European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 13, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 13. 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 3 sets Ken Touson bulldozed sections of the Graffiti covered Berlin Wall lie in an artistic Heap near . Residents now take shortcuts through the former death  left of the Berlin Wall is 29 years old continued from Page 1 Clear sabers in a Effort to drive the allies out of the City. Berlin was not Worth fighting a nuclear War Over he said but added that if the americans wanted War they could have it. Western political opinion was divided on the value of the City but a line had to be drawn somewhere and the allies Felt it might As Well be Berlin. They refused to be bullied out of the City. The Wall was built by East germans with the obvious approval of the soviets symbolized by several armoured divisions ringing the City. Its been said that an immediate Allied show of Force could have halted the Walls construction but the nearby russian tank divisions and Khrushchev a nuclear threats made any such moves somewhat risky. The air and land corridors from West Berlin to West Germany were left untouched so the allies verbally protested but otherwise watched As West Berlin was sealed off from East Berlin and East Germany. The Wall was built to halt the flow of people streaming out of East Germany As Many As 2,000 a Day in August 1961. The Border Between East and West Germany was already closed but in Berlin people could take the subway or merely walk to the West. The growing exodus from the a a workers paradises was bleeding the country of Young doctors lawyers teachers and labourers. The Barrier was initially coils of barbed wire backed up by armed soldiers. But within Days construction Crews began replacing the wire with bricks and Concrete eventually the Wall stretched around most of the 103-mile perimeter of West Berlin. The wan see a Large Lake straddling the Border in the Southwest part of the City was heavily patrolled to prevent people from swimming or boating to Freedom. Nearly 5,000 people eventually escaped to West Berlin after the Wall was built and Many Are known to have died trying. Another 3,000 people were seen being arrested during escape attempts but its unknown How Many others actually tried. Hundreds of people escaped through tunnels during the first few it ears. But As the Security zone widened tunnelling became impractical if not impossible. Over the years the Wall was Quot improved into a formidable obstacle the Wall seen from West Berlin was backed up by a floodlit Quot death strip a patrol roads attack dogs hundreds of watchtowers and in Many places additional inner Walls. The whole zone was patrolled by hundreds of armed guards with shoot to Kil orders. With enough courage Luck and ingenuity some people still were Able to escape. A few managed to crash vehicles through barriers at heavily guarded crossing Points Many were smuggled out in hidden Compart mints in vehicles legally allowed to leave East Berlin. A a a. The Wall served its purpose for 2s years but in november it came tumbling Down ironically opened for the same reason it was built a to Slop the mass exodus of people East Germany could least afford to lose. Young people by the thousands were doing an end run around the Wall and escaping to the West through Hungary and Czechoslovakia. In an Effort to keep them Home the East German government chose to allow them to travel. On nov 9, the floodgates were opened and hundreds of thousands of East germans poured into West Berlin no less shocked than the City a residents were when the Wall was built. The patrol Road is a Bike path now. The outer Wall is gone from the Reich Stag to beyond Friedrich Strassl where checkpoint Charlie once Sal but that s Only a few Miles of the More than 40 Miles of cold War Barrier that Cut Down the Middle of the City. The East Berlin government has pledged that All of it will be gone within a year but that seems unlikely at the current Pace of removal. With the Wall gone in some parts of the City its easy to unknowingly drive from West Berlin into East Berlin. But one a Kiejdy notices a change in the neighbourhoods. Aside from the ubiquitous Trabal and Wartburg cars a amps Kun cd Dion a tourist works Loose a Section of the Iron Rod exposed after the thick outer layer of the Concrete Wail was chipped away near the Reich Stag background. Some of East Berlin seems Frozen in 1945. What a left of the Wall is still a required Stop for tourists who Chip away at fresh Graffiti Ancl sift through rocks for paint marked souvenir chins. In places like  3-fool-wide Wall slices Are just so much rubble near a freshly Laid Asphalt Bike path linking Long divided neighbourhoods. Pedestrians and cyclists zip through the former death strip As casually As taking a shortcut through a vacant lot. Children use the rubble As if it were playground equipment. The Walls Days Are numbered and Unsicker a gallery is closing As Well. For the past four years he a stocked it with personal work based on the theme of a divided Germany. The gallery was in a storefront on Zimmer Strasse a Street turned into an alleyway by the Wall. Unsicker often used the Wall itself As part of his Art and mounted a continuously evolving series of sculpt tires on it. He a Happy the Wall is gone and feels it s Lime for him to move on too. "1 want to do a new project