THE FALL OF THE IRON CURTAIN

A HISTORICAL MISTAKE?

A documentary by Franck Cuveillier and Annette Gourdon

1 PRODUCER’S NOTE

ovember 2019 will mark the 30th She is fluent in Russian and in German. anniversary of the fall of the Berlin For this project, they decided to focus on Wall and of the collapse of communist N four countries, all of which suffered from regimes throughout Eastern Europe. Yet, the Iron Curtain and underwent popular new migration phenomenons today bring uprisings that were quelled by Russia: East Europe to question its borders once again. Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and For 37 years (1952-1989), millions of Poland. Most of the shooting will take place European citizens lived behind an actual in these countries, especially along the line of Iron Curtain, made of over 5,000 miles the former Iron Curtain. Additionally, several of walls and fences preventing them from interviews will be led in Paris and in Moscow. crossing to the West without their country’s formal authorization. It seems interesting As we only have so much time to see this to us to shed light on this specific period in production through, we have decided to European history, at a time when European approach two TV channels, in Poland and nations are reconsidering the 1985 Schengen in Belgium, which already own archives Agreement signed by Western Europe. from that time: TVP and RTBF, respectively. A team from the latter, for example, filmed The goal of this film is to tell the story of the East Germany, Poland and Russia in 1987, Iron Curtain that sliced Europe in half, with aboard a train traveling from Brussels to distance and perspective. How did it come Beijing. We have also found numerous copy- to be, at the end of the War? Who thought it write-free archives regarding the post-war up on the Russian side? How was it imposed era in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland upon Eastern countries? What was life like and East Germany. They are available eastward of the Curtain, at the height of on the Critical Past platform and mainly the Cold War? And what were the reasons originate from the US national archives. and the consequences of its dismantling? Franck Cuveillier and Annette Gourdon offer a new interpretation of this 20th-century landmark, through their gaze as filmmakers. They highlight the impact of History on the destiny of millions of people. Franck, who speaks German, is very familiar with Eastern Europe, while Annette knows Russia like the back of her hand. In 2016, she directed the remarkable "The disbanding of USSR".

2 DIRECTORS’ NOTES

ith the distance of time gone by and a new generation of The documentary will combine two parallel narratives: on Whistorians, an innovative point of the one hand, a geopolitical storytelling of the military, view has risen over this historic landmark, especially in Eastern Europe. This economic and political reasons that presided over the perspective is more nuanced and, mostly, erection of the Iron Curtain and later its dismantling ; on freed from the passion and resentment that prevailed immediately after the the other hand, a personal tale of the consequences for downfall of the communist regimes. individual citizens and entire populations. The Iron Curtain played a role for 37 years, some aspects of which are still little The geopolitical narrative will be led by the analysis known. While the decision to build the of historians and researchers with a nuanced Iron Curtain was made in high places, by and informed take on the events (rather than Joseph Stalin, it fell upon Central-European that of politicians, diplomats or former high countries to fund and build it. At first, it officials who might be uncooperative or evasive). was not perceived as a threat to their As for the personal narrative, we will give the freedom. Despite the growing hardships floor to the men and women who lived through and isolation, it was still a proud symbol this separation of Europe in two and who impart of a newly gained independence for these today their feelings from back then, their hopes, nations, dedicated to showing off strong their tragedies and the consequences of the borders. Amidst post-war instability, when Iron Curtain that they personally experienced. nations were forming and distrusted one another, the Iron Curtain provided a kind of In both cases, we will try as much as possible to film the protection to border populations concerned interviews and accounts in the location of the events with the proximity of their former enemies. described, or at least in a related location. The narrative comes and goes regularly between past and present, Thus, the Curtain also sheltered the at times even superimposing an archive photography rebooting of Eastern economies that had of the Iron Curtain on today’s footage of the area seen most of their industry destroyed where all signs of fences, walls and watchtowers have during the War. In the beginning, the disappeared, thus revealing how time has gone by. United States had nothing against this Iron Curtain, especially as they were pretty busy The historical archives are a prominent feature of financing the reconstruction of Western the film. They illustrate the accounts of historians Europe with the Marshall Plan. However, and witnesses and contribute to the progress of the as tensions arose between the two blocs overall description of the period. We were surprised and the Cold War settled in, the Curtain at the quantity of archives available, footage as well quickly turned into a prison wall, disrupting as photographs, that tell the story of how the Iron the lives of thousands, splitting up families Curtain and the Berlin Wall were built and reveal and isolating a number of territories. the gaze of local citizens upon them at the time.

