In West Berlin people hope that Kennedy will negotiate with Krushchev on tearing down the wall. In East Berlin the wall is called the antifascist protection wall, and the soldiers guarding it are seen as heroes of peace. The conflict between East and West is conceived as a class conflict. As this might lead to a new war, East Germany sets up a National Service, although the intention had been never to militarize Germany again. At the first anniversary of the wall, 13 August 1962, more than 20 persons have already been killed, while trying to flee East Berlin. People all over West Berlin observe three minutes' silence for the victims. Four days later 18-year-old Peter Fechter is shot by wall guards, while trying to flee to West Berlin. He lays mortally wounded, shouting for help, but nobody helps him. In July East Germany opens a modern airport at Berlin Schönefeld, but not many of its citizens are allowed to leave the country. In October the Cuba crisis generates panic in West Berlin, as many of its citizens believe that America now will avoid the Berlin conflict, and West Berlin become incorporated in East Germany.
—Maths Jesperson {maths.jesperson1@comhem.se}