What Babies Can Teach Us About the Berlin Wall

Once upon a time there was a baby. She had a mommy and a daddy who both loved her very much, and they each had huge dreams for her life.

The mommy wanted to raise her to be a soccer star. She wanted to teach baby every nuance of the game, starting right away by propping her up with pillows in front of the television during important matches. Together they would go to see world-class soccer events all around the globe, meeting coaches and star athletes, and learning from them everything it was possible to learn. As soon as baby could walk, they would go to the sports store and buy the tiniest pair of baby soccer cleats and a itty bitty soccer ball, so baby could start running drills in the back yard. They would work their way up through all the ages and stages of soccer teams, eating countless orange slices and drinking infinite numbers of juice boxes, until baby was the best player in all the land.

But the daddy had a different dream. He imagined that baby would become the finest artist of her generation. He lined her crib with laminated images of the world's finest paintings, he showed her books of masterpieces as her bedtime stories. Together they would tour the world, visiting all the finest museums, galleries and salons, working with the most experienced and respected painters they could find. As soon as baby could wave her little arms about, he had big plans to slip a paintbrush into her fist and set her to painting. Baby would take lessons to have her artistic gifts developed and spend endless hours in the studio he planned to build for her in the back yard. Her work would be exhibited here and there, far and wide, until baby was the best artist in all the land.

You see the conundrum. Each parent had a fine dream for baby's life, but each parent's dream had no room for the other's dream. Neither parent was willing to compromise or give up their own plan for baby's life and so they made an important decision.

They decided to saw baby in half.

The mother would take her left side to become a premiere soccer star, and the father would develop her right side into a masterful painter.

Problem solved, right?

"NOOOOOOO!!" my little students exclaimed when I told them this story, "You can't cut a baby in half! She would die."

Well, of course she would. My students know what's up.

Antique carpenter's hand saw

But in the aftermath of World War II, when the victorious Allied powers were making plans for Germany's future, they were not quite so clever.

Because some of them - Great Britain, France, the United States - dreamed for Germany to become a democracy, but another strong Allied voice - the Soviet Union - dreamed of her future as a communist country.

And neither was willing to compromise or give up their own plan for Germany's life and so they made an important decision.

They decided to saw the country in half.

Of course, that is a vast oversimplification of a complex and highly volatile situation. But the truth remains that in the end, Germany was torn in half, with an ugly scar of fences, barbed wire and other barriers marking the line of saw's blade.

Preserved section of the Innerdeutscher Grenzzaun (Intra-German Border Fence), 2007

From the western side of the gash, one would see only a simple fence or wall. Those on the west had little interest in crossing over the border and entering the east. However, on the eastern side, where many citizens longed to escape and live in the freedom of the west, the borders were marked with a series of signal fences, sensors, lights, flare launchers, mines, 'dead zones' and watchtowers manned by armed guards trained to shoot on sight.

Inner German Border diagram, 1960s

In addition to dividing up the German countryside, the city of Berlin was also cut in half.

Although Berlin lay entirely within East Germany, she had also been divided between east and west. The notorious Berlin Wall, or Berliner Mauer, encircled the democracy of West Berlin.

Map of the Berlin Wall

Going back to our metaphor, this would be like the parents not only cutting the baby in half, but carving her tiny heart into two pieces as well.

I did not share this thought with my students.

Although the demarcation between West Berlin and East Berlin had existed for years, the physical barrier sprang up literally overnight. On August 13, 1961, Berliners woke up to discover the border had been closed. Armed soldiers stood in position until the permanent structure could be built.

Berlin, Mauerbau, Kampfgruppen am Brandenburger Tor (Berlin Wall was built, task forces at the Brandenburg Gate), August 13, 1961.

Construction of the final Berlin Wall, November 20, 1961

There are countless interesting stories about how the wall affected people's lives. We heard about an East German baby who was being treated in a West German hospital when the wall went up. Her parents were at home on the other side of the wall. It took them years to be reunited, and because of the child's ongoing health issues, they were forced to live apart for most of her childhood.

Then there was the East German man who worked in a tall building near the wall and eventually hatched a plan to smuggle his family over the wall by MacGyvering a zipline from his office window. His young children, about the same age as my students, had the admirable courage to make that trip through the dark night sky, knowing that guards would shoot them on sight.

We did not dwell on stories of those who tried to escape and failed. There are a lot of those, too.

Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall), 1986

This final image is the one we discussed in class. My students noticed the colorful paintings on the West side of the wall, along with the charming street lamps, winter trees, and the man and his dog strolling along. On the East, the bleak grey wall is dwarfed by the brown 'dead zone' and punctuated only by the armed troops guarding their side.

Of course, no loving parent would ever saw their baby in half, no matter how much they love soccer or art. Everyone knows the baby would die.

And the story of Berlin does have a happy ending; the wall was opened on November 9, 1989 and came down soon after. She is now fully alive and thriving. 

But Berlin taught us an important lesson. You can't cut a city in half. She would die. And now we all know what's up.