3 ABSTRACT

At the end of the War, Joseph Stalin signed the Warsaw Pact, entrenching Eastern Europe behind thousands of miles of walls, watchtowers and barbed wire. Thus, the Iron Curtain — erect between 1952 and 1989 — was born.

ow was it thought of and set up? By The curtain relied on morality, psychology whom and why? As 2019 marks the and politics. How was it perceived? How was Hthirtieth anniversary of its dismantling, it thwarted or even challenged at times? it is now time to review the motivations that And what were the feelings at stake when prompted its construction, its true efficiency it disappeared within just a few months? and its impacts on people and countries.

By intertwining this "new" fascinating take Thanks to a new generation of historians and on history and the biographies of tormented to thousands of archive documents available, souls, our film reconsiders the soundness we may analyze History and individual journeys of one monumental idea: splitting Europe in over three generations of German, Czech and two for 37 years. Did it serve any purpose? Polish people who lived in the shadow of the Or was it merely a historical mistake? wall. These Eastern Europeans, even those who couldn’t physically see the wall, have kept it imprinted in their mind ever since.

4 To make the summary below easier to read, we designed chapters, for which we wrote a rough sketch of the narrative. In bold, we added the contribution of researchers who shed new light on these events, through their innovative analyzes and commentaries, based on recent historiographic data. Last, we inserted (in italic) the witnesses we intend to interview and the places we plan to explore as we film. We didn’t specify this for every chapter, but it should be obvious that numerous archive images from the time, from both public and private collections, will illustrate the narration, the interventions of the historians as well as the accounts of the witnesses.

1. MAY 8TH, 1945.

t is the end of the war and the beginning of tremendous chaos. US soldiers have rushed to Berlin to prevent the Soviet army from seizing the entire city. Europe is shaken with Iconsiderable migratory waves. The prisoners of war withheld by Germany and the Soviet Union return home. East Germans and West Germans are on the move. The Polish territory is pushed back towards the West. Within a few years, 30 million people are deported, relocated, rootless. Historian and researcher at Geneva University Sandrine Kott, as well as Muriel Blaive, from the Research Institute on Totalitarian Regimes in Prague, remind us of these crucial information, that help understand why the notion of borders is conceived as both absurd and necessary by European populations. We walk a path alongside a river, at the heart of a small wooded valley, with an elderly but fit man. We are in Ceské Velenice, a little town on the border between Austria and the Czech Republic and the embodiment of the simultaneous absurdity and necessity of having a border. (Ceské Velenice represents a paradigm of all the problematics stemming from the Iron Curtain. We shall explore all these local sources, including Berlin and a handful of other emblematic locations in Poland, and visit them regularly throughout the narrative.)

2. THE BOMB.

he first two bombs put an end to the war with Japan. But they also gave great edge to the United States over the USSR. On the ground, the various victorious troops have held Ttheir respective positions since the end of combat. But a crisis of confidence, tinged with paranoia, is slowly settling in. The geopolitical situation created when the US resorted to the nuclear weapon has been widening the symbolic and growingly pernicious gap between Western and Soviet zones. "Overestimating the risks and refusing to take into account the security needs of the others" (Pierre Grosser) has started a spiral of distrust. In a telegram addressed to President Truman in May 1945, and then again in a public speech given on March 5th, 1946, before Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill uses the image of the Iron Curtain, referring to that which literally separates the stage and the audience in a theater: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."

5 To which Stalin replied: "There is no doubt that Mr. Churchill’s position is one that leads to war and a war against the USSR at that. It is also clear that such a position is incompatible with the alliance treaty currently signed by England and the USSR." Professor Mikhaïl Arkadiévitch Lipkine (PhD in history, professor at the Science Academy of Russia, at the State Institute for International Relations in Moscow attached to Russia’s Foreign Affairs secretary, MGIMO, and director of the Institute of general history at the Science Academy of Russia) provides the Russian point of view and the answer that Stalin made to Churchill’s speech, as well as the reaction there was to the use of the nuclear weapon in Japan.

3. CONTACT LOST.

etween 1945 and 1947, the head Communists are defeated in the national of States fall out. No more direct election. Late 1947. interaction. Free America Radio is B The Kominform, the information organ of the offline. The Marshall Plan, initially thought communist and labor parties that divides of as an opportunity by Stalin, is now seen the world, is founded in Szklarska Poreba by the Russians as a weapon in the war. (Poland). Czechoslovakia and Poland withdraw from it. Germany is divided in two. And two prejudices Mikhaïl Lipkine and Sandrine Kott introduce face each other: for the West, totalitarian two point of views over these events, perceived USSR is "naturally aggressive", while Leninists differently on each side. believe capitalism is at the root of war and socialism is a guarantee of peace.

