Q 01/05

East Germany sealed off West Berlin in August 1961 with the backing of which Soviet leader?

A) Vladimir Lenin

B) Mikhail Gorbachev

C) Nikita Khrushchev

D) Yuri Andropov

Answer · why

C) Nikita Khrushchev

Nikita Khrushchev backed the plan, and East German police and troops began closing the border at midnight, so by Sunday morning, 13 August, it was shu...

Q 02/05

What did the East German authorities officially call the Wall?

A) The Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart

B) The Peace and Friendship Border

C) The Socialist Security Barrier

D) The People's Defensive Line

Answer · why

A) The Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart

The Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart name claimed the Wall shielded East Germany from Western aggression; in practice it kept East Germans from escapin...

Q 03/05

Before the Berlin Wall went up, roughly how many East Germans had already left for the West?

A) About 100,000

B) About 1 million

C) About 3.5 million

D) About 12 million

Answer · why

C) About 3.5 million

About 3.5 million had gone since 1945, a fifth of the population, and they tended to be young and well educated, a brain drain East German officials f...

Q 04/05

Which East German leader declared 'No one has the intention of erecting a wall' two months before construction?

A) Walter Ulbricht

B) Erich Honecker

C) Egon Krenz

D) Willi Stoph

Answer · why

A) Walter Ulbricht

Walter Ulbricht was answering a journalist who had asked only about a state border, so he was the first to use the word 'wall' in this context.

Q 05/05

Which West Berlin mayor called the Berlin Wall the 'Wall of Shame'?

A) Konrad Adenauer

B) Richard von Weizsacker

C) Willy Brandt

D) Helmut Schmidt

Answer · why

C) Willy Brandt

Willy Brandt went on to become West German chancellor and won the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize for improving relations with East Germany, Poland and the Sov...