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RISE AND FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL (TV)

Summary

This documentary uses archival footage, computer graphics and re-enactments to tell the history of the Berlin Wall, and how the symbol of post-war Communism divided people and nations for twenty-eight years.

As the production opens, newsreels show how the city of Berlin was divided at the end of World War II into American-, British-. French-, and Russian-controlled zones. Russia's Eastern sector, or GDR, witnessed a mass exodus of three millions citizens from 1949 to 1960. As Communists feared a collapse of the economy, plans were implemented for a ninety-seven-mile wooden wall around East Berlin and its two million citizens on Aug. 13, 1961.

In the following weeks, concrete slabs, watchtowers, barbed wire barriers, and a border strip were put into place to ensure that no East Berliners could leave. Roswitha Brosius Koppen of East Berlin recalls being separated from her fiance, Klaus Koppen, who lived in West Berlin, and how she unsuccessfully tried to sneak into West Berlin -- laying underneath his car engine in the hood of his Volkswagen. Next, the narrative tells about the origins of Checkpoint Charlie, the heavily patrolled crossing between West Berlin and East Berlin which became one of the city's tensest areas.

A two-day standoff between American and Russian tanks took place there in October 1961, as recalled by John C. Kornblum, U.S. deputy commandant in Berlin. The following year, hundreds of East Berliners were arrested for trying to escape, while twenty others were shot and killed. A 559-mile border, commonly known as The Death Zone, was then constructed between the newly formed West Germany and East Germany. Karl and Horst Muller tell how they escaped from East Berlin with their families, via an elaborate plan involving subway tunnels running from East Berlin to West Berlin. The men later met up in West Berlin with their brother Rudolf, whose wife and two small sons remained across the city's border.

East Berlin soldier Wolfgang Engels tells how he came up with the idea to drive his assault vehicle through the wall, instigating the East German government to replace the wall's blocks with thicker concrete slabs. World attention was brought to the wall in June 1963 when President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin and declared "ich bin ein Berliner."

Next, the narrative tells how the three Muller brothers began to dig a tunnel into East Berlin to get to Rudolf's wife and sons. Their actions proved successful, though resulting in the death of 21-year-old East German guard Reinhold Huhn. As more tunnels were built, East German secret police members, known as the Stasi, began to infiltrate the rebel groups. Frederick Taylor, author of "The Berlin Wall," tells how East Germany's economy gradually began to stabilize by the late '60s. However, as border guard Ingo Bethke explains, the laws surrounding the wall remained firmly in place, with all soldiers sanctioned to "shoot to kill" anyone trying to escape.

In May 1975, Bethke used his knowledge of the border to flee to West Germany. Erich Honecker, East Germany's new party leader, then made the wall higher, broader and "more terrifying." Peter Strelzyk responded by devising a way for his family to escape from East Berlin via a hand-sewn balloon in 1979. In 1983, Holger Bethke was assisted by brother Ingo as he shot a cable -- via crossbow -- into a building in West Germany and used a pulley to slide there. In the meantime, artists began to paint murals on sections of the wall.

Maintenance of the wall gradually became an economic burden for East Germany, pushing it toward bankruptcy, despite the trading of dissidents to West Berlin for cash. As Honecker had designs on a technologically advanced "Wall 2000," Soviet official Mikhail Gorbachev gave voice to his differing thoughts. Events escalated after a 1987 visit to Berlin by President Ronald Reagan in which he declared: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

In 1989, Egbert Bethke took part in an escape attempt as brothers Ingo and Holger flew small planes to whisk him out of East Germany. As East Germany's Reform Movement became more vocal, East Germany's border with Hungary dissolved, offering an escape to citizens. West Germany offered refuge to those who left the country. Gorbachev's refusal to aid Honecker ultimately led to the Politburo's dismantling of all the borders, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and the reunification of Germany in 1990. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: The History Channel
  • DATE: November 7, 2009 10:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 1:31:34
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: 100679
  • GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 1961-1989
  • SERIES RUN: The History Channel - TV, 2009
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Guido Knopp … Executive Producer
  • Kristina Hollstein … Executive Producer
  • Susan Werbe … Executive Producer
  • Oliver Halmburger … Director
  • Andrew Solomon … Writer
  • Clayton Nemrow … Narrator
  • Dominic Ghanbar … Music by
  • Egbert Bethke
  • Holger Bethke
  • Ingo Bethke
  • Wolfgang Engels
  • Erich Honecker
  • Mikhail Gorbachev
  • John F. Kennedy
  • Klaus Koppen
  • Roswitha Brosius Koppen
  • John C. Kornblum
  • Horst Muller
  • Karl Muller
  • Rudolf Miller
  • Reinhold Huhn
  • Ronald Reagan
  • Peter Strelzyk
  • Frederick Taylor