Editing Berlin Wall (section)

==Official crossings and usage==
{{See also|Berlin border crossings}}
[[File:Berlin - You are leaving.jpg|thumb|A ''You Are Leaving'' sign at a border of the American sector]]
[[File:Karte berliner mauer en.jpg|thumb|Position and course of the Berlin Wall and its border control checkpoints (1989)]]

There were nine border crossings between East and West Berlin. These allowed visits by West Berliners, other West Germans, Western foreigners and Allied personnel into East Berlin, as well as visits by GDR citizens and citizens of other socialist countries into West Berlin, provided that they held the necessary permits. These crossings were restricted according to which nationality was allowed to use it (East Germans, West Germans, West Berliners, other countries). The best known was the vehicle and pedestrian checkpoint at the corner of [[Friedrichstraße]] and Zimmerstraße ([[Checkpoint Charlie]]), which was restricted to Allied personnel and foreigners.<ref name="harrison206">{{Harvnb|Harrison|2003|pp=206–214}}</ref>

Several other border crossings existed between West Berlin and surrounding East Germany. These could be used for transit between West Germany and West Berlin, for visits by West Berliners into East Germany, for transit into countries neighbouring East Germany (Poland, [[Czechoslovakia]], and Denmark), and for visits by East Germans into West Berlin carrying a permit. After the 1972 agreements, new crossings were opened to allow West Berlin waste to be transported into East German dumps, as well as some crossings for access to [[Exclaves of West Berlin in East Germany|West Berlin's exclaves]] (see ''[[Steinstücken]]'').

Four [[autobahn]]s connected West Berlin to West Germany, including [[Bundesautobahn 2|Berlin-Helmstedt autobahn]], which entered East German territory between the towns of [[Helmstedt]] and [[Marienborn]] ([[Checkpoint Alpha]]), and which entered [[West Berlin]] at Dreilinden ([[Checkpoint Bravo]] for the Allied forces) in southwestern Berlin. Access to West Berlin was also possible by railway (four routes) and by boat for commercial shipping via canals and rivers.<ref name="cnn.com"/><ref name="thoughtco.com"/><ref name="history.howstuffworks.com">{{cite web |url=https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/berlin-wall.htm |title=How the Berlin Wall Worked |date=12 May 2008 |website=HowStuffWorks |access-date=9 April 2019 |archive-date=16 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190216093820/https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/berlin-wall.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Non-German Westerners could cross the border at [[Berlin Friedrichstraße station|Friedrichstraße station]] in East Berlin and at Checkpoint Charlie. When the Wall was erected, Berlin's complex public transit networks, the [[Berlin S-Bahn|S-Bahn]] and [[Berlin U-Bahn|U-Bahn]], were divided with it.<ref name = "cgqmzv"/> Some lines were cut in half; many stations were shut down. Three western lines traveled through brief sections of East Berlin territory, passing through eastern stations (called ''{{lang|de|Geisterbahnhöfe}}'', or [[ghost station]]s) without stopping. Both the eastern and western networks converged at {{lang|de|Friedrichstraße}}, which became a major crossing point for those (mostly Westerners) with permission to cross.<ref name="history.howstuffworks.com"/><ref name="mashable.com">{{cite web |url=https://mashable.com/2014/11/06/berlin-wall-fence/ |title=Before the Berlin Wall, people escaped through a wire fence |first=Chris |last=Wild |website=Mashable |date=6 November 2014 |access-date=15 February 2018 |archive-date=16 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216025706/https://mashable.com/2014/11/06/berlin-wall-fence/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Crossing===
[[File:Berlin travel orders.png|thumb|Travel orders to go to Berlin as used by U.S. forces in the 1980s]]
West Germans and citizens of other Western countries could generally visit East Germany, often after applying for a [[Travel visa|visa]]<ref name=willis>{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=Jim |title=Daily Life behind the Iron Curtain |date=1946 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=9780313397639 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-I99V70m0sC&q=visa+to+visit+west+germany+from+east&pg=PT45 |access-date=5 November 2014 |ref=willis}}</ref> at an East German embassy several weeks in advance. Visas for day trips restricted to East Berlin were issued without previous application in a simplified procedure at the border crossing. However, East German authorities could refuse entry permits without stating a reason. In the 1980s, visitors from the western part of the city who wanted to visit the eastern part had to exchange at least DM 25 into East German currency at the poor exchange rate of 1:1. It was forbidden to export East German currency from the East, but money not spent could be left at the border for possible future visits. Tourists crossing from the west had to also pay for a visa, which cost DM 5; West Berliners did not have to pay this fee.<ref name="mashable.com"/>