6 4. THE BERLIN BLOCKADE, 1948.

or those Eastern Germans who wish to starving people stranded in West Berlin. escape the communist regime, the only Between June 25th, 1948 and May 1949, option left is to cross from East Berlin F 1.5 million tons of goods travel by air to West to West Berlin. Indeed, all the while located Berlin. Over the summer of 1948, every eight in East Germany, the capital holds a Western minutes, night and day, a plane lands on the enclave that is the result of a regrouping of the tarmac of Tempelhof to drop off its cargo and American, the British and the French formerly fly back. This airlift led to the failure of the occupied zones. In Western propaganda Soviet initiative and the end of the blockade (just as flourishing as the communist on May 12th, 1949. propaganda), this "free world island" amidst "a communist ocean" is very much alluded to. Filming at Tempelhof today, with a former logistics employee of the airport, a Berliner In June 1948, the Americans, British and who took part in the airlift. French merge their occupied zones to benefit from the help of the Marshall Plan. In response to the blockade, the Allies put Soviets denounce a violation of the Potsdam together NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Agreement and decide to isolate the Western- Organization which aims at "keeping the occupied areas of Berlin, to force them to Russians outside, the Americans inside and retreat and thus take control of the entire the Germans under supervision." town. Road and rail access to the Western- Mikhaïl Lipkine: the Russian reaction. occupied areas is shut down, endangering the isolated populations. The US remain firm in the face of this violent takeover, as President Truman declares: "We are and shall remain in Berlin." Their response to the Soviet blockade is no other than the organizing of an airlift to supply the two million

7 5. THE DRAIN.

he Marshall plan begins in 1948, the events from a Russian, with 4 billion dollars. Within the Western and German point of view. next four years, the Federal T At a coffee shop in the fancy Republic of Germany (FRG) is endowed Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, with $1.29 billion in economic Ingrid recalls her "crossing West": assistance. Not only does this allow to her parents disagreed with each immediately relieve the starving West other, but her mother eventually Berlin population, but it also helps won over her father’s reluctance. alleviate other shortcomings that have been paralyzing the German economy Between 1945 and 1952, millions of and industry (raw materials, gear and Germans, suddenly made Eastern, equipment, fuel…). Under American express their vote by crossing to the supervision, the FRG also undertakes West. Stalin decides to stop this a monetary reform: the Reichsmark population drain. On May 26th, 1952, is replaced by the Deutschmark the Soviet Union Council of ministers in Western regions. Soon enough, decreed "measures regarding the Germany undergoes great economic demarcation line". A control strip is growth, characterized as a "miracle" set up all along the borders. It is over and becomes the third global economic 30 feet wide and nothing can stand power (after the US and Japan). there, neither houses nor woods. On the frontline, a barbed wire fence. On the other hand, USSR is leaning Behind, a three-mile forbidden zone. on national communist parties to This first Iron Curtain immediately increase its influence over Eastern brings down the number of refugees… Europe. In Germany, Czechoslovakia but doesn’t annihilate it completely. and Poland, while the elections have at first been unfavorable to the communist parties, the USSR imposes new elections. In East Germany, Johannes Dieckmann is brought to power by Moscow, as are Edvard Benes in Czechoslovakia, Beleslaw Bierut in Poland and Mátyás Rákosi in Hungary. Any form of opposition, alongside religious leaders, are quashed. Propaganda spreads. Lipkine, Kott and Blaive describe

8 9 6. THE CURTAIN ON THE MAP OF EUROPE.

t stretches over 5,200 miles, carefully raked to be able to spot including two long 1,500-mile any trace left by a fugitive. Spotlights Isections, one in Northern Europe remain on all night. Obstacles and between Finland and the USSR, and traps are scattered. Next, you come the other tracing a line between the across the patrol path, with wood or Baltic Sea and Trieste. It materializes metal observation towers and huts in various ways depending on the for the guards and doghouses for States and the times. In the Federal the canine police. Last, further back Republic of Germany, the Iron Curtain and protected by a fence, are the is twofold: an 800-mile-long wire fence barracks of the border guards. The and, behind it, a 750-mile-long zone first obstacles can be placed a few of acoustic and visual alarms. 14,000 miles away from the fence in itself, guards keep a close eye on all this. meaning that there is plenty of time to sound the alarm before a possible We walk along the vestiges of the fugitive could actually undertake the Iron Curtain with Susan Baumgartl, last impediment. And that is if he has the curator of the Marienborn border prior ventured into the forbidden zone, post museum. She describes the that stretches over 4 to 8 miles, within designing, the building and mostly the which the rare villages are fenced and constant technological refinement display security systems. Of course, it benefitted from. The feature was all the inhabitants inventoried and modernized and reinforced several identified should be carrying a specific times. Susan Baumgartl lists four passport. generations of Iron Curtains solely for the German Democratic Republic Bert, a local farmer who witnessed (GDR). SM 70 anti-personnel mines the transformation of the landscape and automatic fire weapons were set as a child, explains how his parents up starting at the third generation. never accepted this shameful scar. He shows us some family pictures. First, the border itself, with its signs and its markers when at peace. Then, behind and thus on communist territory, a continuous barrier of metal lattice topped with barbed wire, doubled in neuralgic spots and pierced with a door here and there. Then, there is a strip of loose soil,

