Aside – Anna's Art

Anna Sharp

Visual Studies 1 Reflection

9/21/14

Episode 104: Tunnel 57

The Berlin Wall was created to divide the Eastern and the Western parts of Berlin, though it came to have much more meaning. Apart of this political, social, and environmental conflict were tunnels trying to break the away the millions of controlled people from East Berlin. Ralph Kabisch, a young brave man, helped in the dangerous building of these tunnels starting in a coffee shop in West Berlin. This man and other people working on the tunnels were not only admirable, though, but they were extremely smart; as they began digging down, they stopped when they reached water level as to not flood the tunnel. As the audio episode describes the terrain and the building of the tunnels it paints a vivid image in my head. The language and background music/ noise gives off a sense of suspense and danger.

As the narrator explains the severity of the Berlin Wall for the imprisoned Eastern Berliners, he describes how the workers would actually live in the construction zone. This opened my eyes- free Germans were not only risking their life to save loved ones, but they were completely giving up their quality of life in the process knowing these days could be their last. Ralph and other brave souls devised a smart precaution: a password, Tokyo, inspired by the Olympics. The tunnel had saved 57 people, including loved ones and friends of those trying to save them. That is why this tunnel was labeled as so. The podcast grows more dark when the end to this tunnel of freedom is discussed; it sounded tragic and as dramatic and terrifying as expected. The East Berlin newspapers then advertised that “western gangsters” had snuck into East Berlin and killed a soldier. This of course was not true.

Asides

Pflugar bridge Fact based essay

Episode 104: Tunnel 57

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