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The "Wandering Earth" of 3.5 million people
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The movie "The Wandering Earth" is being screened, and the efforts and sacrifices made by human beings to run to a new homeland in the film are moving.
Science fiction is based on the bold imagination of reality, in the history of mankind, there have been countless "wandering earth" plans to run to the new homeland, just in the past 100 years, the most famous and iconic, is the end of World War II, the 3.5 million people in Germany's interior "wandering earth".
After the end of World War II, Germany, as a defeated country, was divided into two regions: East Germany and West Germany. In the 40 years from 1949 to 1989, 3.5 million people from East Germany emigrated to West Germany.
Blue is West Germany and red is East Germany
There is no unprovoked love, and there is no unprovoked hate. Although they were divided into East and West Germany, everyone was German, so why did these millions have to go to West Germany?
If we look at some of the data at that time, we can clearly understand the gap between East and West Germany at that time.
Before 1949, the economic gap between East Germany and West Germany was very weak, but after 40 years of separate development of both sides, by 1989, the per capita GDP of East Germany was converted into today's euro, which was about 12653, while that of West Germany was 22328, which was much higher than the level of East Germany, and the number of cars owned by every hundred people in West Germany was almost double that of East Germany.
Being able to make more money and live a better life was something that immigrants valued very much, but that alone was not enough to get millions of East Germans to risk their lives to go to West Germany, because by the time the Berlin Wall was built in the later period, those who had traveled to West Germany without permission would be killed.
The gap between West Germany and East Germany, and the system. East Germany, which was controlled by the Soviet Union, implemented the same system as the Soviet Union, not only planning the economy, buying everything required tickets, but also having tough surveillance measures.
For example, although East Germany has a parliament, there is no secrecy measures when voting, and it is clear who you vote for and who you oppose, and the consequences of opponents are very serious, they may be unemployed or expelled, and they have long been closely monitored by the state monitoring machine "Stasi".
This "Stasi" is the institution used by East Germany to monitor the people, and the East German people call it "listening and watching the company", because its ears are always listening to the people's speech, and its eyes are constantly monitoring the behavior of the people.
Remains of the "Stasi" detention center
The 2006 German film Eavesdropping Storm tells the story of East Germans under Stark's surveillance in the 1980s.
There is a classic narration in the movie:
A person buys an average of 2.3 pairs of shoes a year, reads an average of 3.2 books a year, and 6743 students graduate with all-honors each year. But there is one statistic that cannot be made public, and perhaps these numbers can be attributed to natural death. If you call the Security Service and ask how many people commit suicide each year because they are suspected of having dealings with West Germany, the Security Service staff will be silent and will then record your name in detail. This is for the sake of national security. People who die are for national security and happiness. Since 1977, we have no longer counted the number of suicides, what we call suicide, which has been the best outcome ...
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Heaven and earth for a new home
I used all the tricks
People are born with the right to pursue happiness, the right not to be enslaved, and the right to yearn for freedom. So, under such a system, millions of East Germans began a 40-year "Wandering Earth" program.
Beginning in 1961, the leaders of East Germany could not tolerate the people running to West Germany, so at the behest of Khrushchev of the Soviet Union, at the junction of East and West Germany, East Germany began to build a 167.8-kilometer-long wall, which is the famous "Berlin Wall".
After the construction of the Berlin Wall, all personnel entering and leaving had to undergo strict inspections, and no special procedures were allowed to pass.
Guards of the Berlin Wall also received the following order: "Do not hesitate when using your weapons, even if it is a group of women and children who violate the border ban, which is a common tactic used by traitors." ”
In other words, as long as you dare to climb over the Berlin Wall, the guards can be ordered to shoot you.
However, the bullets on the high walls could not stop the desire of the East German people to immigrate, and they tried everything they could to escape the guards and come to West Germany.
In 1977, a truck driver in East Germany rowed a 15-hour kayak across the Baltic Sea and managed to escape with a family of three.
In 1969, The East German swimmer Mittbauer swam 25 kilometers in the water and successfully reached West Germany. He was covered in vaseline to ensure that his body would not freeze, and in order to avoid the searchlights, he dived underwater for a long time, occasionally coming out to change his breath.
In 1979, two East German families made their own hot air balloons flying at an altitude of up to 2,500 meters, successfully leaping over the Berlin Wall in this way.
Tunnels were dug and used to reach West Germany through "tunnel warfare", but many tunnels were soon discovered and closed by East Germany.
Although many people managed to escape to West Germany, many died on the road in the process.
Erected on the border, the Berlin Wall, like a huge tombstone, became the biggest "devil" in the hearts of the german people.
If you want to end such a tragedy, you must blow up the biggest "devil" Jupiter, as in the plot of the movie "The Wandering Earth".
Finally, on November 9, 1989, no one expected that the Berlin Wall, this huge tombstone, in a dramatic story, would be torn down by the people.
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"Tear down that wall"
On November 9, 1989, Günter Shabowski, then a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the United Socialist Party, misunderstood an order from his superiors and falsely declared the Berlin Wall immediately open.
When the people of East and West Germany heard the news, it was like a barrage lake was released, and immediately rushed to the streets, demolishing the Berlin Wall with hammers, shovels, and hands.
The soldiers guarding were also confused, and the superiors gave this order, coupled with the influx of people who were in a state of extreme excitement, they did not expect to stop it.
People climb the Berlin Wall, remove bricks to take home as a souvenir, and graffiti on the walls as if they were carnival.
Crowds of people hand in hand and singing poured into West Germany, where on the other side West Germans prepared flowers, beer, champagne to welcome, bar offered beer for free, and strangers hugged each other.
The current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who followed her family from East Germany to West Germany in the early years, witnessed the revelry, and she said at a ceremony celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall: "I hope you will never forget the feeling of that day, at least I will never forget; I waited for 35 years to have that feeling of freedom, which changed my life." ”
At this point, the huge "tombstone" that stretched between East and West Germany was "violently torn down" by the people, and the plan of millions of people to "wander the earth" was successful.
Although such success comes from an accidental dramatic event, this event is only a fuse, when the people can't stand it, when the social contradictions reach their peak, any small event can become the reason for the outbreak.
In the years before the Fall of the Berlin Wall, germany and most countries in the world actually hoped that the wall would fall sooner rather than later. In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan appealed to Soviet leader Gorbachev in Berlin: "Mr. Gorbachev, if you want peace, if you want prosperity in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you want freedom, come to this door." Mr. Gorbachev, open this door! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! ”
The citizens of Berlin cheered.
Today's Berlin Wall, as well as some remnants of the site, have mostly been graffiti into a landscape.
May there be no more walls of estrangement in this world, and may every soul under the walls be able to find the direction of freedom.