10 11 7. THE CURTAIN REINFORCED.

ikhaïl Lipkine and Monika Gasiorowski, a historian at the MUniversity of Krakow, explain and justify the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance between Eastern European countries and the USSR in a vast economic, political and military system. The Pact was signed on May 14th, 1955 between most countries of the Soviet bloc, in the form of a cooperation and mutual assistance treaty. Its architect, Nikita Khrushchev, thought of it as a counterweight to NATO within the Cold War. He was triggered when the FRG, on the path to its re- militarization, joined the North Atlantic Treaty on May 9th, 1955, with the Paris Agreement. It marks the beginning of the toughest, most sealed era of the Iron Curtain.

12 8. THE CURTAIN LOATHED.

he 160 miles separating Austria from Hungary are materialized with a double network of barbed and electrified wire fences. In Czechoslovakia, 10,000 men constantly Tcomb through a 4- to 8-mile wide area along the borders with Germany and Austria. Michal Šmíd, a member of the Post Bellum NGO who lives in Prague, walks through the documentation center. Audio tapes, photographies, letters are gathered here and represent the living memory of the suffering endured by the Czechs who had a family member attempt to cross the Iron Curtain. They were condemned to humiliation, persecution and discrimination. We watch a few video accounts with Michal as he comments and gives us context.

13 9. THE CURTAIN ACCEPTED.

ack to Ceské Velenice with Muriel Blaive. Precisely on the border, in a defunct This historian has collected the oral swimming-pool, we meet with locals who were Baccounts of about forty diverse citizens. there at the time of the Iron Curtain. They The town is an archetype of the need felt for tell us what their everyday life was like back a border by many populations post-war. Ceské then. The entire village was defending itself Velenice was a Czech enclave amidst Austrian against the Austrian enemy. The children and territory. The Nazis threw out the Czechs when the elderly included. Everyone knew everyone they annexed the Sudetenland, to replace and would easily spot the intruder from within them with German and Austrian settlers so to trying to escape, or the foreign visitor from say. With the peace treaty signed at the end the West, come to traffic. In exchange, one of the War, this piece of land returned to the was authorized to go pick mushrooms and Czechoslovakian people, who in turn kicked blueberries in the no man’s land, impassable out both the settlers and the local German- in theory. speaking families. Hereby, the Iron Curtain is The figure of the visitor coming from the West used as a nationalist defense ideal and the to traffic is a direct consequence of Soviet border guards are heroes to the nation, just like politics. After the Second World War, when astronauts, polar explorers and Stakhanovites. the USSR prevents Eastern Europe from having access to the Marshall Plan, smaller

14 companies organize to make sure basic, BERLIN, TIME AND AGAIN. everyday products are made to alleviate shortages (pots and pans, clothing fabric, machines). This is an ambivalent situation. On The Iron Curtain is an efficient device, except the one hand, the Marshall Plan could have in one place: Berlin. Between 1950 and 1961, avoided mobilizing a performant industrial 2,609,321 people indeed managed to leave complex (that also included heavy cutting- the GDR for the FRG. They did so without much edge industries) to produce basics. But on the trouble, as in Berlin you could cross the border other hand, this need to diversify enlivened by train. To put an end to this population drain and reinvigorated Eastern manufacturing. that is robbing the GDR’s lifeblood, the famous Agnes Arp is a historian who has studied the 27-mile wall is built, starting August 13th, industrial base of post-war East Germany. She 1961. Thus, the main breach is sealed up and explains how USSR had to trust local business the border between the two blocs becomes a owners to overcome shortages, all the while terrible obstacle. It takes a lot of courage and, asserting its communist model. In fact, a more often than not, much despair to attempt small capitalist entrepreneurship was created to cross it now. The flow apparently decreased to fulfill the basic need of Eastern European from 2,656 refugees from one side to the countries. other in 1962, to 72 in 1982. 133 people died between 1961 and 1989 trying to cross Agnes Arp travels to Thuringia, in formerly the Iron Curtain at this location. In Hungary, Eastern Germany. She visits one of these only 300 out of 13,500 attempts to cross to companies that built (and still builds) freight Austria succeeded between 1966 and 1989. elevators. The third generation of owners explains how, in 1955, the USSR collectivized We walk along the wall with Horst and his the whole industrial tools and expropriated grand-daughter Maybritt. He remembers the independent owners. The bosses, elected by wall ; she its demolition. They describe life their workers, remained at the head of their before, with an omnipresent wall. company throughout the Cold War, until they Sarah Bornhorst, a researcher at the Berlin became owners again after the reunification. Wall Memorial, talks about the construction work, the deportations, the relocation of families… and the slow process of becoming aware of what is happening.

