European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 12, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine pc. 4 Andrs stack on patrol at the Berlin Wall. The Wall at is Monument to inhumanity by Josephs. Fleming United press International Wenty five years Aller the Berlin Wall choked off the flood of East germans fleeing to the West the Barrier remains today a Monument to soviet failure and an Orliage to democracies. It also has proven to be an unqualified Success. On aug. 13, the Wall will have endured a Quarter Century of scorn by six american presidents the Defiance of live soviet leaders and the anger of millions of germans who feel the Wall will have to come Down before their nation can Ever be reunited. The Day before the Wall was Buill. More than 2,400 people stepped across the Street to Freedom. Today. Fewer than 20 perilous attempts per year Are made to Cross the wait echoing every free world Leader since it was built president Reagan has used the Wall As an example o Why communism is a bankrupt system of government the regimes responsible for the Barrier must be constantly reminded that their elaborate efforts. To Sale human Freedom with Walls. Minf9unrabnawire Are a colossal admission of failure Reagan has s what can the world think of rulers who must build prison War around their own nation what can the it cold think of leaders who fear that the own people who flee their Homeland at the first Opportunity the seeds of today s bitterness were planted even As the fast great global conflict. World War ii was allowing Hitler � a sector a Aiso partitioned and again each Allied Power was Given a piece within just three years however that agreement began unravelling. The soviets considered the existence of West Berlin with its . French and British garrisons and Strong anti communist population a threat to the stability of Walter Ulbricht s East Gentian regime. To try to Force the West out Lor 15 months in 1948-49 Joset Stalin ordered a blockade of Wesl Berlin cutting Road rail and canal links running through 110 Miles of East Germany to the City. Stalin s attempt to starve the 2.1 million West berliners. However was Defeated by the Berlin Airhill. Which brought in 2.3 million tons of food Coal and other supplies in 226,000 flights. A decade later Nikita Khrushchev tried again to oust the West issuing his Berlin ultimatum on thanksgiving Day nov 27,1958. He gave the americans British and French six months to get out of West Berlin so it could become what he called a demilitarized ire  president Eisenhower refused to surrender the City and indicated the United Stales was willing to Light for it. Again the soviets backed Down. The tension however did t. By 1961, it was apparent this tiny Hole in the Iron curtain had become a funnel through which the youngest and brightest citizens of the soviet bloc were disappearing to the West. Khrushchev called Wesl Berlin a cancerous growth a Bone in my Throat a Refuge for spies revenge seekers nazis and troublemakers president Kennedy countered that West Berlin was the endangered Frontier of  because of the Beil Coso speeches fear of War and rumours the Border would be closed the flight of refugees to the Wesl became a flood that reached one per minute in the Early Days of August 1961. On aug. 8,1,741 people came across. On aug. 9 there were 1,926. On aug. 10,1,780, on aug. 11.1,533, and on aug. 12,2,400 people jammed across. Whole families tied to Gelhar. Skilled workers technicians scientists doctors teachers and students let in such numbers that in it kept up Only to old and sick would be led. East Germany had Tost Only about a half million people Between 1945 and 1949. But the mass migration prompted by the deteriorating Economy and the uprising of 1953 that was quelled by soviet Lonks swelled those ranks to 2.3 million Between 1950 and the construction of the Wall. Boleen 1945 and 1955, about 10 million East germans squeezed through Central Germany to be resettled in Wesl Germany with perhaps another 1.s million finding their Way to other countries. By the Lime the Wall went up 18 percent of Wesl Germany s population consisted of exp Ellees and refugees from soviet controlled Europe. The torrent forced he soviets to make a decision if they could not gel the West out of Berlin at least they could keep East germans irom getting in. At 1 11 . Aug. 13. The Warsaw pact citing a need to protect its citizens from Western fascists closed the Border and begin building a 101 mile Long Wall. At the time some considered Iho Wall the High Point of soviet aggression. On june 26,1963, two years after it was completed Kennedy went to Berlin. Standing on the Balcony of the wast Berlin City Hall overlooking East Berlin in the distance the president dramatically told the 1 million people gathered below that the proudest boast that could be made in the Irea world was Teri bin or n berlins i am a Berliner and urged leaders of other democracies to stand with him to Blunt soviet advances. In fact the Wall was a Retreat the soviets confession that hey could not Force the Wesl to relinquish their rights to the German capital nor keep control of their own citizens. Along the 865-mile Easl German West German Border the Ulbricht regime already had installed Walls fences barbed wire Booby traps mines dog runs and watch Lowera. The Wall through the City Only completed the split that began 13 years earlier. In the 25 years since the Wall its Success at doing what in was intended has been undeniable. East German had fled to the West so they could participate in West Germany s postwar economic Miracle and derisively called East Germany Ulbricht s  at first not even the Wall was enough to intimidate those seeking Freedom. In the past Quarter Century 38,657 people including 554 East German guards soldiers and customs officials have escaped by tunnelling under crashing through jumping irom windows or flying Over the Wall. Two thirds of them crossed in the first 14 weeks of the Barrier s existence. Their have been 74 known deals 57 Shol by the guards and another 3,139 Are known to have been caught attempting escape. Over the years however the fortifications have grown stronger the successes rarer the attempts less frequent no More than 10 or 20 a year. There Are now 69 Miles of 13-loot-High Concrete and 35 Miles of steel wire Fence Between 10 and 15 feet High. On the Eastern Side even before one reaches the Wall there is a 164-toot-wide Barren death strip usually of Sand. There Are 78 Miles of concealed trip wires and electronic alarms. Guard Lowers Are within firing Range of each other so that soldiers can shoot each other if they try to escape. While the Berlin Wall initially divided the prosperous american British and French sectors of Berlin irom the still War ruined soviet Side today it separates the Wesl from an Eastern Side that is booming by East bloc standards. The reason experts says is because the Young and talented of East Germany no longer Able to flee have worked to emulate their countrymen on the other Side of the Border. And although the rhetoric has continued since the Wall was built tension has subsided. Ten years after the Wall went up the soviets americans British and French signed an agreement hat in effect recognized the Wall As Well As Western rights in the City. The Wall also allowed Ulbricht and his successor Erich Honecker to consolidate their hold on Easl Germany. Tuesday. August 12. 1986 the stars and stripes Page