowed to cross into West Germany regularly although in more limited numbers.[6] Even after the wall was built there was regular, albeit limited, legal emigration from east to west. One could legally leave the DDR for good and move to the West. In order to do that you would have to ask the authorities to get your citizenship removed. When the authorities approved of that request (process time could take years though) you could just pack your belongings together, hop on a train and settle in the oh-so-free West.[7] The process was called Ausreiseantrag or Übersiedlungsantrag. On top of that there were periods of relaxed regulations. In 1984, for example, East Germany allowed 40,000 people to leave. In 1985, East German newspapers claimed that more than 20,000 former citizens who had settled in the West wanted to return home after becoming disillusioned with the capitalist system. The West German government said that 14,300 East Germans had gone back over the previous 10 years.

References

  1. Blum, William (2004). "8". Killing Hope (second ed.). London: Zed Books Ltd. p. 63. ISBN 1 84277 368 2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |text= (help); Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  2. Murphy, Austin (2000). "2". The Triumph of Evil (PDF). Fucecchio: European Press Academic Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 88-8398-002-6.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Blum, William (2004). "8". Killing Hope (second ed.). London: Zed Books Ltd. p. 62. ISBN 1 84277 368 2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |text= (help); Unknown parameter |pageurl= ignored (help)
  4. "Chronology of Statements and Documents Concerning the Berlin Crisis for the Period November 1, 1959 to January 31, 1960" (PDF). Intelligence Information Brief. Bureau of Intelligence and Research (IIB–114.8): iii. 1960-04-20.
  5. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/amerikaner-bezahlten-anschlaege-in-der-ddr-13440897.html
  6. Murphy, Austin (2000). "2". The Triumph of Evil (PDF). Fucecchio: European Press Academic Publishing. pp. 108–9. ISBN 88-8398-002-6.
  7. https://www.counterpunch.org/2014/10/22/the-berlin-wall-another-cold-war-myth/