15 10. “LITTLE BERLIN”.

ödlareuth beats all records for absurdity. Its river is tiny, more like a stream. It is called the Tannbach, it flows through the village and has, for centuries, represented Man administrative line between Bavaria and Thuringia. In 1945, the right bank was occupied by the Soviets and the left bank by the Americans. Actually, the village children kept going to the same school, the mothers to the same church and the fathers to the same bar. When the Cold War comes about, it becomes impossible to cross the stream without authorization. Soon enough, a wooden fence is built and eventually, in 1956, a new concrete barrier is set up that is 765 yards long and 110 feet high, and dominated by a gigantic watchtower. This is how Mödlareuth came to be nicknamed "Little Berlin".

16 11. YOUTH AND THE CURTAIN.

n the 1960s, the new generation of young We meet with Henry Maske at an old boxing adults coming of age has not suffered gym, in Treuenbrietzen, Brandenburg. He Ithe pain of the war. They grew up as started his career in Jüterbog, took his first prosperity was returning, had no concerns boxing class at age 6. He was first an amateur regarding their chances on the job market athlete in former East Germany, where the and widely benefitted from the opening foundations for his success to come were up of secondary and higher education. laid. After winning the champion title of GDR five times between 1983 and 1988, he The booming of modern communication was crowned olympic champion, then non- means (radio, television) confers a specific professional world champion in 1989. Maske’s identity on this youth, beyond national story illustrates that of many athletes, who frontiers, as it offers common landmarks, were prisoners of the curtain, yet authorized mostly borrowed from American culture: to cross it for competitions. They were captive frivolity, the frantic (and at time deathly) quest ambassadors! for happiness, new musical influences with new beats and new instruments (the electric Monika Gasiorowski demonstrates the vitality guitar for instance)… are inspired by Hollywood of Polish cinema, constantly on the verge of (James Dean in "Rebel without a cause", for censorship, and of main emancipation figures example) and the importing of rock & roll, such as national star Zbigniew Cybulski, a blasted throughout Europe starting in the mid hero in director Adrzej Wajda’s films. 1950s, soon after its rapid success in the We enter Harald Hauswald’s laboratory. He US with Elvis Presley. The outbreak of crucial studied photography as an apprentice in technological innovations such as vinyls and the 1970s. In 1977, he moved to Berlin and transistors favor the quick spreading of this had several jobs, including that of telegram new pop culture and its appropriation. The messenger and photo lab assistant. Between youth make the most of the prosperity, gain 1981 and 1989, he worked as a photographer quick access to economic citizenship, even at for the Stephanus Foundation. Hauswald an age when they are not yet employed. Thus wanted to take pictures that revealed various they live in an in-between, half way between aspects of life in Berlin that you couldn’t find childhood and adulthood. in official East-German media. He wanted to show the real face of East Germany, including scenes of resistance against the government. 17 12. SOUND AND WAVES STRONGER THAN THE CURTAIN.

wo radio stations specifically artists of the Czech scene, inspired stand out during this spreading by rock (the band Olympic, who were Tof US culture: Free Europe Radio the Czech Beatles), soul (The Framus (RFE) and Voice of America. The first Five) or jazz (resorting to a tradition one hosts musical afternoons, more dating back to in-between the wars, in and more often towards the end of this case). Nicola, a rock guitar player the fifties. They play jazz, rock, soul, in the 1980s, recalls what this hotspot big beat music… and are incredibly for artistic rebellion used to be like. popular in Czechoslovakia. They Monika Gasiorowski meanders participate in the new Western music through the Palace of Culture and reaching the youth. The regime, and Science in Warsaw. On April 13th, especially the StB (the Czech KGB) 1967, The Rolling Stones performed grow particularly concerned with the here in the very first Western rock & success of the show "People to People", roll concert ever given on communist on Voice of America, as it offers to put ground. While the Party’s officials in contact young Czechoslovakians sat in the best seats, hundreds of and young Americans, to become young fans without tickets grew penpals. Czechoslovakian students heated outside. The evening got out see an opportunity to improve of hand, but gave considerable echo their English, but also to make to the emerging Polish rock scene. friends beyond the Soviet bloc, Its best representative, Czesław and exchange services or goods. Niemen, composed a true gem that Discs and other cultural artefacts year, entitled "Dziwny jest ten świat". are at the heart of such interest. We enter what is left of The Semaphore, in Prague. It used to be an avant-garde concert hall and hosted some of the most famous

18 13. AN EXPENSIVE CURTAIN.

