Emigration from the Eastern Bloc

Emigration from the Eastern Bloc

Part of the Cold War
Konrad Schumann leaping over barbed wire into West Berlin on August 15, 1961, three days after construction began on the Berlin Wall[1]
Date	1945–1992
Participants	Defectors from the Eastern Bloc
Outcome	Brain drain in the Eastern Bloc Implementation of border restrictions Construction of the Berlin Wall

Eastern Bloc
USSR Armenia Azerbaijan Byelorussia Estonia Georgia Kazakhstan Kirghizia Latvia Lithuania Moldavia Russia Tajikistan Turkmenia Ukraine Uzbekistan
Allied and satellite states Afghanistan Albania (until 1961) Angola Benin Bulgaria China (until 1961) Congo Cuba Czechoslovakia East Germany Ethiopia Grenada Hungary Kampuchea Laos Mongolia Mozambique North Korea Poland (until 1989) Romania Somalia (until 1977) South Yemen Vietnam (North Vietnam, PRG) Yugoslavia (until 1948)
Related organizations Warsaw Pact Comecon Cominform World Federation of Trade Unions World Federation of Democratic Youth
Dissent and opposition Anti-Soviet partisans Albania Bulgaria Croatia Poland Romania Serbia Ukraine Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Soviet occupation Estonia Latvia Lithuania Operation Jungle Protests and uprisings Poland 1944–1989 Poznań 1956 1980–89 Plzeň 1953 East Germany 1953 Georgia 1956 Hungary 1956 Novocherkassk 1962 Prague 1968 Invasion Moscow Czechoslovakia 1976–90 Romania 1977 Kazakhstan 1986 Brașov 1987 Tbilisi 1989 Ukraine 1989–1991 Baku 1990 Lithuania 1991 Riga 1991
Cold War events Marshall Plan Czechoslovak coup Tito–Stalin split Berlin Blockade Korean War Secret Speech Sino-Soviet split Albanian–Soviet split De-satellization of the Socialist Republic of Romania Berlin Wall Cuban Missile Crisis Vietnam War Cuban intervention in Angola Afghan War 1980 Moscow Olympics 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Gulf War
Fall Singing Revolution Polish Round Table Agreement Revolutions of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall January Events Barricades in Latvia Breakup of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Wars End of the Soviet Union Post-Soviet conflicts Fall of communism in Albania Dissolution of Czechoslovakia
v t e

After

Eastern Bloc governments argued that strict limits to emigration were necessary to prevent a brain drain. The United States and Western European governments argued that they represented a violation of human rights. Despite the restrictions, defections to the West occurred.

After East Germany tightened its zonal occupation border with West Germany, the city sector border between East Berlin and West Berlin became a loophole through which defection could occur. This was closed with the erection of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. Thereafter, emigration from the Eastern Bloc was effectively limited to illegal defections, ethnic emigration under bilateral agreements, and a small number of other cases.

Background

Original USSR emigration restrictions

Although the first program of the Bolshevik movement in Russia included a demand for the "abolition of passports",

The mobilization of labor in the Soviet Union was not feasible if emigration remained an option with the relative low standard of living that existed at that time.[8] Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev later stated "We were scared, really scared. We were afraid the thaw might unleash a flood, which we wouldn't be able to control and which could drown us. How could it drown us? It could have overflowed the banks of the Soviet riverbed and formed a tidal wave that which would have washed away all the barriers and retaining walls of our society."^[7]

In addition, emigration restrictions were used to keep secrecy about life in the Soviet Union.^[9] Starting in 1935, Joseph Stalin had already effectively sealed off outside access to the Soviet Socialist Republics (and until his death in 1953), effectively permitting no foreign travel inside the Soviet Union such that outsiders did not know of the political processes that had taken place therein.^[10] During this period, and until the late 1970s, 25 years after Stalin's death, the few diplomats and foreign correspondents that were permitted inside the Soviet Union were usually restricted to within a few kilometers of Moscow, while their phones were tapped, their residences were restricted to foreigner-only locations, and they were constantly followed by Soviet authorities.^[10] Dissenters who approached such foreigners were arrested.^[9] For many years after World War II, even the best informed foreigners did not know the number of arrested or executed Soviet citizens, or how poorly the Soviet economy had performed.^[9]

