Probus Club of Meltham

Today’s speaker was Norman Hodgkin who talked about life behind the Berlin Wall. Norman was posted there with his family and spent 4 years there from 1976- 1980.The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 and surrounded West Berlin, physically separating it from East Berlin. 29 miles of concrete and 75miles of barbed wire were used and numerous watch towers built

It was constructed by the German Democratic Republic to prevent its citizens from escaping to the West. 140 died trying to escape to the West and families were separated. It came down in 1989 and Norman showed us pictures of how it looked now and how it looked then.