Today is the anniversary of Barbed Wire Sunday – the day when the military and police of East Germany closed the border between East and West Berlin and began the construction of what would become the Berlin Wall. The intention of closing the border was to prevent the migration of East Germans to the West.
Prior to the establishment of the wall, approximately 3.5 million (or 20% of the population) East German citizens defected to West Germany, many through the Berlin border due to its lack of security. This posed a major issue to the government as it was losing its substantial amounts of not just its workforce but also its intellectuals.
East German tanks stretch out along the Warschauer bridge/Oberbaum Bridge in Berlin to stem the flow of refugees to the West, 13 August 1961
Today is the birthday, in 1959, of American radio/television personality, comedian Danny Bonaduce who with The Partridge Family had the 1970 US No.1 single ‘I Think I Love You’, and the 1972 UK No.3 single ‘Breaking Up Is Hard To Do’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EW4E0jAeAf8
