Building the Berlin Wall: 45 Years Later

Forty five years ago this week, a one hundred and three mile long wall was built in Germany, splitting the capitol city of Berlin into East and West and creating an impassable no man's land. Topped with barbwire, surrounded by boobytraps, mines and armed guards, the wall was meant to stop the steady flow of skilled workers leaving East Berlin for West Germany and prevent an economic collapse in not only post World War II Germany, but also the occupying Soviet Union, who was subsidizing their economy. We'll look at what led up to the creation of the wall, the impact it had not only on Germany, but Europe and the United States and how people feel about it today, long after it was torn down. Laura's guest is Dr. Jackson Janes, Executive Director of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Janes previously taught in Germany and has been engaged in German-American affairs for three decades, including serving as the Director of the German-American Institute in Tübingen, Germany. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.