Madam, – In relation to Vincent J Lavery’s views (November 12th) on the reasons behind the construction of the Berlin Wall, may I respectfully note that the anti-democratic government of the self-proclaimed “German Democratic Republic” did not build the Berlin Wall and the impenetrable 1,400km long inner German border including booby traps and mine fields in order to heroically protect its population from western-paid capitalist provocateurs or to keep dissident East Germans within the country.
It did so in order to secure its undemocratically gained power through totalitarian control over 16 million people and in order to suppress the ongoing mass exodus of its ordinary citizens, not dissidents, 3.5 million of whom had escaped in desperation before the construction of the wall.
The wall was not a protective measure for the benefit of its citizens, it was a jail. – Yours, etc,