The young ones were not born when the Berlin Wall existed in Germany. But a lot has happened since its destruction 25 years ago.
As the world celebrates this accomplishment, who better to tell us of these events than National Geographic?
Let’s breakdown the subject to include those who might not know about the history of the world.
After the end of World War II, four allied territories occupied Germany and these were the US, the UK, France and the USSR.
In 1961, a wall was built to separate the three zones that were collectively under the control of the US, Britain and France from that which was under the control of the USSR/ Soviet Union.
It was 155km in length and had 302 observation towers along its length which ensured that the movement of people in the separated zones was controlled. In fact, the people from the West (French, UK and US) were allowed to go to the East, but with a permit that had to be applied for several months in advance. The people in the East, however, were not allowed to go to the West at all.
The Wall was also known as the Iron Curtain and several countries were against it. Official records state that at least 136 people died trying to cross ity. The Soviet Union was very strict about cross-border movement and any East Germans who tried to go West were considered traitors and there was a directive to shoot them down. Although they were not supposed to be killed, there is no evidence to the contrary.
Just to illustrate that things were rosy on the West side of the wall, there was colourful graffiti on the 155km side of that wall and no marks on the East side. In fact, when the West had trash to throw out, it became something of the norm to throw it over the wall, creating heaps of garbage on the other side.
Entertainers including Bruce Springsteen and David Hassellhoff performed on the Wall in 1989 before it was torn down.
The Soviet Union was frowned up for restricting people’s movement and this was a bad PR for the Communists.
In late 1989, after about 13 000 East German tourists made it to Austria through Hungary, the Hungarians had to try and contain the further movement of the East Germans. The ones who had made it through to West Germany refused to return.
East Germans were then banned from travelling to Hungary and those who had escaped were allowed back with no consequences.
It’s all a huge history lesson that will only make sense if you catch it on National Geographic.
• Busting the Berlin Wall airs on November 29 on National Geographic Channel (DStv Channel 181).