Berlin Wall n°056 - Oostende - Belgium - Monuments of the Eastern Freedomfights on Waymarking.com

Five fragments of the Berlin Wall were auctioned at the Brussels art and antiques fair BRAFA, this one being one of them. The owner had them placed there.

History: Between 1945 and 1961, around 3.6 million people left the Soviet zone of Germany and East Berlin, causing increasing difficulties for the leadership of the East German communist regime. Half of this steady stream of refugees went via West Berlin. About half a million people crossed the secotr borders each day in both directions, enabling them to compare living conditions on both sides. In 1960 alone, around 360,000 people made a permanent move to the West. The GDR was on the brink of social and economic collapse.
On 13 August 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected by the ruling powers in East Berlin and Moscow, thereby closing the last gap in the Iron Curtain that divided all of Europe. The communist regime had failed and was no longer able and was no longer able or willing to watch its citizens continue to "vote with their feet." Families and friends were torn apart, and lives and hopes were destroyed.
During the years, well over 100,000 citizens of the GDR tried to escape across the inner-German border or the Berlin Wall and displayed great ingenuity in their attempts to surmount the Wall, sometimes tunneling under it or even flying over it. Several hundred paid with their lives for the desire to be free, were shot and killed by GDR border guards or died in other ways during their escape attempt.
Symptons of a breakdown in the communist power structure - not least through the engagement of the United States of America and, above all, through the courageous, peaceful actions of dissident civil rights groups - gave Berliners and Germans a second chance. On 9 November 1989, Berliners from east and west fell into each other's arms, sobbing with joy. Thousands celebrated the fall of the Wall at the crossing points and on top of the Wall itself. Pictures of this night went around the world.
Just under a year later, on 3 October 1990, German unity became a reality also under international law. The desire for freedom and self-determination had won out. Berlin - for decades the center of confrontation and of the Cold War - was now a symbol of German unification and of the future of Europe.

Facts: The Wall running through the city center, which separated East and West BErlin from one another, was 43.1 km long. The border fortifications separating West Berlin from the rest of the GDR were 11.9 km long. The total length of the border fortifications was 155 km, with 302 observation towers, 259 dog runs, 127.5 km contact or signal fences, and 105.5 lm anti-vehicle trenches. In some places, the outer wall on the West Berlin side was 3.60 meters high. Outside the city boundaries, the outer wall sometimes consisted of a wire mesh fence.

Rate this waymark: Adress of the monument: Victorialaan 37 Oostende, Belgïe 8400 When was this monument palced?: Not listed Who placed this monument?: Not listed

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