Creation of the Eastern Bloc

Throughout the Eastern Bloc, both in the Soviet Union and the rest of the Bloc, the Russian SFSR was given prominence, and referred to as the naibolee vydajuščajasja nacija (the most prominent nation) and the rukovodjaščij narod (the leading people).[17] The Soviets promoted the reverence of Russian actions and characteristics, and the construction of Soviet Communist structural hierarchies in the other countries of the Eastern Bloc.^[17]

The defining characteristic of communism implemented in the

In addition, media in the Eastern Bloc served as an organ of the state, completely reliant on, and subservient to, the ruling Communist parties, with radio and television organizations being state-owned, while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the ruling Communist party.[29] Furthermore, the Eastern Bloc experienced economic mis-development by central planners resulting in those countries following a path of extensive rather than intensive development, and lagged far behind their western European counterparts in per capita Gross Domestic Product.^[30] Empty shelves in shops even in East Germany provided an open reminder of the inaccuracy of propaganda regarding purported magnificent and uninterrupted economic progress.^[31]

History

Fleeing and expelled ethnic Germans in the Eastern Bloc

At the end of, and following World War II, at least twelve million ethnic German

Before 1950, over 15 million immigrants emigrated from Soviet-occupied eastern European countries to the west in the five years immediately following World War II.^[49] Until the early 1950s, the lines between German occupation zones could be easily crossed.^[50] Taking advantage of this route, the number of Eastern Europeans applying for political asylum in West Germany was 197,000 in 1950, 165,000 in 1951, 182,000 in 1952 and 331,000 in 1953.^[50] One reason for the sharp 1953 increase was fear of potential further Sovietization with the increasingly paranoid actions of Joseph Stalin in late 1952 and early 1953.^[51] 226,000 had fled in just the first six months of 1953.^[31] Because of the lack of resources and space in West Germany, at the request of Truman in 1952, the United States increased its resettlement admissions quotas under the United States Escapee Program (USEP).^[50] After the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, 171,000 Hungarian refugees crossed the border into Austria, while 20,000 crossed into Yugoslavia.^[52]

In 1948, in the debate of a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Soviets objected to the language that "everyone has the right to leave any country including his own."^[53] Arguing that "it would encourage emigration", the Soviets wanted to add the phrase "in accordance with the procedure laid down in the laws of that country", with only Poland and Saudi Arabia supporting the Soviet proposal.^[53]

Increasing transnational restrictions

Up until 1952, the lines between Soviet-occupied eastern Germany and the western occupied zones could be easily crossed in most places.^[55] Accordingly, before 1961, most of that east–west flow took place between East and West Germany, with over 3.5 million East Germans emigrating to West Germany before 1961,^[56][57] which comprised most of the total net emigration of 4.0 million emigrants from all of Central and Eastern Europe between 1950 and 1959.^[58] In response to growing numbers crossing the borders, the Soviet Union instituted tighter border controls around their zone, the Inner German border.^[55] In 1955, the Soviet Union passed a law transferring control over civilian access in Berlin to East Germany, which officially abdicated the Soviets from direct responsibility of matters therein, while passing control to a regime not recognized in the west.^[59] When large numbers of East Germans then defected under the guise of "visits", the new East German state essentially eliminated all travel to the west in 1956.^[55] Soviet ambassador to East Germany Mikhail Pervukhin observed that "the presence in Berlin of an open and essentially uncontrolled border between the socialist and capitalist worlds unwittingly prompts the population to make a comparison between both parts of the city, which unfortunately, does not always turn out in favor of the Democratic [East] Berlin."^[60]

Restrictions implemented in the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War stopped most east–west migration, with only 13.3 million migrations westward between 1950 and 1990.

