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AND THE WALL IS STARTED - AUGUST 14, 1961
August 12 - Potsdamer Platz - No Wall
The Berlin Wall evolved through four versions
Wire fence and concrete block wall (1961)Improved wire fence (1962-1965)Improved concrete wall (1965-1975)Grenzmauer 75 (Border Wall) (1975-1989)
August 18th - Potsdamer Platz - Wall Is Up
On 9 August 1961, the NSA had advanced warning information, (gathered with assistance of the Berlin ASA Operatives), of the East German regime (GDR) plan to close the intra-Berlin border between East and West Berlin completely for foot traffic. The interagency intelligence Berlin Watch Committee assessed that this intercept "might be the first step in a plan to close the border. This warning, sent to the CIA in Washington, did not reach John F. Kennedy until noon on 13 August 1961. However, he immediately denounced the Berlin Wall, whose erection worsened the relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The ASA operators coming off mid shift already new the "Balloon Alert" was going up. Panic in East Berlin and shock in West Berlin followed the border closing.
West Berlin Mission Cable 186 to State Department, 13 August 1961, CONFIDENTIAL (Source: The Berlin Crisis)
The mission provided the State Department with an update of the controls over the East German population. Subway cars heading into the West failed to show up and control measures were being implemented "everywhere" with East German police stringing up barbed wire at border points. The flow of refugees had not stopped entirely, because people were fleeing through the canals and fields.
(Note: Panic in East Berlin and shock in West Berlin elsewhere quickly followed the broder crossing).
In response to the erection of the Berlin Wall, retired general, Lucius D. Clay, was appointed by Kennedy as his special advisor with ambassadorial rank. Gen. Clay has been the Military Governor of the US Zone of Occupation in Germany during the Berlin Blockade. He ordered the first measures that became the Berlin Airlift. He was immensely popular with the residents of West Berlin, and his appointment was an unambiguous sign that Kennedy would not compromise on the status of West Berlin. As a symbolic gesture, Pres. Kennedy immediately sent Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to West Berlin, and following that, 6 months later, Bobby Kennedy was sent to West Berlin.
On August 13, 1961, two days after construction began on the Wall, West Berlin mayor Willy Brandt sent a letter to President U.S. Kennedy, warning that a “crisis of confidence” would ensue if the Western powers continued to remain passive in the face of the forced division of East and West Berlin. On August 16, 1961, a mass demonstration drew approximately 300,000 West Berliners to the square in front of Schöneberg City Hall, where protestors expressed their dismay over the construction of the Wall.
On August 18, 1961, Kennedy sent his Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson to Berlin. On arrival, Johnson was met by enthusiastic Berliners such as the ones captured on the photograph above.
Bobby and Ethel Kennedy arrived at Tempelhof Airport February 22, 1962 during a stinging snowstorm. Yet, more than 100,000 West Berliners lined the streets. At Potsdamer Platz, Bobby glared through the strands of barbed wire in that section of divided Berlin. On the East Berlin side, a few Vopos ran out of sight. East Berlin appeared empty—and dead. "This," said Bobby, "is even more shocking than I imagined it would be." Driving to City Hall Plaza, Bobby spoke to another 100,000 West Berliners. He gave them plenty of assurance. "An armed attack on West Berlin," he cried, "is the same thing as an armed attack on Chicago, New York, London or Paris. You are our brothers, and we will stand by you."
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words "Ich bin ein Berliner." President John F Kennedy, June 26, 1963
It is hard to express the emotion that we, a small band of Army Security Agency Operators, shared this day along with the West Berliners. It is still with us.
THE BERLIN WALL CONSTRUCTION BEGIN WE WERE THERE!
On the afternoon of August 12th, a small group of US Army Security operators where heading to their listening posts for the swing shift (4 PM to Midnight). When they returned to their living quarters, they were in a city being divided by a wall. They already knew what had happened and what the citizens of both East and West Berlin would wake up to. Walter Ulbricht, head of the German Democratic Republic, (which was neither Democratic or Republic) ordered a barbed wire fence to start the separation of East Berlin from West Berlin. The wall grew from day to day. By early October 1961, the clearing of houses created a no man's land on the East Berlin side of the sector boundary.
