Kai Wegner (CDU), Governing Mayor of Berlin, lays a wreath at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse on the 63rd anniversary of the Wall's construction.
© dpa
Representatives from politics, culture and society joined former escape helpers and relatives of victims to commemorate the construction of the Berlin Wall 63 years ago.
They included members of all parliamentary groups in the House of Representatives as well as Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU). They laid wreaths at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse.
"Today we remember those who died trying to reach freedom," said Frank Ebert, the Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, at the central commemoration ceremony in Berlin-Mitte. "But we also remember the countless unknown fates and the many whose dreams and lives were destroyed by the Wall." In the Chapel of Reconciliation on the grounds of the Berlin Wall Memorial, Pastor Thomas Jeutner remembered those who took the risk of fleeing from East Berlin to the West, sometimes under the Wall. A dozen escape tunnels are known to exist on Bernauer Strasse alone.
Contemporary witness Eveline Rudolph reported on her escape in September 1962 through one of them. She was successful, even though the library technician was targeted by the Stasi. "It's so unforgettable that it will always stay with me," she said. "I can't imagine what could have happened." Ralph Kabisch also recounted how the day the Wall was built in 1961 was etched in his memory. As a 22-year-old, he joined a group of escape helpers and took part in the excavation work for one of the tunnels for months.
"Who describes the fear of being betrayed or discovered, arrested or shot?" said Pastor Jeutner. "For weeks and months, some people on both sides of the border were looking for solutions to make their escape possible. In addition to the powerlessness that most people felt at the time, some people became very determined and, above all, willing to take the risk of fleeing." However, Jeutner also pointed out the challenges of the present, for example against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine: "As in hardly any other years before, we are once again feeling the pain of this great human experience: flight."
The construction of the Berlin Wall began on 13 August 1961. The GDR leadership wanted to stop the mass exodus of people to West Berlin and West Germany, which was slowing down the GDR economy and destabilizing the state. The approximately 155-kilometer-long bulwark cut Berlin in two for more than 28 years. According to the Berlin Wall Foundation, at least 140 people were killed at the Wall or lost their lives in connection with the GDR border regime during this time. After mass protests in the GDR, the Wall was opened on November 9, 1989.