The maintenance of such an meshes in the fence, "they are shaped installation is ruinous. All the more in such a way that they will sever the so as you have to add to it a network finger of whoever clings to them". of specific access roads, as well as In between the two lines of metal detection and alarm devices that hedges, a minefield. What is more, an only grow more sophisticated as SM70 automatic gun is placed every technology advances. Furthermore, 30 feet on the fence and it fires at it requires to support about any traction applied to the fence. "The 10,000 guards (plus dogs), for the SM70, also called death robot, is set 200 miles of border between the up at three different heights: at head FRG and Czechoslovakia alone. level, at waist level and at knee level. It is charged with 4 ounces of TNT This may not seem like a lot, in that will blast little pebbles of steel comparison to the Iron Curtain drawn everywhere, with the same effect between the two halves of Germany — as 300 buckshots used for heavy or rather the four generations of that game hunting. These projectiles can wall. Immediately after the border kill at a reach of 65 feet around." line, there is first a control strip, a hundred feet wide, with nothing left The accounts of two border guards, on it, everything having been razed one Czech and one German, to the ground. That would be the intertwine. They were, at first, heroes distance left to cross, amidst the firing to their nation, just like their fathers. of the guards, had a fugitive managed It was indeed often a job that was to pass the main obstacle: a double passed on, as the father’s loyalty was metal fence, ten feet high, and deeply a form of guarantee of the son’s… entrenched so that you cannot dig But pride would soon make way to underneath it either. Now, we are doubts. The surveillance seemed talking about metal boards fastened more and more cowardly and the every 7 feet to sturdy concrete poles. task was left to just about anybody. Detail at its finest: the fixation bolts are on the Western side. As for the

19 And that is not even the end of it.

(Sketch of the East-German installation in 1971)

Further down, there is also an anti-vehicle ditch This entire defense arsenal and these and a new control strip, the patrol path and a police deployments are extremely costly. series of miradors in prefabricated concrete, One could think that the USSR financed and bunkers, projectors and various alarm handled the construction and maintenance systems. At the bottom of the alarm fences, of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. But small openings here and there leave way for it was in fact left to the adjacent countries. rabbits to go through, to avoid false alarms. This destroyed the local industries, There are also wires running above the patrol obsolete by the time the wall came down. path, with rings that slide along them, meant to attach the leashes of the dogs who patrol all night and can run over a 230-feet section each.

20 14. A NYLON CURTAIN.

Radio Free Europe studio in Munich, photo: archive of RFE

very day during the Cold War, diplomats, mutually recognized one another as equal, journalists and, after Stalin’s death, sovereign States. But, as they weren’t foreign Etourists crossed the wall. Several times (Ausländer), they agreed to a particular way of a day, strong radio transmitters installed in settling the relationship. On a cultural level, Munich by the US unload floods of information the two civil societies constantly reinforce their and Western music upon Eastern Europe bonds, through a variety of connections such (Free Europe Radio) and the Soviet Union as the proximity of the Lutheran churches or (Liberty Radio), which struggles to create the collective environmentalist, pacifist and enough interferences to make these programs feminist movements. With the intensifying of inaudible. In the 1960s, television brings legal visits (6 million crossings from the West all Eastern German-speaking citizens up to to the East in 1970, 20 million in 1982), family speed on political news. The 7PM broadcast ties and friendships reconnect. The cultural on the ZDF is watched far beyond the wall… porosity between the two halves of Germany is very high during the 1970s and 1980s, as Sandrine Kott long studied the subtle illustrated by the numerous events such as ramifications that allowed Germans on both writer conferences, symposiums… sides to never completely break off all ties. With a fundamental treaty signed on December 21st, 1972, the two Germanies

21 15. HOPE AND POWER.

How can the longevity of this wall be explained despite its many paradoxes? In what context was the wall built and how did it hold up?

