Saturday, August 13, 2011

50th Anniversary of the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart." How collectivist tyrants deal with people voting with their feet.


East German soldier Conrad Schumann jumps the barbed wire to escape into West Berlin.

Otherwise known as the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. However, in practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period. . .

With the closing of the inner German border officially in 1952, the border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible then because it was administered by all four occupying powers. Accordingly, Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West. On 11 December 1957, East Germany introduced a new passport law that reduced the overall number of refugees leaving Eastern Germany.

It had the unintended result of drastically increasing the percentage of those leaving through West Berlin from 60% to well over 90% by the end of 1958. Those caught trying to leave East Berlin were subjected to heavy penalties, but with no physical barrier and subway train access still available to West Berlin, such measures were ineffective. The Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape. The 3.5 million East Germans who had left by 1961 totalled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.

The emigrants tended to be young and well-educated, leading to the "brain drain" feared by officials in East Germany. Yuri Andropov, then the CPSU Director on Relations with Communist and Workers Parties of Socialist Countries, wrote an urgent letter on 28 August 1958, to the Central Committee about the significant 50% increase in the number of East German intelligentsia among the refugees. Andropov reported that, while the East German leadership stated that they were leaving for economic reasons, testimony from refugees indicated that the reasons were more political than material. He stated "the flight of the intelligentsia has reached a particularly critical phase."

By 1960, the combination of World War II and the massive emigration westward left East Germany with only 61% of its population of working age, compared to 70.5% before the war. The loss was disproportionately heavy among professionals: engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers. The direct cost of manpower losses has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht later claiming that West Germany owed him $17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as manpower losses. In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment. The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re-securing of the German communist frontier was imperative. -- Wikipedia.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I did my Junior year of college abroad in West Germany in 1984-85 and travelled extensively in Eastern Europe in cluding East Germany. I had family there. I entered East Berlin through Check Point Charlie as well as on the subway. It was chilling each and every time and depressing. The contrast between East and West Berlin could not have been more stark.

Bad Cyborg said...

I remember news stories of dramatic escapes over the wall and through tunnels under the wall. I remember, too, nuclear war drills and "duck and cover" and the fallout shelter craze.

I also remember tears running down my cheeks as I watched the wall coming down. I realized we had taken a step BACK from the abyss.

Now we approach another precipice. Perhaps not one that will plunge the world into Fimbulwinter and the possible extinction of our species but the end of the world as we know it. Let us fervently hope that we are able to pull back from THIS precipice as well and that my grandson who will be a year old in 3 weeks grows up in a 21'st century world and not an 18th century one.

Anonymous said...

Bad Cyborg,

That is the most eloquent vignette I have read in a long time--at once sobering and inspiring.

I commend you and rejoice that you are one of us.

MALTHUS

Anonymous said...

And yet they still try to force people into that societal system. Pretty obvious that PEOPLE DON'T WANT IT! Wouldn't you think?

Anonymous said...

That's Marxism for you! They can't earn it so they steal it through lies and manipulation and black mail, through fear, threats and intimidation, then through assaults, arson, mayhem and murder. By any means necessary.

Crustyrusty said...

Been there, more than once, crossed it, had Stasi following me the whole time, and was over there when the sumbitch came down.

Nowadays the kids have no clue... we can't let them forget.