The fall of the Berlin Wall
Image: Guioteca.com
Next, in a PROFESSOR, we will develop what was the main reason that ended the demolition of the berlin wall, an uprising that also became known as the "Wall of Shame." The collapse took place on the night of November 9, 1989, becoming one of the key dates for contemporary history since from that day on the Germans were able to cross the border with total freedom, the same that for 28 years had delimited them from West Germany, its opening was known in Germany What Die wende (The change).
Index
- Background to the fall of the Berlin Wall
- The fall of the Berlin Wall: November 9, 1989
- The wall today
Background to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
We start this summary of the fall of the Berlin wall speaking of the antecedents to said collapse. For a long time, the stagnation of the political system as well as the lack of freedoms generated, both in the USSR and the countries of the German Democratic Republic, continuous uprisings especially by the youngest demanding reforms and freedom of opinion.
This reformist process was launched by Mikhail Gorbachev, the new Soviet leader who came to power in 1985. Among some of his reforms was the issue of the cohesion of the republics and for this he wanted to carry out the signing of a treaty, the Union Treaty, which established a more equitable and balanced relationship between the different republics.
However, the leader of the communist government, Erich Honecker, opposed such reform, so that the protests of the citizens were increasing day after day taking refuge in the embassies of Austria and Hungary. Both countries had their political regimes under Soviet influence but, unlike the Republic German Democratic Party, they had yielded to the reform plan and lacked fewer restrictions on their borders.
Image: El Rincón del Vago
The fall of the Berlin Wall: November 9, 1989.
Faced with popular pressure, since there were more than 13,000 people who emigrated to Hungary, a part of the communist party opposed Honecker, the Demonstrations were massive against the eastern German government, which ended up causing him to be removed from office and after a small conference of press was announced the freedom to travel to the other part of Germany and anywhere in the world.
The day chosen was November 9, 1989, that same day one of the most outstanding political - social actions of the 20th century was carried out: the the fall of the Berlin Wall. Immediately the news reached everyone's ears, there were thousands of people who concentrated in front of the walls of the wall both on one side and on the other as well. As at the checkpoints to access the other part of Berlin, they were greeted with enthusiasm and effusive gestures of welcome were given among unknown.
Although the real surge occurred the next morning, the least impatient came to scale the wall even at such rejoicing some joked from above hesitating whether to jump or not, others with hammers in their hands began to break down the wall little little by little.
After the dismissal of Erich Honecker, he had promised to organize free elections giving as resulted in the victory of the conservative forces led by Helmut Kohl in 1990, who among other things defended the reunification of Germany as a whole, at which time the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist and with it also the so-called “Wall of shame”.
The wall today.
After this summary on the fall of the Berlin wall, we will know how this wall is currently. One of the decisions made by the German authorities was preserve some parts of the wall as a historical memory, so today you can see remains of it.
Of the 45 kilometers that divided the city of Berlin into two, barely a kilometer and a half is what is preserved, it is the section known as “East Side Gallery”Where hundreds of graffiti artists and artists from 21 different countries painted their way of understanding the wall as a mural. In addition, there are many places with memorial plaques that indicate the route of the wall through the different areas.
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