Initially, die Berliner Mauer<\/i> was only a barbed wire barrier; improvements to make it more permanent began immediately. It later became an immense concrete barrier over 100km in length, completely encircling West Berlin, with nine authorized crossing points \u2013 and a cleared \u201cdeath strip\u201d on the East German side, where guards had standing orders to shoot anyone trying to escape. <\/p>\n
These orders to shoot explicitly made no exceptions for women and children<\/u>. From a 1973 version of the orders, translated from the original German: “Do not hesitate to use your firearm, not even when the border is breached in the company of women and children, which is a tactic the traitors have often used”.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n Post-unification research indicates documents a minimum of 140 individuals who are known to have died in incidents at the Berlin Wall<\/i><\/a>. The full death toll is thought to approach and possibly even exceed 200; all of the deaths at the Wall will likely never be fully documented. Accounts of these individuals’ demise may be found here<\/i><\/a>. <\/p>\n Another 251 persons died during or after passing through Berlin Wall checkpoints. Finally, an additional roughly 1,000 persons are believed to have died trying to cross other portions of the Inner German Border.<\/p>\n Die Schandmauer<\/i> was opened, somewhat by accident, on 9 November 1989 by East German authorities (the actual change in policy opening the Berlin Wall and IGB was originally scheduled to have occurred the following day). Physical demolition of the Berlin Wall officially began on 13 June 1990. Small portions had been forced open prior to that date, but in many cases the damaged sections were repaired by East German authorities. Demolition was completed in 1992.<\/p>\n . . .<\/b> <\/p>\n As I noted above: when die Schandmauer<\/i> was first installed, it divided neighborhoods \u2013 and sometimes families. Here\u2019s a photo of some German grandparents getting a look at their grandchildren, likely for the first time:<\/p>\n The children are being held aloft by their parents in West Berlin. Their grandparents are residents of East Berlin whose homes happened to lie in the Soviet Sector of Berlin near die Schandmauer<\/i> when it was created.<\/p>\n “And the shame was on the other side.”<\/i><\/a> Indeed it was, Mr. B. <\/p>\n Sidebar:<\/u> On 6 June 1987, the late David Bowie played an outdoor concert in Berlin near <\/i>die Schandmauer. The above tune was doubtless one of those in his playlist for the concert. <\/p>\n Attendee accounts indicate that East German crowds gathered to listen. Those accounts also indicate that the East German crowds were clearly audible in West Berlin.<\/p>\n Rioting in East Berlin allegedly followed the concert. According to some, these riots were the first event in a series of internal disturbances within East Germany that culminated in the events of November 1989. <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-j-CABFmqGkc\/V8kLr9ZI1WI\/AAAAAAAAK54\/S0zhKLAP90sSULm_ZJuP8IbnOK8Rn0-gACLcB\/s1600\/West_berlin_children_1961.jpg\")
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