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Berlin had the most memorable wall but the entire country was divided by a wall as well. My mom's family abandoned their house and factory and fled to the west

Berlin had the most memorable wall but the entire country was divided by a wall as well. My mom's family abandoned their house and factory and fled to the west when the Russians took their property and punished them for being capitalists. Since the wall wasn't up yet they left through Berlin, which was like a porthole to the west at the time.

bosie 5y ago
if the wall wasn't up by then, why did they have to go through berlin?
- zwieback 5y ago
  It was a shorter path, they would have had to travel much farther to get to West Germany than to West Berlin. At the time the commuter trains in Berlin were still going back and forth between the sectors and too busy to be checked thoroughly.
- nibix 5y ago
  The border between West and East Germany was already heavily fortified in 1952. So, during the nine years until 1961, West Berlin was indeed a kind of porthole to the west. The reasons why the East German government did not close the border within Berlin are complex. For example the Sowjets first had the goal to make Berlin an independent but unified city. But there were also economical and logistical issues: The border would cut important railway transport routes for East Berlin, for which a replacement was only completed in 1961.
sdoering 5y ago
I grew up on the western side of the Iron curtain. Not far from the border. My father was born in East Germany and had fled with his mother, ssister and brother before the wall was up. They could only take one suitcase to make it look like they were visiting western Germany only. So he and his family came to the west. His life went in a way so that he got a job near the border as it was back then in north eastern Bavaria. Not far from where I grew up there was another village divided by a wall: Little Berlin [1] It was interesting as a child to grow up near a divided village and country. And seeing the border fall. I still remember my dad, tears streaming down his face while watching people standing on the Berlin Wall when it fell. I remember him welcoming the trains from the West German Embassy with the GDR people shortly before that. [2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6dlareuth?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6dlareuth?wprov=sfla1 [2]: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%BCchtlingsz%C3%BCge_aus_Prag?wprov=sfla1 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%BCchtlingsz%C3%BCge_aus_... (German only)

bosie 5y ago

if the wall wasn't up by then, why did they have to go through berlin?

zwieback 5y ago
It was a shorter path, they would have had to travel much farther to get to West Germany than to West Berlin. At the time the commuter trains in Berlin were still going back and forth between the sectors and too busy to be checked thoroughly.
nibix 5y ago
The border between West and East Germany was already heavily fortified in 1952. So, during the nine years until 1961, West Berlin was indeed a kind of porthole to the west. The reasons why the East German government did not close the border within Berlin are complex. For example the Sowjets first had the goal to make Berlin an independent but unified city. But there were also economical and logistical issues: The border would cut important railway transport routes for East Berlin, for which a replacement was only completed in 1961.

sdoering 5y ago

I grew up on the western side of the Iron curtain. Not far from the border. My father was born in East Germany and had fled with his mother, ssister and brother before the wall was up. They could only take one suitcase to make it look like they were visiting western Germany only. So he and his family came to the west. His life went in a way so that he got a job near the border as it was back then in north eastern Bavaria. Not far from where I grew up there was another village divided by a wall: Little Berlin [1] It was interesting as a child to grow up near a divided village and country. And seeing the border fall. I still remember my dad, tears streaming down his face while watching people standing on the Berlin Wall when it fell. I remember him welcoming the trains from the West German Embassy with the GDR people shortly before that. [2] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6dlareuth?wprov=sfla1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6dlareuth?wprov=sfla1 [2]: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%BCchtlingsz%C3%BCge_aus_Prag?wprov=sfla1 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fl%C3%BCchtlingsz%C3%BCge_aus_... (German only)