Dr. Pertti Ahonen, Research Leave 

To mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, new research examines those whose lives it took.

The Berlin Wall was a symbolic scar at the heart of the city and epitomised the consequences of east/west division during the Cold War. November 2009 sees the 20th anniversary of its fall and as such the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

At least 136 people are confirmed to have died at the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989. AHRC funded research aims to cast new light on the history of Cold War Berlin through the close examination of the Wall and the human tragedies associated with it.

A new book by Dr. Ahonen uses case studies to shed light on some of the victims of the Wall and on their broader significance in the Cold War confrontation between the two Germanys.  Peter Fechter was one of those victims. His slow, agonizing death in the East Berlin border strip in August 1962 was captured in horrifying photographs that became key images of the European Cold War, in the West at least.

The victims also played a big role in the intense propaganda battles played on both sides of the Wall and became crucial tools in building political legitimacy and collective identity in one country and undermining them in the other. The Wall assumed great significance, not only as a concrete barrier in the heart of the Reich's former capital, but also as a symbol of the virtues of one successor state and the sins of the other. In West Germany, the Wall represented Communist tyranny and evil at its worst, a concrete manifestation of the rhetorical Iron Curtain. In East Germany, it was portrayed as the 'anti-fascist protection rampart', a defensive structure supposedly constructed to ward off imperialist saboteurs from the workers' and peasants' paradise. Both states made extensive use of killings at the Wall to promote their interpretations of the existing realities.

Huge amounts of German archive materials were used in the research for the book as were, by special permission, the judicial records of the Berlin public prosecutors’ office which included interviews with witnesses, relatives and friends of the victims. This approach provides a new perspective to the study of the period and gives a face and voice to the often anonymous victims of the Wall. Dr. Ahonen’s research has also led to him being asked to give presentations on his findings at various locations, ranging from Berlin to the United States, Ireland, and, closer to home, the Midlothian World History Society in Edinburgh.

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