West Berliners initially could not visit East Berlin or East Germany at all—all crossing points were closed to them between 26 August 1961 and 17 December 1963. In 1963, negotiations between East and West resulted in a limited possibility for visits during the Christmas season that year ({{lang|de|Passierscheinregelung}}). Similar, very limited arrangements were made in 1964, 1965 and 1966.<ref name="mashable.com"/>

In 1971, with the [[Four Power Agreement on Berlin]], agreements were reached that allowed West Berliners to apply for visas to enter East Berlin and East Germany regularly, comparable to the regulations already in force for West Germans. However, East German authorities could still refuse entry permits.<ref name="mashable.com"/>

[[File:East Berlin Death Strip seen from Axel Springer Building 1984.jpg|thumb|East Berlin "death strip" of the Berlin Wall, as seen from the [[Axel Springer AG]] Building, 1984]]
East Berliners and East Germans could not, at first, travel to West Berlin or West Germany at all. This regulation remained in force essentially until the fall of the Wall, but over the years several exceptions to these rules were introduced, the most significant being:
*Elderly pensioners could travel to the West starting in 1964<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chronik der Mauer staff |title=Chronicle of the Berlin Wall: 9 September 1964 |url=http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/en/chronicle/#anchoryear1964 |website=Chronik der Mauer |publisher=Federal Agency for Civic Education |access-date=3 December 2019 |archive-date=1 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191201085017/http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/en/chronicle/#anchoryear1964 |url-status=live }}</ref>
*Visits of relatives for important family matters
*People who had to travel to the West for professional reasons (for example, artists, truck drivers, musicians, writers, etc.){{citation needed|date=April 2017}}

For each of these exceptions, GDR citizens had to apply for individual approval, which was never guaranteed. In addition, even if travel was approved, GDR travellers could exchange only a very small number of [[East German Mark]]s into [[Deutsche Mark]]s (DM), thus limiting the financial resources available for them to travel to the West. This led to the West German practice of granting a small amount of DM annually (''[[Begrüßungsgeld]]'', or welcome money) to GDR citizens visiting West Germany and West Berlin to help alleviate this situation.<ref name="mashable.com"/>

Citizens of other East European countries were in general subject to the same prohibition of visiting Western countries as East Germans, though the applicable exception (if any) varied from country to country.<ref name="mashable.com"/>

===Allied Military Personal Crossing===

Allied military personnel and civilian officials of the Allied forces could enter and exit East Berlin without submitting to East German passport controls, purchasing a visa or being required to exchange money. Likewise, Soviet military patrols could enter and exit West Berlin. This was a requirement of the post-war [[Allied Control Council|Four Powers]] Agreements. A particular area of concern for the Western Allies involved official dealings with East German authorities when crossing the border, since Allied policy did not recognize the authority of the GDR to regulate Allied military traffic to and from West Berlin, as well as the Allied presence within Greater Berlin, including entry into, exit from, and presence within East Berlin.<ref name="mashable.com"/>

The Allies held that only the Soviet Union, and not the GDR, had the authority to regulate Allied personnel in such cases. For this reason, elaborate procedures were established to prevent inadvertent recognition of East German authority when engaged in travel through the GDR and when in East Berlin. Special rules applied to travel by Western Allied military personnel assigned to the [[military liaison missions]] accredited to the commander of Soviet forces in East Germany, located in [[Potsdam]].<ref name="mashable.com"/>

Allied personnel were restricted by policy when travelling by land to the following routes:

