Background: This 48-page pamphlet was issued soon after the
construction of the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961. It presents
the official line that the Wall was built to defend East Germany
against subversion from the West, and claims that East Germans
welcomed the Wall. I include some, but not all, of the
illustrations. It was issued by the SED (the East German ruling
Marxist-Leninist party). The source: Da schlug’s 13 (Berlin:
Kreisleitung Berlin-Mitte der SED, Abteilung Agitation und
Propaganda, 1963). On the 13th On 13 August 1961 peace-loving
Berliners won a battle for peace. The battle groups of Berlin’s
working class, along with comrades in the National People’s Army
and comrades of the German police of the capital of the GDR, put
an end to subversive activity against the GDR by spies, slave-
traders, and Revanchist organizations based in West Berlin The
Socialist Unity Party of Germany thanks all the comrades in the
battle groups, the Society for Sport and Technology, and the
German Red Cross for the rea