Construction of Berlin Wall starts on august 13 ,1961 this day commonly called Barbed Wire Sunday. The construction began on the Berlin Wall, a wall which separated West Berlin from East Berlin. This was established by the or East Germany, the German Democratic Republic.
History Behind Berlin Wall
The wall began towards the conclusion of the Second World War, when Germany was cut into four parts and occupied by allied forces. While Berlin was situated about 90 miles east of the GDR-West Germany border and fully surrounded by the Soviet area, the city was originally divided into four quarters as well, but split into eastern and western zones by 1947.
On 15 June 1961, at an international press conference, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and Chairman of the GDR State Council Walter Ulbricht declared, "No one has the intention of erecting a wall!."
On 1 August of the same year, a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht indicates that the idea for the building of the Wall originated from Khrushchev.
Khrushchev had been emboldened when he saw the youth and inexperience of US president John F. Kennedy, a vulnerability against the aggressive, undiplomatic hostility of Khrushchev. At the 1961 Vienna Summit, Kennedy made the mistake of admitting that the US would not actively oppose the construction of a barrier.
On Saturday, August 12, 1961, the GDR leaders attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnse. Ulbricht signed the order to close the frontier and erect a wall there.
on 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed.East German troops and staff have started to rip up side-by - side streets to make them impassable for most cars and mount barbed wire.
Berlin quickly went from being the easiest place to making the most challenging of an illegal crossing between East and West Germany. Most families have been split because East Berliners living in the West have been cut off from their employment. West Berlin grew into an isolated exclave in a hostile country. West Berliners, led by their Mayor Willy Brandt, protested against the Wall, who strongly criticized the United States for failing to respond.
The barrier was installed inside East German territory to ensure that at some stage it did not encroach upon West Berlin.