;Transit between West Germany and West Berlin:
*'''Road:''' The Helmstedt–Berlin autobahn ([[Bundesautobahn 2|A2]]) ([[Checkpoint Alpha|Checkpoints Alpha]] and [[Checkpoint Bravo|Bravo]] respectively). Soviet military personnel manned these checkpoints and processed Allied personnel for travel between the two points. The Western Allies considered Ziesar, specifically Exit 76 from [[Bundesautobahn 2|Autobahn 2]], the halfway point of the transit route between [[West Berlin]] and [[West Germany|"mainland" West Germany]]. Road patrols offering breakdown services and assistance with DDR and Soviet authorities to Allied travelers were provided by [[Berlin Brigade|Americans based in Berlin]] east of [[Ziesar]] and by the British detachment at [[Helmstedt]] west of it.
[[File:Berlin corrider turns.jpg|thumb]]
*'''Rail:''' Western Allied military personnel and civilian officials of the Allied forces were forbidden to use commercial train service between West Germany and West Berlin, because of GDR passport and customs controls when using them. Instead, the Allied forces operated a series of official (duty) trains that traveled between their respective duty stations in West Germany and West Berlin. When transiting the GDR, the trains would follow the route between Helmstedt and [[Griebnitzsee]], just outside West Berlin. In addition to persons traveling on official business, authorized personnel could also use the duty trains for personal travel on a space-available basis. The trains traveled only at night, and as with transit by car, Soviet military personnel handled the processing of duty train travelers.<ref name="mashable.com"/> (See [[History of the Berlin S-Bahn]].)

;Entry into and exit from East Berlin:
*[[Checkpoint Charlie]] (as a pedestrian or riding in a vehicle)

As with military personnel, special procedures applied to travel by diplomatic personnel of the Western Allies accredited to their respective embassies in the GDR. This was intended to prevent inadvertent recognition of East German authority when crossing between East and West Berlin, which could jeopardize the overall Allied position governing the freedom of movement by Allied forces personnel within all Berlin.

Ordinary citizens of the Western Allied powers, not formally affiliated with the Allied forces, were authorized to use all designated transit routes through East Germany to and from West Berlin. Regarding travel to East Berlin, such persons could also use the Friedrichstraße train station to enter and exit the city, in addition to Checkpoint Charlie. In these instances, such travelers, unlike Allied personnel, had to submit to East German border controls.<ref name="mashable.com"/>

===Defection attempts===
{{further|List of deaths at the Berlin Wall}}
During the years of the Wall, around 5,000 people successfully defected to West Berlin. The number of people who died trying to cross the Wall, or as a result of the Wall's existence, has been disputed. The most vocal claims by [[Alexandra Hildebrandt]], director of the [[Checkpoint Charlie Museum]] and widow of the museum's founder, estimated the death toll to be well above 200.<ref name="Chronik">{{cite web |url=http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Common/Document/field/file/id/45997 |title=Forschungsprojekt "Die Todesopfer an der Berliner Mauer, 1961–1989": BILANZ (Stand: 7. August 2008) (in German) |access-date=6 August 2011 |archive-date=29 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929153720/http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Common/Document/field/file/id/45997 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="contemporary research"/> A historic research group at the [[Centre for Contemporary History]] (ZZF) in [[Potsdam]] has confirmed at least 140 deaths.<ref name="contemporary research">{{cite web |url=http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/178924/todeopfer-an-der-berliner-mauer |title=Todesopfer an der Berliner Mauer |language=de |trans-title=Fatalities at the Berlin Wall |publisher=Chronik der Mauer |access-date=26 January 2018 |archive-date=6 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006190136/http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/178924/todeopfer-an-der-berliner-mauer |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior official figures listed 98 as being killed.

