Berlin border closed
The Observer, August 13, 1961
The border between East and West Berlin was closed earlier today. People saw groups of troops occupy positions on the border near the Brandenburg Gate, the main border crossing point between East and West Berlin.
In the wee hours of the morning, as police cars, motorcycles and trucks galloped past the city, the screams of police sirens broke the tranquility of the deserted streets of East Berlin. The action took place shortly after the communist Warsaw Pact made a statement, that is, due to the “treachery agitation movement” of the West, effective security and control must be implemented around the West Berlin border.
The statement made it clear that these measures are aimed at preventing refugees from flowing from East Berlin to the west through West Berlin. The recent daily influx of refugees exceeds 1,000 people.
Part of the route is clear
A statement issued by the East German news agency ADN stated that the “forward-looking measures” that will be taken will not affect the “existing connection routes” between West Germany. Germany And West Berlin.
The governments of the Warsaw Pact countries appealed to the East German government and all workers, suggesting that “introduction of such an order on the border of West Berlin to prevent agitation campaigns against the German Democratic Republic and trustworthy guards and effective control of the entire territory of West Berlin. The statement said. , East Germany will soon force all East Germans to obtain special permits to enter the city.
The demonstrators ignored the armed police
From Adam Kellyt Long
Berlin, August 13
Tonight, I saw East German police firing smoke and tear gas at a group of young people who had been mocking and yelling half a mile from the border of West Berlin.
No one was injured in this incident. It is the most serious incident so far since the border between the east and the west was blocked. Police in boots have driven crowds of about 300 people out of the border, but these young people still ignore their level rifles. Suddenly, the major in charge of the police yelled “Fire.” The bomb flew into the crowd and scattered the young people to nearby streets.
Earlier today, since border control began shortly after midnight, I became the first person to drive an East Berlin car across the police cordon. The crackdown is in full swing.
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Ulbricht Great Wall
Patrick Odonovan
The Observer, August 20, 1961
Berlin, August 19Ton
Just as bees treat wounds in a hive, East Berliners are sealing their cities.They are building a tall Concrete block wall This line will pass through Berlin, through the streets and lanes, winding 24 miles, marking the forefront of the Cold War.
There are ruins of houses on the border. In the past few days, refugees have treated them as undergraduates on their university roofs and gardens-as a back door to freedom or happiness; their doors and windows are closed with bricks. Methodically and firmly, the curtain fell.
Of course, there is no decision here. The real decision will be made elsewhere, but there are many gestures. The Russian commander Colonel Andrei Soloviev rejected the protest letter from the Western commander: Walter Ubricht It has been announced that as long as West Germany is “a hotbed of avengers and militarists”, the wall will exist.
No-man’s land for East Germans: Almost all border crossings in Berlin have stopped
From Michael Wall
August 24, 1961
The Berlin Allied Garrison was ordered to occupy positions on the divisional boundary between West Berlin and East Berlin this afternoon. With the support of tanks, the infantry patrol is now paying close attention to the boundary.
After the East German regime announced at night that it required the establishment of a 100-yard deep “no man’s land” on both sides of the partition boundary and warned West Berliners to move out of the area, the Allied commander ordered the Allied forces to take action. Your own safety.
Prevent escape
The request for all West Berliners to leave near the border is obviously to prevent escaping from East Berlin, because in the past few nights, several people managed to jump out of the windows of the houses on the east side of the border and slide past the houses on the west side of the border. The East Germans are now evacuating all people living in the border houses, and they apparently intend to have the West Berlin Senate order all West Berliners living along the border to leave their homes.
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