EAST GERMANY, 1953 BUDAPEST, 1956

The East-Berlin rebellion in June The second insurrection in Budapest 1953 accelerates the migration takes place between October 23rd phenomenons in the West and and November 10th, 1956. It is therefore the building of the wall. much more violent and organized While in office, Stalin names Walter than the East-German riot. It also Ulbricht, leader of the Socialist reveals a certain ambivalence on the Party, at the head of the GDR. After part of the Soviet regime. Indeed, as Stalin passes away, several events demonstrators defeat the national contribute to weakening the Soviet political administration, the Soviet authority and starting the first widely regime announces its intention to followed insurrection in the Soviet negotiate the withdrawal of Soviet bloc. troops… but then changes its mind and quashes the revolt in a blood-bath. Walter Ulbricht leads authoritarian This second episode reinforces, once and unpopular policies in the country. again, the Soviet control over Central When Stalin dies, while the Soviet Europe. It also provokes the fleeing power suggests a regime liberalization West of about 200,000 refugees, in the GDR, Ulbricht prefers to toughen towards Austria for example. working conditions. Demonstrations begin with the hope to take Ulbricht down and they get out of hand in the main German towns on June 17th, 1953. Eventually, the Soviet regime intervenes against the rebellion, described as a "counter-revolutionary movement manipulated by the West". The first widely spread riot in the Soviet bloc thus ends in a debacle for the demonstrators and a reinforcement of authoritarian East-German power. It marks the beginning of a series of national uprisings against the Soviet regime.

22 CZECHOSLOVAKIA, 1968 POLAND, 1981

Following the protests in the name of freedom Solidarność, the working labor union, and of expression, Alexander Dubcek is elected its leader Lech Wałęsa start a nation-wide president of the Socialist Czechoslovakian strike as the country had never seen before. Republic. He establishes socialism with a The Soviet regime fears that it will get out of friendly face, including a strong democratization control, as it had in Budapest, and institutes a of political parties and a certain economic Military Council of National Salvation (WRON) freedom. Individual rights and the freedom of on December 13th, 1981. Many activists the press considerably thrive, which is not to opposed to the communist leaders are please the Soviets. After failed negotiations, incarcerated without trial. A curfew is imposed, the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact (made the borders and airports are shut down, and up of USSR, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and over 10,000 activists are detained under the GDR) take action on the night of August the orders of General Wojciech Jaruzelski, 20th, 1968. They quickly take control of the the head of WRON. Badges, slogans and all Czech capital, thus marking the end of the symbols of the revolt are censored. Several Prague Spring and instituting the Brezhnev journalists are arrested. The movement is doctrine which limits the autonomy of satellite losing momentum… Only in 1989 does it win. countries and brings back the generalization Despite the violence and the quelling, these of the Stalin doctrine. In response to such national uprisings reveal that the authoritarian a step backwards, three Czechoslovakian regime also had its weaknesses. citizens immolate themselves in 1969. Gustáv Husák replaces Alexander Dubček and most liberal policies are left aside.

23 16.THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

he bloody events of 1953 in the GDR, 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia Tand 1981 in Poland, during which violent or pacifist revolts of the people were quashed, cause skepticism amongst those who were hoping that the Curtain would drop. And yet, there were already some signs… Mikhaïl Lipkine comments on the political situation in the USSR. In 1985, Gorbatchev is the leader of the Communist Party. The terms "Perestroïka" and "Glasnost" will remain his political trademark, along with the cooling down in the relationship with the West. Jean-Francois Soulet, an Eastern Europe specialist at the University of Toulouse, pieced together hour after hour the dismantling of the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall. He brings Miklos Németh back into the narrative, one who had been forgotten in history books: he was The dismantlement process took until June the Hungarian Prime Minister since November 26th.The next day, on June 27th, on the 1988. He announced on May 2nd, 1989, that border, the Austrian Secretary of Foreign he had decided to lift the Iron Curtain along affairs Aloïs Mock and his Hungarian the 160 miles of the Austrian border. The counterpart Gyula Horn, pliers in hand, dismantlement process took until June 26th. symbolically cut the barbed wire separating the two countries. As spectacular as this first massive passing is, accomplished with the secret complicity of Hungary, it is nonetheless strictly illegal. It is only on September 10th, 1989, that the Hungarian government officially decides the complete opening of the border with Austria. At 35 Husmanstrasse stood the only Italian restaurant in East-Germany: Fioretto. Its owner, Doris Bruneleit remembers that bottles of Chianti helped people talk… Executives, artists, journalists relaxed and spent hours discussing the new world to come. Olivier Michalsky, now editor in chief of the digital edition of Die Welt, remembers these months of excitement as he was finishing journalism school…

24 August 19th, 1989, near the little town of Sopron in Hungary located along the border with Austria. The opposition party Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) and the Pan- European movement of Prince Otto von Habsburg organize a giant picnic to state their opposition to the Iron Curtain. About 600 GDR citizens force the border open and flee to Austria. It is the first time in forty years that the Iron Curtain is massively crossed. A memorial was erected in this location and celebrations commemorate the event every year. In Poland, Monika paints the portrait of a population under pressure. General Jaruzelski has quelled Solidarnosc leaders and activists, and imposed the state of siege since 1981. But the Glasnost policy convinces him to let go and to allow a smooth transition. The Iron Curtain is but a memory, and the Polish people run West, forging again their family connections with the diaspora in France, in England and in the FRG.

