The Berlin Wall is a work of bondage, injustice and dictatorship – said Berlin’s Governing Mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD) on the 61st anniversary of the construction of the Wall.
Giffey will take part in several commemorative events on Saturday, including at the Berlin Wall Memorial together with the Federal Commissioner for the Victims of the SED Dictatorship, Evelyn Zupke, in front of the Chapel of Reconciliation on Bernauer Strasse and at the Peter Fechter Memorial Stele on the Zimmerstrasse. According to the Berlin Wall Foundation, a prayer service in the Chapel of Reconciliation will focus on the memory of Peter Fechter (1944 to 1962).
The then 18-year-old was shot by GDR border guards on August 17, 1962, while attempting to escape to West Berlin at the sector border near Checkpoint Charlie. He bled to death in the death strip right in front of the border wall. West Berlin police officers were not allowed to help him because he was on East German territory. East Berlin border troops only transported him away after 50 minutes. A little later, his death was officially declared in the East Berlin People’s Police Hospital.
On August 13, 1961, the GDR sealed off the border to the western sectors of Berlin with a wall and barbed wire. Millions of people have been separated from family members, friends and acquaintances. According to research by the Berlin Wall Foundation, between 1961 and 1989 at least 138 people died at the barriers erected around West Berlin after attempted escapes or other incidents.
The Berlin Wall divided the city into West and East Berlin and was the borderline of the political systems in East and West. After 28 years, the Wall fell on November 9, 1989. Today, only a few spots in the cityscape are reminiscent of the once terrifying structure.
Giffey said the Wall didn’t just split Berlin in half for more than 28 years. She also cut families and friendships and intervened deeply in the fate of the city. The commemoration of the inhuman GDR border regime applies above all to those who lost their lives trying to climb the wall and flee to freedom. It is a historical responsibility to keep alive the memory of what happened and the suffering. “This is more important than ever now, when people in Europe are fighting for freedom again, risking their lives,” said Giffey.
