Stalin very rarely left the confines of the Kremlin. Khrushchev, on the other hand, loved to be seen in public at home and abroad. In September 1959, he visited the USA, met with President Eisenhower and travelled the country, exclaiming with delight at what he saw and arguing in equal measure. ‘It is true that for the time being you are richer than we,’ he told Eisenhower. ‘But we want to be as rich tomorrow as you are now, and richer still the day after.’ Khrushchev still believed in the Marxist theory that capitalism would one day fail and communism would be the answer. But as cosmetically successful as the trip may have been, the strained relationship between the superpowers remained.
‘Berlin is the testicles of the West,’ said Khrushchev; ‘every time I want the West to scream, I squeeze on Berlin.’ By the early 1960s the difference between West and East Berlin had become marked; the former enjoying prosperity and freedom that made the latter seem drab in comparison. The huge migration from East to West Berlin, and then into West Germany, was a great advertisement for capitalism and an equally poor one for communism and for Ulbricht and Khrushchev. Proposals for a wall to stem the flow were firmly rejected by Moscow – it would only highlight their failure. Better to win the hearts of the East Berliners. But by 1961 almost 3 million mainly young East Germans had gone west, a whole sixth of the population, from communism to capitalism in minutes, causing severe labour shortages and an acute embarrassment for the socialist utopia. Their hearts had not been won. In a meeting between Khrushchev and Kennedy in Vienna (pictured below), Khrushchev demanded the US’s withdrawal from Berlin. It would have meant the city falling entirely under communist control. When Kennedy refused, Khrushchev banged on the table, shouting: ‘I want peace but if you want war that’s your problem.’
Kennedy and Khrushchev, June 1961
Eventually, on the night of 12–13 August 1961, a barbed-wire fence was erected. As the wire went up, many East Germans made a last-minute dash for freedom among scenes of high tension. Days later, a concrete wall (pictured below) completely encircled the 103-mile perimeter of West Berlin. The most potent symbol of the Cold War was in place.
The Berlin Wall
A border dispute at the wall on 27 October resulted in Soviet and US tanks facing each other ‘nose to nose’ at Checkpoint Charlie. With instructions coming in from Washington and Moscow, the tanks waited on high alert, ready to open fire if necessary. Finally, after a sixteen-hour stand-off, the first Soviet tank withdrew five yards. A US tank then retreated the same distance, and the confrontation resolved itself.
In June 1963, Kennedy visited West Berlin and, having inspected the wall, addressed a huge crowd in a square that would be renamed in his honour, saying, ‘All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, Ich bin ein Berliner!’ (A ‘Berliner’ is also a type of doughnut, so for many it sounded as if Kennedy was saying he was one.) Nonetheless, the speech was a great morale booster for the encircled West Berliners and evidence of the US’s solidarity in their plight.
During the twenty-eight years of its existence, numerous attempts were made to escape from East to West Berlin. Many were successful, using ingenious methods as security at the wall tightened. But about 130 people lost their lives in trying to escape to freedom.