Any East Berliner who stepped into this strip of land could be fired on without warning.
1) Peter Fechter,shot Aug. 17, 1962 between the building and barbed wire wall. The East Berlin border guards, would not let the Army Medics cross the space between the building and the barbed wire. They let him bleed to death removing his body an hour later. 2) Olga Segler was fatally injured fleeing to West Berlin by jumping from her window on Bernauer Strasse, Sept. 25, 1961. 3) Ernst Mundt, born on December 2, 1921 was shot dead on Sept. 4, 1962. while climbing over the Sophien cemetery wall. 4) Memorial for Unknown Refugee.
In the first 18 months, from the start of the construction on the wall, at least 47 people were killed trying to reach West Berlin.
The Warsaw Pact countries proposed that the East German Government introduce a system at the border of West Berlin that would check for subversive activities around the whole area of West Berlin. A reliable watch and effective control would exist along this border. Initially, citizens of East Berlin and East Germany (GDR) would need special permission to cross the line. West Berliners could cross into the Eastern Sector with only pre-approved West Berlin ID cards. Within eleven days, neither East or West Berliners received permits to cross over. More than 60,000 East Berliners were cut off from their jobs. Sadly, they were not just cut off from their jobs, but East Berliners and East Germans living in the area were COMPLETELY PROHIBITED TO PARTICIPATE IN WEST BERLIN'S CULTURAL LIFE.
August 1961 Construction Begins.
August 23, 1961, the Brandenburg Gate is closed and so is the fashionable Unter den Linden to West Berlin
The wall was more than 87 miles in circumference. In June 1962, a second, parallel fence, known as a "hinterland" (inner) wall was built about 110 yards farther into East German territory. The houses between the wall and fences were razed and the inhabitants relocated. This became known as the "Death Strip". The Death Strip was raked sand or gravel, therefore footprints could easily detect trespassers and it allowed officers to see which guards were neglecting their task. The "Death Zone" fields were over a 1/4 mile wide and had up to 300 Guarded Watch Towers, Tank Traps, Dog Runs and, importantly, offered a clear field of fire for the Wall Guards. (Sources available at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall)
Walter Ulbricht, head of state of the German Democratic Republic, (GDR - neither democratic or a Republic), forced East Berlin workers to build the Wall with materials that were supposed to be used in the building of houses. At the same time, in West Berlin the "Cultural Weeks" were held as scheduled. On this occasion, the Deutsche Oper Berlin was officially re-opened. West Berliners were the only people in the world unable to visit the other part of their city. Every reasonable suggestion to regulate the question of passes for the West Berliners (there was a brief exception on Christmas, 1963) were flatly rejected by the Communist authorities. East Berliners could no longer experience West Berlin's cultural life.
"West angry at Berlin killing", By Norman Crossland, The Guardian, December, 28th, 1963 Over 170,000 passes were issued before the wall was closed again on January 5, 1964. Any goodwill that might have been generated by the visits of West Berliners to East Berlin has been dispersed by the murder of the youth who was climbing the wall on Christmas Day.
THE VOICE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY - WE WERE THERE - IT IS STILL WITH US
Picture on the left: One of the largest stores in the world KaDeWE Dept. Store Gift Department, fully stocked and a typical open market with products from around the free world while stores in East Berlin virtually empty
Photos: Jim Bothwell ASA Special Ops 1966
Photos: Jason Potter: ASA Special Operations 1966
Excerpt: Presidents Daily Brief, april 7, 1966
Excerpt: Presidents Daily Brief, april 7, 1966
Source: CIA Electronic Reading Room-
The Presidents Daily Brief was the highest level intelligence publication of the CIA and was only distributed to the president and a few advisors. The YAK-28 Firebar which had crashed in West Berlin and had been salvaged for exploitation. (The YAK entered service in the mid 1960's as an all-weather interceptor.
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