With the closing of the Inner German border officially in 1952,[60] the city sector border in Berlin remained considerably more accessible than the rest of the border because it was administered by all four occupying powers.^[55] Accordingly, Berlin became the main route by which East Germans left for the West.^[66] East Germany introduced a new passport law on December 11, 1957, that reduced the overall number of refugees leaving East Germany, while drastically increasing the percentage of those leaving through West Berlin from 60% to well over 90% by the end of 1958.^[60] Those actually caught trying to leave East Berlin were subjected to heavy penalties, but with no physical barrier and even subway train access to West Berlin, such measures were ineffective.^[67] Accordingly, the Berlin sector border was essentially a "loophole" through which Eastern Bloc citizens could still escape.^[60] The 3.5 million East Germans that had left by 1961 totaled approximately 20% of the entire East German population.^[67]

"Brain drain"

The emigrants tended to be young and well educated, leading to the

By 1960, the combination of World War II and the massive emigration westward left East Germany with only 61% of its population of working age, compared to 70.5% before the war.[67] The loss was disproportionately heavy among professionals—engineers, technicians, physicians, teachers, lawyers and skilled workers.^[67] The direct cost of manpower losses has been estimated at $7 billion to $9 billion, with East German party leader Walter Ulbricht later claiming that West Germany owed him $17 billion in compensation, including reparations as well as manpower losses.^[67] In addition, the drain of East Germany's young population potentially cost it over 22.5 billion marks in lost educational investment.^[70] The brain drain of professionals had become so damaging to the political credibility and economic viability of East Germany that the re-securing of the Soviet imperial frontier was imperative.^[71] At the same time, there were positive consequences of the emigration for the East German regime, including the removal of anti-Russian nationalists and vocal opponents, which might have helped East Germany government to avoid some of the unrest that developed in Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia.^[72]

Construction of the Berlin Wall

Even with the Inner German border strengthening, emigration through Berlin began to swell, with 144,000 in 1949, 199,000 in 1960 and 207,000 in the first seven months of 1961 alone.^[73] Orderly planning had become almost impossible in East Germany, with entire towns existing without physicians, crops going unharvested and fifty-five-year-olds put to work running street cars.^[73] The East German economy was on the verge of collapse.^[73] With fears of drastic action in Berlin, on July 15, 1961 Ulbricht called a rare press conference, insisting that "no one has any intention of building a wall," but made clear that "the outflow has to stop."^[73] He added "it goes without saying that the so-called refugee camps in West Berlin"—the transit camps at which refugees were processed en route from West Berlin to West Germany—"will be closed down."^[74]

On August 13, 1961, a barbed-wire barrier that would become the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin was erected by East Germany.^[71] Two days later, police and army engineers began to construct a more permanent concrete wall.^[74] The construction briefly caused fears of a military crisis, though only 11,000 western troops were located in Berlin compared to 500,000 Soviet troops surrounding them deployed in East Germany.^[75] The completion of the Berlin Wall closed the biggest loophole in the Iron Curtain. It brought an end to a decade during which divided capital of the divided Germany was the easiest place for unauthorized east-to-west crossings.^[76] Along with the wall, the 830 miles (1,340 km) zonal border became 3.5 miles (5.6 km) wide on its East German side in some parts of Germany with a tall steel-mesh fence running along a "death strip" bordered by bands of plowed earth, to slow and to reveal the prints of those trying to escape, and mined fields.^[77]

Later restrictions and agreements

Thereafter, only 5,000 crossed the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989.

Albania's tight security allowed almost no emigration, while almost all of East Germany's emigration took place before the erection of the Berlin Wall.[89] Because of East Germany's cultural affinity with West Germany and the viewing of West German television depicting western life throughout most of East Germany, East Germany was more prone to population loss.^[89]

Providing further emigration pressure was the growing gap in living standards between western Europe and the Eastern Bloc after the 1960s.^[90] Everyday complaints over consumer goods, supplies or wages could all too readily lead to comparisons with Western conditions.^[90] The quality of goods displayed by "aunts" and Intershops, where visitors would buy premium goods with foreign currency (see also Beryozka, Pewex, Tuzex and Corecom), heightened Easterners' sense of their second-class status and this, in turn, affected their perception of economic arrangements in their own country.^[90] Walter Freidrich, director of the Leipzig Institute, complained that "shortcomings and weaknesses in our own country (e.g., problems with supply of consumer goods and spare parts; media policy; rose tinted perspectives; real democratic participation, etc) are coming increasingly into focus and subjected to sharper criticisms. To a growing extent, doubt is cast on the superiority of socialism."^[91] Stasi reports complained about individuals who had been given privileged access to travel to the West for work with "stories of the 'overwhelming range of commodities available . . . or with reports of East German goods on sale there at knock-down prices."^[91]

