I've decided to start working on a story again... only it's a lot deeper than I thought it would be like. It's inspired by this song. The song is thought to be about the Wall of Berlin.
I just did some research (links at the bottom, as always!), and here's what I understand. If you have any cool or interesting facts on it, please post them in the comments! I love to hear voices on topics like this. :3
***NOTE: This will be humourous because it IS an extremely dark topic and I don't want this to be too depressing. Please understand that I know it was a really dark and scary time, and you should too. Which is why I'm putting resources at the bottom so you can learn more about the Wall of Berlin and other important events during the time. Thank you!***
First, it actually goes all the way back to World War II (the end of it). At the YALTA meeting (leaders of the US, England, and the USSR [current-day Russia] got together and discussed the fate of Germany), it was decided that Berlin would be split in two. The Allies got the Western half and the USSR got the Eastern half. Germany itself was also split between the Allies and the USSR, but Berlin resided in the USSR's portion. After a while, this got tiring for the USSR, so in 1948, they slipped on their sass-pants and refused to let the Allies bring food to West Berlin. Well, not to be out-done, the Allies snapped their sassy fingers and started dropping cargo onto West Berlin full of food and supplies. This was called the Berlin Airlift, and was dangerous. Planes got shot down. People died.
Then the Cold War started, and it got extremely rough in 1961. Many people fled East Berlin and ran to the West, fleeing from the tensions and to a--hopefully--better future. On August 12 of 1961, nearly 2,400 people fled East Berlin (that's on one day!!!). That night, the leaders decided to stop the immigration by closing their borders forever. After the wall went up, it was extremely rare for any people to get past the wall. Common people weren't allowed, and people in positions of authority were heavily screened.
The Wall was makeshift for a while, with escapees still getting through. When building a better wall, they made it four-feet wide, twelve feet high, and put a pipe on the top of it to stop anyone from getting over it. Not to mention the tortures before the wall--vicious dogs, trip-wired machine guns, flood-lights, soft sand, and patrol guards that shot escapees on-sight. Sounds like a walk in the park, eh? People did escape, though, in clever ways. (I highly suggest you read the resources, they are AMAZINGLY creative ways!)
On November 9 of 1989, a spokesperson from East Berlin announced that all people would be allowed to cross into West Berlin freely. People went to the wall and chipped pieces off, and celebrated the fact that they would be reunited with their other half--something so incredibly beautiful, I can't even imagine what it would've been like. :3
Of course, this is really just the tip of the iceberg. There was a lot that went into the Berlin Wall at the end--but how long it lasted and what era it went into is frightening. It just shows how wrong the world is, how it really isn't a beautiful place. One of the leaders who organized the wall's building (it was rebuilt three times) confessed that it was wrong and a horrific idea to keep people from leaving a country--something that many thought would be understood after Hitler's example. But, it wasn't like that.
Anyway, this story is one I'm fairly excited about. It will have the same concept--only, instead, a country divided in half. The Main Character (MC) will be a cousin of the Queen. I'll show ya'll how that'll map out.
I'll be posting a new chapter the last day of every month. :3 Hope some of you... one of you... will read it. Stay tuned!
Cheers!
Jenn
 |
| Photo credit: prlog.org |
The Berlin Wall (history.com)
Romanov's Murder and the Berlin Wall
Walled In! Germany's Inner Boarder (youtube)
The History of the Berlin Wall (youtube)
Berlin Wall Deaths (youtube)
No comments:
Post a Comment