Berlin’s wall of death
QUESTION
How many people died trying to get over the Berlin Wall? THE Berlin Wall came to symbolise the Iron Curtain between the West and the East during the Cold War.
The wall was erected in 1961 to curb the brain drain of East Germans fleeing to the West, and it stretched for more than 140km.
In June 1962, a second, parallel fence was built some 100m farther into East German territory.
The houses contained between the fences were razed and the inhabitants relocated, thus establishing what later became known as the Death Strip. The Death Strip was covered with raked sand or gravel, rendering footprints easy to notice. It offered no cover; and, most importantly, it offered clear fields of fire for the wall guards.
The wall was updated over the years, with the one we most instantly recognise being the ‘ fourthgeneration wall’, known officially as Stützwandelement UL 12.11. Begun in the year 1975, it was completed in 1980.
On 22 August 1961, Ida Siekmann became the first casualty at the Berlin Wall: she died after she jumped out of her third floor apartment at 48 Bernauer Strasse.
The number of people who died trying to cross the wall, or as a result of the wall’s existence, has been disputed. The most vocal claims by Alexandra Hildebrandt, Director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum and widow of the museum’s founder, estimated the death toll to be well above 200.
A historic research group at the Centre for Contemporary Historical Research in Potsdam has confirmed 136 deaths. Prior official figures listed 98 as being killed.
The wall was eventually opened in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1992.
Joe Donnelly, via email.
QUESTION
How were fossilised dinosaur bones explained before the discovery of geological time and Darwin’s theory of evolution? IN The First Fossil Hunters, Adrienne Mayor says that the early Greeks explained the presence of large fossilised bones through tales of great mythical creatures.
A popular Greek motif c. 700 BC was the gryphon, or griffin; a huge creature with the body, tail and back legs of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle and an eagle’s talons.
The Greeks created a natural history for the creature whose existence was based on the bones of the Protoceratops, a herbivorous dinosaur with a distinctive horny neck frill, found in Scythian gold mines and in the Mongolian desert.
Fossil elephant skulls probably in- spired the Cyclops of Homer’s Odyssey. These skulls have a large central nasal cavity, a hole that could easily be imagined as the single eye of a mighty monster.
The ancient Greek philosopher Xenophanes (c. 570-478 BC) was more perspicacious. He observed shellfish and seaweed in the quarries of Syracuse and concluded that water had covered the earth and the fossils were the remains of ancient sea creatures preserved in marine sediments.
Thinkers in the Middle Ages called fossils lusus naturae: ‘ jokes of nature’. They based their beliefs on the Bible, and as God had created the earth and the sea separately, bones of marine creatures on land could only be attributed to God’s mysteries or, to those with a more magical bent, to Merlin the magician or various demons. Lusus naturae were the formal teaching of the Vatican until the 17th century. Ian Summers, Criccieth, Caernarfonshire.
QUESTION
Why is the indigenous population of Argentina so small, less than 1.5 per cent of the population? WHEN Spanish colonists arrived in what is now Argentina in the 16th century, they landed at the Rio de la Plata and their first settlement grew into Buenos Aires.
They settled the fertile Pampas areas of the country, forcing the indigenous communities both northwest and southwards i nto the Patagonian desert.
‘ Indian’ raiding parties were commonplace but the Spanish built a series of forts which held them south of the Salado river; an extra geographical barrier to the south.
Most approaches to Patagonia from the sea were hampered by inhospitable cliffs. With the Pampas Indians acting as a buffer against Europeans to the north, the Patagonian Indians were unmolested until the 19th century, when European settlers encroached further and warfare erupted.
After Argentina gained independence from Spain in 1816, it was keen to expand its borders across the Salado River and into Patagonia to establish dominance in the continent and to allow for more immigrants.
In 1875 a group of indigenous raid- ers stole 200,000 cattle f r om three cities in the Buenos Aires Province. The Argentine army invaded Patagonia, defeating indigenous warriors and destroying villages.
The eight-year war, or Conquest of the Desert, enabled the young nation to become an agricultural superpower in the early 20th century. However, thousands were slaughtered and many natives were pushed into inhospitable areas.
According to official data the indigenous population is 600,329, 1.7 per cent of the 42 million Argentines. Indian communities are generally restricted to small reservations at the northern and southern extremes of the country.
Carla Martin, London.
QUESTION
Are any species of animals other than humans affected by Down’s Syndrome or extra chromosome conditions? DOWN syndrome is also known as Trisomy 21, a trisomy being a type of polysomy in which there are three of a particular chromosome instead of two.
Trisomy in animals is relatively common but usually fatal. Down syndrome is notable for being one of the few survivable trisomy disorders which does not always cause the mother’s body to miscarry.
If trisomy in animals does occur and the animal survives birth, it rarely lasts into adulthood and is very unlikely to mate.
In various species of cattle trisomy 28 (three copies of the 28th chromosome in an otherwise diploid cell) can result in a cleft palette and congenital heart abnormalities and sufferers rarely survive long.
Trisomy of chromosome 22 (equivalent to human 21) has been reported in the great apes (Pongidae).
It was reported in a seven-year-old female Sumatran orang-utan and in a gorilla and has also been reported in two hominid chimpanzees
Dr Ian Smith, Cambridge.
QUESTION
What is the card game being played by Poldark in which he exposes Warleggan’s cousin Sanson as a cheat? FURTHER to my earlier answer, this will explain some of the terminology Poldark and Sanson use in French Ruff.
In the game you each get five cards and the next is turned for trump. The aim is to win at least three of the five tricks played.
Before play, non- dealer may ‘Propose’ an exchange of cards.
If dealer ‘Accepts’, they reject unwanted cards and receive the same number from the top of the pack.
This continues until either the non-dealer is satisfied and declines to propose, or the dealer is satisfied with his and refuses to accept, whereupon non-dealer leads to the first trick. ‘ The book’ means ‘ I’ll change all five’. David Parlett, Author: The Oxford
History of Card Games, London.