Defection attempts from the

The Helsinki Accords of 1975 were an important Cold War-era agreement signed by most European countries, including those of the Eastern Bloc, the United States and Canada. It governed various territorial agreements, frontier disputes, human rights, the threat of force and other items. The "third basket" of the Helsinki Accords contained pledges to uphold rights to international travel, family contact and freedom of information, and to promote cultural exchanges.^[96] In East Germany, while the government downplayed the existence of this provision in the media, as potential emigrants came to slowly perceive that exit visas might be attainable to some, 7,200 first time applicants applied in the late 1970s.^[96]

West Germany negotiated the exodus of some ethnic Germans from

The regimes' strategy was to grant applications selectively and with long delays in a process that was designed to be demeaning, frustrating and leading to years of applicants waiting for a departure date that would never arrive.[96] In addition, while waiting, applicants were subject to open discrimination, faced workplace firing or demotion, were denied university access, and were forced to relinquish their passports resulting in the denial of travel rights even within their country of residence.^[96] In 1984, twenty-five Czechoslovaks occupied the West German embassy in Prague demanding asylum in the west while seven East Germans did so in the library of the United States embassy in West Berlin.^[98] The authorities relented, and that year witnessed a huge rise in legal emigration,^[98] with applications swelling to 57,600,^{[clarification needed]} 29,800 of which were granted.^[96] Small groups of organized applicants had already held vigils calling for legal emigration since the late 1970s.^[98] The movement and application figures grew by the late 1980s as the east–west prosperity gap widened resulting in West German citizenship looking more attractive, while authorities were at a loss how to address the application rise.^[99] Increasing visa grants in the late 1980s accompanying a 1988 decision to prioritize those for citizens who engaged in protests provided incentives to further expand the movement.^[99] The East German SED party conceded that "[t]he emigration problem is confronting us with a fundamental problem of [East Germany]'s development" and this challenge "threatens to undermine beliefs in the correctness of the party's policies."^[99] The move accompanied a growing dissolving of confidence that the problems facing socialism could ever be solved and whether that system was the future.^[99]

Liberalization

By the late 1980s, Hungary had allowed citizens over fifty five years old to leave and liberalized family reunification emigration, along with increased travel permissions.^[100] Romania also liberalized emigration for family reunification purposes.^[100] By the mid-1980s, East Germany extended its program receiving payment for political prisoner release to the west to include "family reunification."^[97] The political prisoner payments became so large that East Germany accounted for them in their state economic planning process.^[97] Emigration restriction liberalisation in 1989 followed another flood of outmigration to West Germany during the Revolutions of 1989 indirectly through third countries—such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland—which accelerated the demise of the East German government when the closure of the borders precipitated demonstrations.^[89]

In 1985, following the Era of Stagnation, reform-minded Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signaled the trend toward greater liberalization. Emigration increased following liberalizations passed in 1986.^[36]: 9 For example, the flow of ethnic Germans from the Eastern Bloc dramatically increased from 42,786 per year in 1986 to 202,673 in 1988.^[36]: 9 The Soviet Union was facing a period of severe economic decline and needed Western technology. Subsidies to foreign client states further strained the moribund Soviet economy.

The first signs of major reform came in 1986 when Gorbachev launched a policy of

and political repression.

Believing Gorbachev's reform initiatives would be short-lived, orthodox Communist rulers like

Nicolae Ceauşescu obstinately ignored the calls for change.^[101] "When your neighbor puts up new wallpaper, it doesn't mean you have to too," declared one East German politburo member.^[102]

Revolutions and free emigration

Further information:

Removal of Hungary's border fence, and Monday demonstrations in East Germany

By 1989, the Soviet Union had repealed the

People's Republic of Poland in April 1989, the Solidarity organization was legalized, allowed to participate in parliamentary elections and captured a stunning 99 out of the 100 available parliamentary seats (with the one remaining seat taken by an independent candidate). Hungary had achieved some lasting economic reforms and limited political liberalization during the 1980s, but major reforms only occurred following the replacement of János Kádár as General Secretary of the Communist Party in 1988.^{[citation needed}

]

In August 1989, the

democratic government. With regard to East Germans demanding emigration rights in Czechoslovakia, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher negotiated an agreement that allowed them to travel to the West, in trains that had to pass first through East Germany. When the trains passed Dresden

central station in early October, police forces had to stop people from trying to jump on the trains.

