The Berlin wall and inner-German border 1945 - 1990

The division of Germany between the two rival power blocs following the Second World War, and the establishment of two German states in 1949, resulted in the inner-German border and eventually the Berlin Wall. This book provides an introduction into the history, background and outward appearance of this interface between two competing military, political and economic systems. The constant exodus of its own citizens and the resulting threatened economic collapse of East Germany forced its leadership to hermetically seal off what it called the western border of the state on August 13th 1961. The sophisticated system of border technology with its protective strips, barbed wire fences, alarm signals, mines and walls was intended to prevent any escape from the German Democratic Republic, the workers' and peasants' state.