[[File:Leap into Freedom.jpeg|thumb|[[National People's Army|NVA]] soldier [[Conrad Schumann]] defecting to West Berlin during the Wall's early days in 1961]]
[[File:Michael Finder and Willy Finder - Flickr - The Central Intelligence Agency.jpg|thumb|upright|October 7, 1961. Four-year-old Michael Finder of East Germany is tossed by his father into a net held by residents across the border in West Berlin. The father, Willy Finder, prepares to make the jump himself.]]
The East German government issued shooting orders (''[[Schießbefehl]]'') to border guards dealing with defectors, though such orders are not the same as "shoot to kill" orders. GDR officials denied issuing the latter. In an October 1973 order later discovered by researchers, guards were instructed that people attempting to cross the Wall were criminals and needed to be shot:
{{blockquote|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.<ref name="BBCSept2007">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6943093.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=12 August 2007 |access-date=12 August 2007 |quote=A newly discovered order is the firmest evidence yet that the [[communist regime]] gave explicit shoot-to-kill orders, says Germany's director of Stasi files. |title=E German 'licence to kill' found |archive-date=11 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611004756/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6943093.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

Early successful escapes involved people jumping the initial barbed wire or leaping out of apartment windows along the line, but these ended as the Wall was fortified. East German authorities no longer permitted apartments near the Wall to be occupied, and any building near the Wall had its windows boarded and later bricked up. On 15 August 1961, [[Conrad Schumann]] was the first East German border guard to escape by jumping the barbed wire to West Berlin.<ref>"Conrad Schumann, 56, Symbol of E. Berlin escapes"; North Sports Final Edition Associated Press. ''Chicago Tribune'', Chicago, Ill.: 23 June 1998. p. 8</ref>

On 22 August 1961, [[Ida Siekmann]] was the first casualty at the Berlin Wall: she died after she jumped out of her third floor apartment at 48 [[Bernauer Strasse]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Start/Detail/id/593816/page/1 |title=Chronik der Mauer – Bau und Fall der Berliner Mauer &#124; Opfer der Mauer |publisher=Chronik-der-mauer.de |access-date=6 August 2011 |archive-date=14 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314082744/http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/start/detail/id/593816/page/1 |url-status=live }}</ref> The first person to be shot and killed while trying to cross to West Berlin was [[Günter Litfin]], a twenty-four-year-old tailor. He attempted to swim across the [[Spree (river)|Spree]] to West Berlin on 24 August 1961, the same day that East German police had received shoot-to-kill orders to prevent anyone from escaping.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kempe |first=Frederick |title=Berlin 1961 |year=2011 |publisher=Penguin Group (US) |isbn=978-0-399-15729-5 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/363 363–367] |url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/363}}</ref>

Another dramatic escape was carried out in April 1963 by [[Wolfgang Engels]], a 19-year-old civilian employee of the ''[[Nationale Volksarmee]]'' (NVA). Engels stole a Soviet [[armored personnel carrier]] from a base where he was deployed and drove it right into the Wall. He was fired at and seriously wounded by border guards. But a West German policeman intervened, firing his weapon at the East German border guards. The policeman removed Engels from the vehicle, which had become entangled in the barbed wire.<ref>Hertle, Hans-Hermann (2008). ''The Berlin Wall: Monument of the Cold War''. Ch. Links Verlag, p. 72. {{ISBN|3-86153-463-0}}</ref>

