Border, Contemporary Witnesses, West

Dismay as the Wall goes up

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Sixteen-year-old Wilfried Mommert has just finished school and is about to start an apprenticeship. He and his friends go to the Brandenburg Gate on 13 August 1961 to express their outrage after the Western part of the city is sealed off. The West Berlin police have blocked access to East Berlin at the Soviet War Memorial and have sent in water cannons.

In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wall going up, the rbb interviewed Berliners to find out what the division of the city meant to them. The Wall had a profound impact on the way each person went about their daily lives - no matter what side they found themselves on. Overnight people were cut off from their friends and relatives, from their offices, factories and schools, and from places where they enjoyed spending their leisure time. The division of the city tore families apart, ruptured biographies and claimed many lives.

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  • Berlin, Brandenburger Tor
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