It’s the 20th Anniversary of the bringing down of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) and I wanted to see if there were any sites in Second Life about the history of the wall, and I wasn’t disappointed.  I travelled over to the Ciel sim and found a wonderful exhibition created by Christo Larsen.

The exhibition tells the complete story of why the wall was built. At the end of World War 11, Nazi Germany was occupied by the Americans, British, French and the Soviets, ultimately becoming East and West Germany, the Soviets ruling the East (the German Democratic Republic) and the West being ruled by the Americans, British and French (the Federal Republic of Germany).   Although Berlin was actually contained within East Germany, because it was the capital, and the base for the Allied Control Council, Berlin too was divided into East and West Berlin.  As the West flourished economically, people from the East did not do so well and many people tried to escape to the West.  It must have been so difficult for families divided by the wall, people were desperate to try to escape to the West.  It is estimated that 200 people may have been killed, although it is actually confirmed that 136 died.

There were many attempts to escape, and one successful attempt involved a specially adapted sports car.  Metal beams had been placed at the checkpoints to prevent escapes, but the sports car, with two people in the front and another two in the boot, drove at the barrier at full speed, the driver and the front passenger ducking down as the car passed below the beam, the roof and windscreen had been made to come away on impact, therefore allowing the car to pass the checkpoint and get away.

Of course there were many failed attempts, 18-year-old Peter Fechter was the first to die, he bled to death after being shot, and the last person to die was Chris Gueffroy on the 6th February 1989, and these people should never be forgotten.

I asked Christo why he had decided to have the exhibition in SL, he told me “Well, being German, I thought it is important to remember certain parts of our history”  he continued “there are many things that are often talked about in German history, mostly dark spots, which are very important to remember, too!”  He said “I found that many people in here, especially from the US, didn’t know much about the wall, which wasn’t too surprising, it was SO far away from them. So I built this, it’s the third year now”

I found this exhibition to be very interesting; Christo explains each event leading up to the wall being built, why it was built and the consequences of it being there.  I would highly recommend going over to see the site for an in depth lesson in the history of the Berlin wall, and why we should all celebrate the day that Berlin was once again united.

“Die Mauer – The Wall” 1961-1989
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ciel/103/121/24