By 9 October 1989, just after the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of East Germany thousands of protesters gathered, what had begun as a few hundred gatherers at the Nikolai Church in East Berlin chanting "Wir sind das Volk!" ("We are the people!"). Although some demonstrators were arrested, the threat of large-scale intervention by security forces never materialized, with SED leader Helmut Hackenberg and others not receiving precise orders for such action from a surprised East Berlin. These were followed by even larger protests exceeding 300,000 the next week. East German leader Honecker remained opposed to internal reform, with his regime even going so far as forbidding the circulation of Soviet publications that it viewed as subversive. Faced with ongoing and increasing civil unrest, the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) deposed Honecker in mid-October, and replaced him with Egon Krenz.^{[citation needed]}

A wave of refugees left East Germany for the West through Czechoslovakia, which was tolerated by the new Krenz government and in agreement with the Czechoslovak government. In order to ease the complications, the Krenz-led Politburo had decided on 9 November to allow East Germans to travel directly to West Berlin the next day. However the government spokesman misstated the news and stated that East Germans could leave for the West effective immediately. As rumors spread, before the regulations were to go effect, on the night of 9 November, tens of thousands of Eastern Berliners flooded Checkpoint Charlie and other checkpoints along the wall, crossing into West Berlin. The surprised and overwhelmed border guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors, but it became clear that there was no one among the East German authorities who would dare to take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force, so there was no way for the vastly outnumbered soldiers to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens. Therefore, the border checkpoints were opened, although it is disputed who was the first to issue the order.^{[citation needed]}

In the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, following the suppression of a student protest in Prague, increasing protests swelled to an estimated half-million Czechs and Slovaks demanding freedoms. A two-hour general strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was held on 27 November 1989. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria in early December. The next day, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced that it would relinquish power and dismantle the one-party state. On 10 December, President Gustáv Husák appointed the first largely non-Communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned, in what was called the Velvet Revolution.^{[citation needed]}

In the People's Republic of Bulgaria, on 10 November 1989 — the day after the mass crossings across the Berlin Wall — Bulgaria's long-serving leader Todor Zhivkov was ousted by his Politburo and replaced with Petar Mladenov. In February 1990 the Party voluntarily gave up its claim on power and in June 1990 the first free elections since 1931 were held, won by the moderate wing of the Communist Party, renamed the Bulgarian Socialist Party.

Unlike other

Ceauşescu, then aged 71, was re-elected for another five years as leader of the Romanian Communist Party, signaling that he intended to ride out the anti-Communist uprisings sweeping the rest of Eastern Europe. As Ceauşescu prepared to go on a state visit to Iran, on 16 December 1989, his Securitate ordered the arrest and exile of a local Hungarian-speaking Calvinist minister, László Tőkés

, for sermons offending the regime.

Rioting followed the arrest. Returning from Iran, Ceauşescu ordered a mass rally in his support outside Communist Party headquarters in Bucharest. However, to his shock, the crowd booed as he spoke. Mass protests followed, with about 100,000 protesters occupying

Operei Square

chanting anti-government protests: "Noi suntem poporul!" ("We are the people!"), "Armata e cu noi!" ("The army is on our side!"), "Nu vă fie frică, Ceauşescu pică!" ("Have no fear, Ceauşescu will fall"). The Romanian military changed sides, turning on Ceauşescu, who was executed after a brief trial three days later.

In the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, a new package of regulations went into effect on 3 July 1990 entitling all Albanians over the age of 16 to own a passport for foreign travel. Meanwhile, hundreds of Albanian citizens gathered around foreign embassies to seek political asylum and flee the country.

Technically the Berlin Wall remained guarded for some time after 9 November though at a decreasing intensity. On 13 June 1990, the official dismantling of the Wall by the East German military began in Bernauer Straße. On 1 July, the day East Germany adopted the West German currency, all border controls ceased, although the inter-German border had become meaningless for some time before that. That month, the final obstacle to German reunification was removed when West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl convinced Gorbachev to drop Soviet objections to a reunited Germany within NATO in return for substantial German economic aid to the Soviet Union.