[[File:Berlin-Memorial to the Victims of the Wall-1982.jpg|thumb|Memorial to the Victims of the Wall, with [[graffiti]], 1982]]
East Germans successfully defected by a variety of methods: [[Tunnel 57|digging long tunnels]] under the Wall, waiting for favorable winds and taking a [[hot air balloon]], sliding along aerial wires, flying [[ultralight aviation|ultralights]] and, in one instance, simply driving a sports car at full speed through the basic, initial fortifications. When a metal beam was placed at checkpoints to prevent this kind of defection, up to four people (two in the front seats and possibly two in the [[Trunk (car)|boot]]) drove under the bar in a sports car that had been modified to allow the roof and windscreen to come away when it made contact with the beam. They lay flat and kept driving forward. The East Germans then built zig-zagging roads at checkpoints. The sewer system predated the Wall, and some people escaped through the sewers,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20141105/the-great-escape-across-the-berlin-wall |title=Escaping of the 5,000 from East Berlin |date=5 November 2014 |newspaper=The Local Germany |access-date=15 February 2018 |archive-date=16 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216025330/https://www.thelocal.de/20141105/the-great-escape-across-the-berlin-wall |url-status=live }}</ref> in a number of cases with assistance from the [[Unternehmen Reisebüro]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/secret-tunnels-that-brought-freedom-from-berlins-wall-1804765.html |title=Secret tunnels that brought freedom from Berlin's Wall |date=18 October 2009 |website=The Independent |access-date=15 February 2018 |archive-date=16 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180216030850/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/secret-tunnels-that-brought-freedom-from-berlins-wall-1804765.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In September 1962, 29 people escaped through a tunnel to the west.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Merriman |first1=Helena |title=Tunnel 29 |date=2021 |publisher=Public Affairs |location=New York |isbn=9781541788831}}</ref> At least 70 tunnels were dug under the wall; only 19 were successful in allowing fugitives—about 400 persons—to escape. The East German authorities eventually used seismographic and acoustic equipment to detect the practice.<ref>{{cite news |last=Crossland |first=David |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/hatred-of-the-communist-east-that-drove-berlin-wall-tunneller-w70cw9tx3 |title=Hatred of the Communist East that drove Berlin Wall tunneller |work=The Times |date=4 November 2019 |access-date=3 November 2019 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=4 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104194707/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/hatred-of-the-communist-east-that-drove-berlin-wall-tunneller-w70cw9tx3 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="AFP">{{cite news |title=Meet the Berlin Wall tunnel digger saved by Stasi 'hero' |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20191101-meet-the-berlin-wall-tunnel-digger-saved-by-stasi-hero |access-date=8 November 2019 |work=France 24 |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=1 November 2019 |archive-date=8 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108124344/https://www.france24.com/en/20191101-meet-the-berlin-wall-tunnel-digger-saved-by-stasi-hero |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1962, they planned an attempt to use explosives to destroy one tunnel, but this was not carried out as it was apparently sabotaged by a member of the Stasi.<ref name="AFP" />

An airborne escape was made by Thomas Krüger, who landed a [[Zlin Z 42|Zlin Z 42M]] light aircraft of the ''[[Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik]]'', an East German youth military training organization, at [[RAF Gatow]]. His aircraft, registration DDR-WOH, was dismantled and returned to the East Germans by road, complete with humorous slogans painted on it by airmen of the [[Royal Air Force]], such as "Wish you were here" and "Come back soon".<ref>Vitaliev, V. (2008). "After all...the pupils of Houdini". ''Engineering & Technology'' (17509637), 3(18), 96.</ref>

If an escapee was wounded in a crossing attempt and lay on the death strip, no matter how close they were to the Western wall, Westerners could not intervene for fear of triggering engaging fire from the 'Grepos', the East Berlin border guards. The guards often let fugitives bleed to death in the middle of this ground, as in the most notorious failed attempt, that of [[Peter Fechter]] (aged 18) at a point near Zimmerstrasse in East Berlin. He was shot and bled to death, in full view of the Western media, on 17 August 1962.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/berlin-wall-1989-anniversary-peter-fechter-death-communism-soviet-union-history-a9156716.html |title=The Berlin Wall bricklayer whose death became instrumental in its destruction |date=9 November 2019 |website=The Independent |language=en |access-date=9 November 2019 |archive-date=9 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191109170026/https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/long-reads/berlin-wall-1989-anniversary-peter-fechter-death-communism-soviet-union-history-a9156716.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Fechter's death created negative publicity worldwide that led the leaders of East Berlin to place more restrictions on shooting in public places and provide medical care for possible "would-be escapers".<ref>Taylor, Frederick. ''The Berlin Wall: A World Divided 1961–1989'', London: Harper Perennial, 2006.</ref> The last person to be shot and killed while trying to cross the border was [[Chris Gueffroy]] on 6 February 1989, while the final person to die in an escape attempt was [[Winfried Freudenberg]] who was killed when his homemade [[natural gas]]-filled [[aerostat|balloon]] crashed on 8 March 1989.

The Wall gave rise to a widespread sense of desperation and oppression in East Berlin, as expressed in the private thoughts of one resident, who confided to her diary "Our lives have lost their spirit{{nbsp}}... we can do nothing to stop them."<ref>{{cite book |last=Kempe |first=Frederick |title=Berlin 1961 |year=2011 |publisher=Penguin Group (US) |isbn=978-0-399-15729-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/394 394] |url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/394}}</ref>