Memories of the Berlin Wall

A ceremony was held at the U.S. Army's Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin on Sunday

BERLIN, Germany -- It's 40 years since Soviet-backed East Germany started work on the Berlin Wall. A potent symbol of the Cold War, it divided the city for 29 years.

Under cover of darkness, the Wall evolved from crude coils of barbed wire to a formidable barrier reinforced by minefields, dogs and armed guards. It was designed to stem the tide of East Germans attempting to flee communist rule and seek a new life in the West.

In a secret plan known as "Operation Rose," soldiers first mapped out the East-West dividing line in the early hours of August 13, 1961. Four decades later, what are your memories of the building of the Berlin Wall?

This is what you have said

As a 6-year-old boy, I walked along the Wall in Berlin-Tiergarten. On the left hand side the test-rail of the "Magnetschwebe-Bahn" (magnetic-train) and on the right hand side the Wall with the death-zone behind. Nowadays I'm living in Berlin-Kreuzberg and going every weekend to the Oranienburger Straße in east-Berlin, with its exciting dance-clubs. -- Tassilo Klesen, Germany.

I was in Berlin when the wall came down. It was an experience that I will never forget! Before the first sections of it were removed I climbed up onto the concrete barrier from the west. I held my breath. No one shot at me. After several minutes a person appeared behind one of the broken windows accross the 'Death Strip'. He waved. I knew it was going to be alright - there was hope now! -- Jan Philipp, Germany/USA.

I was a young infantryman stationed in Berlin on August 13th. My unit was sent to Templehoff to protect the airfield. We dug in, had Bundezpolizi men attached to us and together we waited, weapons ready and loaded for what we were convinced was an impending Soviet invasion. By noon large strands of concertina wire had been laid by the VOPO. I saw an East German soldier with a rifle in a building, he had binoculars and was looking at our position. I had an M-1D with a telescopic sight and put him in my crosshairs. We hunkered down and waited for what we were certain was the beginning of World War 3. -- D. E. Southard, USA.

For me the disillusion that followed the happy events in '89 is the strongest memory of this wall's power over those it imprisoned. -- Anders Kabel, Denmark.

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I lived in Berlin as an Army wife from May 1964 through Feb 1966. One of the most heartbreaking memories I have was watching two elderly women waving to each other with a white cloth -- one on the west side of the Berlin Wall, and the other on the east side. My husband had a security clearance, so we had travel restrictions. Therefore, it felt a bit confining to live there. However, that was nothing compared to the families and friends that were torn apart from each other when the Wall went up. I visited Berlin in 1971 and in 1999 and saw an amazing difference. I really congratulate Germany to have been strong enough to put ALL Germany back together. -- Antonio Montana, Argentina.

My daughter saw the Wall with her junior high school German teacher and some classmates in 1988. She and I returned to Berlin in 1991, after it was torn down. What a difference to experience this, and to have the freedom to see things and visit places that I couldn't 25 years earlier. -- Carolyn Henninger, USA.

The wall has disapeared only physically. In Germany and in the other ex-communist countries, the Wall still persists in many citizens' minds, separating free from captive thinking. This explains why not everybody thinks positively about the fall of the Berlin Wall. -- Sergiu Ioan, Romania.

I was at the Berlin Wall on New Year's Eve, 1989-1990, about six weeks after the wall fell. My father was in the Canadian military and we were stationed in West Germany in the late 1960s. We weren't able to travel to Berlin because of my father's position. The Wall has always intrigued me. Hearing the dramatic and often horrifying tales of people trying to escape, I found it heart-wrenching to have been able to stand on the wall at the Brandenburg Gate that New Year's Eve as I climbed over it from West to East Germany. -- James Cowling, UK.

I was stationed in West Berlin in the mid-1970's, in a unit that worked with refugees and wall-jumpers. It was both awe-inspiring and disheartening to see people's ingenuity and what immense personal risks East Germans would take to escape from what was, in effect, an enormous prison. When I visited the city again in 1992, it was a pleasant shock not to have the Wall, but it made plain the sharp contrast in attitudes, culture and living standards between East and West that the Wall partially obscured. It leads one to wonder how many generations it will require before those differences are no longer important. -- Joel Novis, USA.

The cruelty of the DDR's government was exceeded only by their mocking irony. In 1980 I took a photo from the Bernauer Str. viewpoint. The first building immediately behind the wall in East Berlin was the "Klub der Volkssolidärität... -- Bob Gittler, USA.

Even 40 years after one of the last centuries' greatest crimes against humanity, the Communist party of Germany is still not able to apologise. This certainly sheds a light on their ability to participate in a free democratic society. -- Gerald Beuchelt, U.S.

I visited East Berlin as a 12-year-old in 1974 with my family. The misery and sense of foreboding we felt in the eastern zone was like something from a science fiction story. In 1990 I visited Schwerin and saw that the Russian army soldiers stationed there were in shock. -- Martin Torelli, U.S.

It's sad and unfair that the reformed communists in Berlin are picking up the blame for the building of the wall and the awful events that followed. Yes, this is a time to reflect and remember -- not to blame. Berliners must be free to move on. -- Carron Curtis, UK.

Having been stationed in Berlin before and after the fall of the Wall, I give the credit for our success to the people of West Berlin. They never backed down a bit in the face of overwhelming odds. Berliners are the best people on earth, and I am proud to say "Ich bin ein Berliner!" -- Jeff Parks, USA.

Having been stationed in Berlin in the early 60s I can say that the West Berliners are the strongest and friendliest people around. The Soviets were our enemies and in some folks' minds, still are. -- Don Bergstrom, U.S.

The whole history of the Wall has always interested me and I remember the feeling of happiness and pride of being alive and being part of the world when it came down. So, when we visited Berlin two years ago, I bought a chunk for myself and I went to see and touch the remains because to me they stand for hope of freedom and improvement. -- Viviane Andrade Almeida, Brazil.

The Wall divided not only a city, not only a country, but the entire continent of Europe. -- Constantin Mitocaru, Romania.

That terrible Wall ... caused so many deaths and destroyed so many lives and families. -- Seda Kayrak, Turkey.

The construction of the Berlin Wall showed that even back then communism was failing, and that force, suppression, torture and imprisonment of entire nations was the only thing that held the Soviet empire together. -- Nicolaj Jakobsen, Denmark.

I visited the wall in 1990 a few months after it had been pulled down. Some bits were being sold to tourists but great chunks remained standing. It was a dramatic sight which gave a painful sense of history and suffering. -- Paul Morgan, UK.