The story in brief
One night in 1961, a city is cut in two with barbed wire. A guard jumps it, tanks face off across one street, a president says four words of German, and people dig under the death strip. Twenty-eight years later, a fumbled answer at a press conference opens it in a night.
The chapters
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Chapter 1 · 5 min · Free
Barbed Wire Sunday
One night in August, a city of three million is cut in two while it sleeps.
Sources: GDR decree of 12 August 1961; Ulbricht, 15 June 1961; Brandt, 13 August 1961; The Soviet archives
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Chapter 2 · 5 min · Free
Checkpoint Charlie
A night at the theater, a passport nobody will show, and tanks barrel to barrel on one street.
Sources: FRUS 1961 to 1963, vol. XIV, doc. 196; Kennedy, 25 July 1961; National Security Archive; US Army
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Chapter 3 · 5 min
Ich bin ein Berliner
A president, four words of German, and the most famous doughnut that never was.
Sources: Kennedy, Remarks in the Rudolph Wilde Platz, 26 June 1963 (Public Papers); Pass protocol, 17 December 1963
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Chapter 4 · 5 min
Over, Under, Through
Two walls, a strip of raked sand between them, and the people who tried anyway.
Sources: Hertle and Nooke, The Victims at the Berlin Wall (list of 2017); GDR National Defense Council, 3 May 1974
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Chapter 5 · 5 min
The Night the Wall Fell
A speech the East could not hear, a note nobody explained, and a gate opened without orders.
Sources: Reagan, 12 June 1987; Gorbachev, Bonn, 15 June 1989; Schabowski, press conference, 9 November 1989
Who’s who
The people you meet. Each one is a hero card you can collect.
- Conrad SchumannBorder Policeman · Nineteen · The Leap at Bernauer Street
- Lucius D. ClayGeneral · Airlift Commander · Kennedy’s Envoy
- Willy BrandtMayor of Berlin · Chancellor · Nobel Laureate
- Harry SeidelChampion Cyclist · Tunnel Digger · Escape Helper
- Günter SchabowskiPolitburo Member · Party Spokesman · The Answer That Opened the Wall
- Mikhail GorbachevSoviet Leader · Glasnost and Perestroika · The Last General Secretary
What you’ll be able to tell
This story belongs to the journey “The Brink”. By the end of it, you can tell who really blinked in October 1962, and whether Kennedy called himself a doughnut.
Stories in this journey
- Thirteen Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis
- The Berlin Wall: A City Cut in Two
Sources
- Kennedy and Reagan in Berlin (Public Papers)
- FRUS 1961 to 1963
- GDR records
- Berlin Wall Memorial research