Defectors

Main article:

List of Eastern Bloc defectors

Escapees

Although international movement was, for the most part, strictly controlled, there was a steady loss through escapees who were able to use ingenious methods to evade frontier security. Some of the people who tried to escape were in fact East german guards or soldiers. Some of them used military vehicles to smash through the Berlin wall.^[105][89] In East Germany, the term Republikflucht (fugitives from the Republic) was used for anyone wishing to leave to non-socialist countries. Republikflucht attempts to leave East Germany constituted a criminal act and carried severe penalties. Regarding the reasoning for such restrictions, a propaganda booklet published by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1955 for the use of party agitators outlined the seriousness of 'flight from the republic', stating "leaving the GDR is an act of political and moral backwardness and depravity", and "workers throughout Germany will demand punishment for those who today leave the German Democratic Republic, the strong bastion of the fight for peace, to serve the deadly enemy of the German people, the imperialists and militarists".^[106] Moreover, an attempt to flee via East Germany's fortified borders involved considerable personal risk of injury or death. Estimates for those killed attempting to escape over the Berlin Wall range from 136 to just over 200.^[107][108] About 75,000 people were caught and imprisoned.

Hijackers

On June 15, 1970, twelve mostly Jewish defectors were caught

attempting to hijack a plane to escape from the Soviet Union, and were assigned harsh sentences, including death sentences for the two leaders, which were later commuted to 15 years in a labor camp.^[109] At least six attempted skyjacking defection attempts were made from Armenia, the Soviet Union, and Lithuania from 1970 to 1971.^[109]

There were three hijackings of airliners by GDR citizens in order to escape to West Germany; the most well-known is the LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 hijacking in 1978.^[110]

Famous and discrete defectors

Famous

Conrad Schumann, who was famously photographed jumping the Berlin wall while it was under construction, and a number of European football players, including Jörg Berger. Chess world champion Boris Spassky

also emigrated to France in a fashion comparable to defection.

While media sources often reported high level defections, non-prominent defections usually went unreported.[112] The number of non-public "black stream" defectors is not known.^[111]

See also

• Soviet Empire
• Soviet occupations
• Post-Soviet states
• Iron Curtain
• Western world
• Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc
• List of Soviet and Eastern Bloc defectors
• North Korean defectors

