Homepage/ Contents/ PreviousThe Breaking of the Berlin Wall
(and the story behind it)
After World War 2 (1939 - 1945) Germany was split into two countries - East Germany and West Germany. Berlin was still the capital city of both countries, although deep in the heart of East Germany. Berlin was divided too, into East and West Berlin.
West Germany (the larger) became the G.D.R. (German Democratic Republic) and East Germany became a Communist zone. Right through Berlin a wall was built, the Berlin Wall. No - one was allowed through, sentrys were ordered to shoot anyone who tried.
In 1980 Mikhail Gobachev, a Soviet leader, came to power in West Germany. Gradually East Germany's Communist party began to lose control of its people and totally collapsed in 1989.
It was then that the Berlin Wall was opened and the 27 mile long wall crumbled at the hands of its people. Nearly 200,000 people of the East Germans streamed into the West and in 1990 the East and West German governments combined financial situations and became one single country again, 'The Federal Republic of Germany', as it still is. In 1991 the 1st election of the Federal Republic of Germany took place and Helmut Kohl was voted in. His first action was to make Berlin the capital.
Parts of the Berlin Wall still stand today, but they are only historic evidence of the 40 years of a broken country.