Wall’s impact is being forgotten, say victims
GERMANY: The Berlin Wall has now been gone for as long as it stood – 10,316 days from yesterday – and many victims of the East German regime say that the hated structure and what it represented is being forgotten.
Mario Rollig, 50, who was imprisoned by East Germany’s security service, the Stasi, for trying to flee to the West, said the removal of most traces of the 155 kilometres of wall was making it harder for new generations to grasp the impact it had on people’s lives.
‘‘The further the GDR [German Democratic Republic] is removed in time, the less young people know about it and the more positively older generations view it,‘‘ Rollig said.
‘‘The GDR is on history curriculums, but schools often don’t have time to teach it. Then it’s up to committed teachers to take the initiative and organise school trips to Berlin.’’
On August 13, 1961, less than two months after East German leader Walter Ulbricht declared that ‘‘no-one has the intention to build a wall’’, East German troops, police and workers began sealing the border between the Sovietcontrolled eastern sector of Berlin and the three western sectors, to stop an exodus from the communist state. Streets were torn up, barriers and barbed wire put up, sewers fitted with gates, and subway stations shut down.
The barrier became increasingly sophisticated and deadly, expanding to two walls divided by a killing zone for armed guards monitoring the border from watchtowers and patrolling it with dogs. The exact number of people who died trying to cross or dig tunnels is unknown, but the official Berlin Wall Memorial puts it at at least 139.
Today, the wall is virtually absent apart from a few short stretches – the longest of which is 1.6km – and the East Side Gallery, which has been painted with murals. Lines of cobblestones mark its path through the centre of Berlin, and a cycle path has been opened along its route.
There are reminders of the old days, however, including the Stasi prison in the Hohenschonhausen district, where visitors are given guided tours of the cells. Rollig, who was incarcerated there when he was 19, is a guide..
‘‘This place leaves a impression on pupils,’’ he said.
– The Times big