Notes

1. ISBN 0-917360-07-9
2. ^ Dowty 1989, p. 67
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Dowty 1989, p. 68
4. ^ ^{a b} Dowty 1989, p. 69
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Dowty 1989, p. 70
6. ^ Dowty 1989, p. 71
7. ^ ^{a b c} Dowty 1989, p. 74
8. ^ Dowty 1989, p. 73
9. ^ ^{a b c} Laqueur 1994, p. 23
10. ^ ^{a b} Laqueur 1994, p. 22
11. ^ Roberts 2006, p. 43
12. ^ ^{a b c} Wettig 2008, p. 21
13. ^
    ISBN 978-90-420-2225-6
14. ISBN 0-7190-4201-1
15. ^ Roberts 2006, p. 55
16. ^ Shirer 1990, p. 794
17. ^ ^{a b c} Graubard 1991, p. 150
18. ISBN 1-58544-298-4
19. ^ Grenville 2005, pp. 370–71
20. ^ Cook 2001, p. 17
21. ^ Wettig 2008, pp. 96–100
22. ^ Crampton 1997, pp. 216–7
23. ^ Eastern bloc, The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005.
24. ^ Wettig 2008, p. 156
25. ^ Hardt & Kaufman 1995, p. 11
26. ^ Hardt & Kaufman 1995, p. 12
27. ^ ^{a b} Roht-Arriaza 1995, p. 83
28. ^ ^{a b} Pollack & Wielgohs 2004, p. xiv
29. ISBN 0-7146-4765-9
30. ^ Hardt & Kaufman 1995, pp. 15–17
31. ^ ^{a b c} Dale 2005, p. 17
32. ISBN 963-9241-70-9
33. ^
    ISBN 0-7391-1607-X: "...largest movement of any European people in modern history" [1]
34. ISBN 1-57181-092-7
35. ^ The Expulsion of 'German' Communities from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War Archived 2009-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Steffen Prauser and Arfon Rees, European University Institute, Florense. HEC No. 2004/1. p.4
36. ^
    ISBN 0-7190-4336-0
    .
37. ISBN 0-19-873074-8
38. ^ Text of Churchill Speech in Commons on Soviet=Polish Frontier, The United Press, December 15, 1944.
39. ISBN 3-486-56731-4 [2]
40. ISBN 3-8258-9340-5 [3]
41. ^ Overy (1996), The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Third Reich, p. 111
42. ^ Christoph Bergner, Secretary of State in Germany's Bureau for Inner Affairs, outlines the stance of the respective governmental institutions in Deutschlandfunk on 29 November 2006, [4]
43. ^ Foundation Centre Against Expulsions, data and sources, "Zentrum gegen Vertreibungen". Archived from the original on 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
44. ^ Statistisches Bundesamt, Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste, Wiesbaden, Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1958, pp.38,45,46.
45. ISBN 978-1-57607-796-2
46. ^
    ISBN 978-1-57607-796-2
47. ISBN 0-8131-0977-9
48. ^ ^{a b} Thackeray 2004, p. 188
49. ^ Böcker 1998, p. 207
50. ^ ^{a b c} Loescher 2001, p. 60
51. ^ Loescher 2001, p. 68
52. ^ Loescher 2001, p. 82
53. ^ ^{a b} Dowty 1989, p. 111
54. ^ Iron Curtain Parted, Sons Join Parents in Monterey after Nine-year Separation, Monterey Peninsula Herald, 1956-09-17
55. ^ ^{a b c d} Dowty 1989, p. 121
56. ^ Mynz 1995, p. 2.2.1
57. ^ Senate Chancellery, Governing Mayor of Berlin, The construction of the Berlin Wall Archived 2014-04-02 at the Wayback Machine states "Between 1945 and 1961, around 3.6 million people left the Soviet zone and East Berlin"
58. ^ ^{a b c d e} Mynz 1995, p. 3.2.1
59. ^ Harrison 2003, p. 98
60. ^ ^{a b c d} Harrison 2003, p. 99
61. ^ ^{a b c} Böcker 1998, p. 209
62. ^ ^{a b} Dowty 1989, p. 114
63. ^ ^{a b} Dowty 1989, p. 115
64. ^ Dowty 1988, p. 88
65. ^ ^{a b c d} Dowty 1989, p. 116
66. ^ Paul Maddrell, Spying on Science: Western Intelligence in Divided Germany 1945–1961, p. 56. Oxford University Press, 2006
67. ^ ^{a b c d e} Dowty 1989, p. 122
68. ^ ^{a b c d} Harrison 2003, p. 100
69. ^ ^{a b} Crampton 1997, p. 278
70. ^ Volker Rolf Berghahn, Modern Germany: Society, Economy and Politics in the Twentieth Century, p. 227. Cambridge University Press, 1987
71. ^ ^{a b} Pearson 1998, p. 75
72. ^ Dowty 1989, p. 126
73. ^ ^{a b c d} Dowty 1989, p. 123
74. ^ ^{a b} Dowty 1989, p. 124
75. ^ Harrison 2003, p. 102
76. ^ Keeling, Drew (2014), "Berlin Wall and Migration," Migration as a travel business
77. ^ Black et al. 2000, p. 141
78. ^ "The Berlin Wall—Facts and Figures". Official site of the capital of Germany. Archived from the original on 2006-01-03. Retrieved 2006-03-19.
79. ^ Mynz 1995, pp. 3.2.1–2
80. ^ ^{a b c d e} Dowty 1989, p. 117
81. ^ Krasnov 1985, p. 1&126
82. ^ ^{a b} Council of Europe 1992, p. 15
83. ^ ^{a b c} Council of Europe 1992, p. 22
84. ^ Council of Europe 1992, p. 16
85. ^ Council of Europe 1992, p. 17
86. ^ Council of Europe 1992, p. 20
87. ^ Council of Europe 1992, p. 25
88. ^ Council of Europe 1992, p. 23
89. ^ ^{a b c d} Turnock 1997, p. 19
90. ^ ^{a b c} Dale 2005, p. 85
91. ^ ^{a b} Dale 2005, p. 86
92. ^ ^{a b} Dowty 1989, p. 75
93. ^ ^{a b c} Mynz 1995, p. 3.2.2
94. ^ Dowty 1989, p. 118
95. ^ Dowty 1989, p. 119
96. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Dale 2005, p. 87
97. ^ ^{a b c} Dowty 1989, p. 125
98. ^ ^{a b c} Dale 2005, p. 88
99. ^ ^{a b c d} Dale 2005, p. 89
100. ^ ^{a b} Dowty 1989, p. 120
101. ^ Romania – Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, U.S. Library of Congress
102. ^ Steele, Jonathan. Eternal Russia: Yeltsin, Gorbachev and the Mirage of Democracy. Boston: Faber, 1994.
103. Spring of Nations
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104. ISBN 0-7923-1379-8. p.221
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105. ^ "A communist soldier made a daring escape through the Berlin Wall in an APC". 29 April 2020.
106. ^ "Wer die Deutsche Demokratische Republik verläßt, stellt sich auf die Seite der Kriegstreiber ("He Who Leaves the German Democratic Republic Joins the Warmongers")". Notizbuch des Agitators ("Agitator's Notebook"). Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Agitation Department, Berlin District. November 1955. Retrieved 2008-02-17.
107. ^ Chronik der Mauer: Todesopfer an der Berliner Mauer (in German)
108. ^ http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Start/Index/id/593792 Center for Contemporary Historical Research (Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam e.V) in German
109. ^ ^{a b} Krasnov 1985, pp. 124–5
110. ^ "The Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators – Gapan Organization" (PDF). www.gapan.org.^{[permanent dead link]}
111. ^ ^{a b} Krasnov 1985, p. 2
112. ^ Krasnov 1985, p. 5

