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A 30 day valid passport is needed to travel between the sections of Germany. It was still possible to cross between the two sectors, although it was getting very dangerous.
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The Berlin wall was a physical wall in the German city of Berlin, it was created as part of the compromise after WWII.
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The NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is signed, effectively uniting Us, Canada, & western European states.
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The Berlin Airlift starts.The US is sending help to Berliners, in the form of food & fuel.
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Federal Republic of Germany is founded, this is now known as West Germany.
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The Berlin Airlift is discontinued.
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The German Democratic Republic, later known as East Germany, is founded in Eastern Berlin.
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Eastern German leaders hold a meeting with Stalin in Moscow, his foreign minister proposes a plan that would effectively slow/ stop the travel between East & West Berlin.
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Both the the border between Eastern & Western Germany and the border between Eastern Germany and West Berlin is closed. After this, the only the border left open is between between East and West Berlin.
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Eastern German people need permission to travel West.
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Leaving East Germany without permission is outlawed with repercussions of up to three years in prison.
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President John F. Kennedy gives a famous speech, just days after the Border is closed. He openly says that any attack on Berlin by the Soviet Union, would be equivalent to an attack on NATO.
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The Berlin border is closed, troops are posted immediately. They are later replaced with a loose barrier of barbed wire.This barrier is later upgraded to a series of heavily fortified walls.
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Conrad Schumann, the first East German border guard to get across the Berlin wall, gets his freedom. However this leads to concrete walls in place of the barbed wire.
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All crossing points are closed for West Berlin citizens.
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A second Wall is being built to prevent escapes to the West half of Berlin. AS time goes on the wall gets progressively more fortified.
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Peter Fechter, 18, a bricklayer from East Berlin, is shot. Other eastern Berliners try to help but are prevented by risk of gunpoint.
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President J. F. Kennedy visits Berlin and declares: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” (“I am a Berliner.”)
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After 7 rounds of negotiations between the Senate of Berlin and the East German authorities, an administrative agreement is signed allowing West Berliners to visit their relatives in East Berlin on a limited basis.
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A new Wall generation, the third, is introduced to replace the old construction. The new one consists of concrete slabs laid between H-shaped steel concrete supports. A round, 0,40 meter large concrete tube capped the wall making it more difficult to climb over.
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Peter Fechter, 18, a bricklayer from East Berlin, is shot and left to bleed to death in full view of western media. Bystanders in the West tried to rescue him, but were prevented from it at gunpoint.
June 26, 1963
President J. F. Kennedy visits Berlin and declares: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” (“I am a Berliner.”) -
East and West Germany establish formal diplomatic ties.
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Construction of the infamous Border wall 75 begins. This new installation a second wall included a touch-sensitive, self-firing fence. Each section was 3.60 meters high and 1.20 meters wide in diameter. It is designed to stop escapes, but it did not work as planned.
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President Ronald Reagan goes to Berlin & demands the tearing down of the Berlin wall.
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Chris Gueffroy is the last Berliner killed trying to escape across the Berlin wall.
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Approximately 1 million people attend a democratic rally, in East Berlin's town square. Within days the the East German Government decided to relent.
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East & West Germany are formally reunited.