17. THE FALL OF THE WALL.

n November 4th, 1989, during a demonstration on Alexanderplatz, Marianne Birthler speaks publicly in the name of the Peace and Human Rights Initiative: O"It is important to fight for our freedom of expression, freedom of movement, a strong economy and a new education system. All of this is terribly necessary. But let us not neglect the fact that these rights need to be guaranteed. That is to say that we have to consider the issue of power and the way to control said power." Birthler recounts those crazy days. She grew up in East Germany and was a church youth activist first in her Prenzlauer Berg parish, then as youth advisor for the city of Berlin starting in 1987. In 1986, she cofounded a group called Solidarische Kirche, that campaigned for more democracy within the Church and society. In 1988, she joined the Peace and Human Rights Initiative that was part of the resistance against the communist regime. Never had such a spontaneous demonstration, out of the regime’s control, taken place since the end of the War. All the speakers that held the microphone that day became the pet peeves of the conservatives. Sandrine Kott sheds light on the secret relationship at work to inform Eastern leaders of the power’s hesitant intentions. We are with Sido, on an outdoor stage of Berlin, where the star German rapper is testing sound balance before a concert. A few excerpts from his songs. Sido remembers: "It was at night, about six months before the dismantlement of the wall, at a time when many requests had been approved. Egon Krenz came to power. Already many things had changed and you could feel it was the end of an era. I knew we were leaving, because Mom had sold all our stuff. The night before we left, we slept on bare mattresses. Everything else was gone. Furniture, kitchen, sold. I remember my family was crying. I cried too, but I didn’t know why. I didn’t grasp imprisonment. We crossed the Kochstrasse border. We were the first to arrive at the Refuge Center in Wedding, a Western neighborhood of Berlin. The next day, a guy from the Refuge Center who had already spent a few weeks West told me: ‘you have to eat a kebab’. And he bought me one! I thought ‘this must be paradise’. My taste buds went wild. These flavor enhancers did not exist in the GDR. It started right away for me. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the shop… I would love to go back."

25 On November 9th 1989, from 9PM, the revealed shortly. Exiting the country can be Berlin Wall is crossed by a crowd of East done through any border." "When will this Berliners. The Hungarian part of the Iron decree be applied?", asks the press. After a Curtain has been dismantled for months brief hesitation, G. Chabowski answers: "to already. my knowledge, immediately." On October 18th, the Politburo dismisses The news spreads throughout East-Berlin Enrich Honecker and names Egon Krenz as right away, through the ARD, the number his successor, hoping to save the regime. one public TV channel in the FRG. Crowds Not at all. gather towards the seven frontier posts. Disappointment: they are closed. The Jean-François Soulet bears witness. Now, guards know nothing. The crowd starts it is not only small groups taking to the yelling at them and growing impatient. Egon streets, but the entire country: 120,000 Krenz, who expected the measure to apply demonstrators on October 16th, 320,000 on only the next morning, is quickly informed the 23rd. On their end, the Czechoslovakian and discusses the matter with the head of and Hungarian governments complain the Stasi. They decide to avoid a highly likely about the growing influx of GDR citizens confrontation and order all frontier posts be crossing the border. The situation requires opened immediately. Dozens of thousands an urgent decision. On November 9th, of Berliners, in turn incredulous, moved 1989, at 6:30PM, the spokesperson for to tears, filled with joy, descend upon the the East German’s government Günter Bornholmer Straße around 9:20PM, and Schabowski gives a press conference. He progressively upon the other six points tells the media that "private trips abroad can of passage. They cross the wall. "It’s be requested without any condition, without completely insane! We have been waiting mentioning the reason for the trip or having for this day for 28 years!", says one of them to prove family ties. An agreement will be to a TV crew.

26 18. THE CURTAIN DROPS.

We return to the various locations explored with our guides and the historians of this film.

t evokes the end of a world cut in half and the beginning of reunification. Views are contrasted, between the joy of reunion, indifference or distrust… Mixed feelings along Ihundreds of miles of a wall, the concrete trace of which disappears little by little. We walk through what was a no man’s land for 70 years, with entomologists and their butterfly nets. De facto, the area has become a real nature reserve, where the little fauna and flora were preserved from any human imprint. The shameful scar of Europe has become an earthly paradise…

27