References

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  ISBN 90-5589-095-2
• Cook, Bernard A. (2001), Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia, Taylor & Francis,
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• Crampton, R. J. (1997), Eastern Europe in the twentieth century and after, Routledge,
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• Council of Europe (1992), People on the move: new migration flows in Europe, Council of Europe,
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• Dale, Gareth (2005), Popular Protest in East Germany, 1945–1989: Judgements on the Street, Routledge,
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• Dowty, Alan (1989), Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of Movement, Yale University Press,
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• Dowty, Alan (1988), "The Assault on Freedom of Emigration", World Affairs, 151 (2)
• Graubard, Stephen R. (1991), Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Europe, Westview Press,
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• Grenville, John Ashley Soames (2005), A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century, Routledge,
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• Hardt, John Pearce; Kaufman, Richard F. (1995), East-Central European Economies in Transition, M.E. Sharpe,
  ISBN 1-56324-612-0
• Harrison, Hope Millard (2003), Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet-East German Relations, 1953–1961, Princeton University Press,
  ISBN 0-691-09678-3
• ISBN 0-8179-8231-0
• Laqueur, Walter (1994), The dream that failed: reflections on the Soviet Union, Oxford University Press,
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• Lipschitz, Leslie; McDonald, Donogh (1990), German unification: economic issues, International Monetary Fund,
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• Loescher, Gil (2001), The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path, Oxford University Press,
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• Miller, Roger Gene (2000), To Save a City: The Berlin Airlift, 1948–1949, Texas A&M University Press,
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• Nekrich, Aleksandr Moiseevich; Ulam, Adam Bruno; Freeze, Gregory L. (1997), Pariahs, Partners, Predators: German–Soviet Relations, 1922–1941, Columbia University Press,
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• Mynz, Rainer (1995), Where Did They All Come From? Typology and Geography of European Mass Migration In the Twentieth Century; EUROPEAN POPULATION CONFERENCE CONGRESS EUROPEAN DE DEMOGRAPHE, United Nations Population Division
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External links

• Retracing the Berlin Wall
• Berlin Wall: Past and Present
• The Lost Border: Photographs of the Iron Curtain
• One lucky escape from Communist Romania to the United States
• Comprehensive Gallery (1961 to 1990) from the website Chronicle of the Wall
• Virtual e-Tours "The Wall" Shockwave Player required
• The Lost Border: Photographs of the Iron Curtain
• (in Italian) Borders: spotting the past along Berlin death strip. 2007 BW photo gallery.
• Information about the Iron Curtain with a detailed map and how to make it by bike
• 1996 Interview with Viktor Belenko, who escaped in a Mig-25 Foxbat