The Berlin Wall is in a Casino in Las Vegas
One for the GCSE History Teachers, to prove that I once did something, and to the ‘Rents, who think that all we have done is drink. 95% true.
Here’s part of the Berlin Wall. Will Trump’s Wall look like this too?

When Germany was defeated in 1945, the country was divided into 4 sectors, each under the control of one of the Allied powers: Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union. East Germany belonged to the Soviets; the West belonged to the remaining 3 powers
Berlin, as Germany’s capital, rested within the Soviet sector; however, it was decided that Berlin would also be divided into 4 sectors, under control of the 4 allied powers.
Tensions began to rise in the late 1940s, when disagreements emerged between the Soviets and the remaining 3 countries. The Soviets, under Stalin, believed that they could undermine British control, drive out the Americans and create a unified Communist state.

In 1948, the Soviets prevented essential food, fuel and living supplies from entering the West, thus trying to starve the allies out of their city, in what is now known as the Berlin Blockade.However, the Soviets failed and were forced to cancel the Blockade, as the allies managed to import 2.3 million tons of food and supplies by air.


All was calm in Berlin 10 years, but in the background, the Cold War raged and emigration from the East began to creep up. On the one hand, the Nuclear Arms race between the Soviets and Americans was now well under way, and the Soviets were ‘winning’. On the other, the Soviets were embarrassed by the seemingly endless flow of refugees from East to West, escaping the Soviet suppression; many of these refugees were skilled doctors, engineers and teachers, leading to a Brain Drain in the East.
At this point, anyone could move between East and West Berlin, to go to the cinema, to the shops or simply to work. There was practically no border.
But, in the first 11 days of August 1961, 16,000 left East Berlin into West Berlin; on the 12th day, 2,400 Germans left East Berlin – the highest number of defectors ever to leave East Germany in a single day. That night, Khrushchev ordered that the border be closed, that free movement be banned, and that guards should shoot anyone who tried to cross. Within 2 weeks, a 3 metre war, laced with barbed wire, stood between East and West Berlin.


President Kennedy praised the creation of the Wall, believing that a Wall, although hardly ideal, was better than a war.
Now, nobody was able to move between the East and the West, except diplomats and officials. For this reason, Checkpoints were set up, such as Checkpoint Alpha, Checkpoint Bravo and Checkpoint Charlie (note the phonetic alphabet).




It is said that 170 people died trying to cross the wall. Over 5,000 managed to escape by going over or under the Wall, either by hot air balloon or by crawling through underground sewers.
A series of rebellions in East Germany, particularly in Poland, led to the demise of the Wall in 1989 and the re-emergence of free movement. Shortly afterwards, Germany was unified once again.
The Wall was eventually crushed and destroyed, but this part remains now as a very long Gallery. Other parts were auctioned off all over the world, and now, one section of it stands behind the urinals at the Main Street Station Casino in Las Vegas.

