Trapped, alone, hurt, betrayed. That is how the people of West Berlin felt when their communist brethren government, the East Germans, put up a wall around their city. This wall was dubbed the ‘Berlin Wall’. The beginning ideas, repercussions, and the fall of the wall are what make the Berlin Wall so interesting. First, it was obvious to the creators of the wall, the communist East German government, that there was something strange going on when the people of East Berlin would suddenly go missing. Then they figured it out, they were fleeing to a part of the country that was not governed by communist rules, West Berlin. So, they wanted to find a way to keep their people where they could control them, and so they build the Berlin Wall to totally surround West Berlin (BBC Writers). They began construction on the wall on the night of August 12, 1961. While doing so, they hoped to stop, or more accurately to scare away, the people planning on feeling to West Berlin. First, they strung barbed wire around the entrances into West Berlin. Next, they put up a wall that was a few feet off the ground, so they could see outside but could not climb
The first line of defense was that they sent their troops down to guard the wall. The second was the command to shoot anyone who was escaping on sight, which is why there were hundreds of casualties. The West Berliners desperately tried, again, to get the help of the U.S. The following quote is President John F. Kennedy’s response to the cries of help, “A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.” When he realized that this aggravated the West Berliners, he made a speech near the wall and tried to comfort them by saying, “Ich bin ein Berliner!” which translates to “I am a Berliner!”... or so he thought. It actually translates to “I am a jelly donut!”, but JFK had no idea