{"id":6467,"date":"2022-06-17T10:20:56","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T16:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?p=6467"},"modified":"2022-06-17T10:20:56","modified_gmt":"2022-06-17T16:20:56","slug":"the-slow-march-of-light-highlights-the-human-spirits-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2022\/06\/the-slow-march-of-light-highlights-the-human-spirits-strength\/","title":{"rendered":"“The Slow March of Light” Highlights The Human Spirit’s Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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The summer of 1961 was undoubtedly one to remember. Between 1949 and 1961, 2.5 million East Germans fled East Germany to settle in West Germany, including an increasing number of professionals, intellectuals, and skilled workers. Their departure almost destroyed the economic sustainability of the East German state. As a response, East Germany built a wall to close East German\u2019s access to West Berlin and West Germany. That barrier, known as the Berlin Wall, was first erected in the night hours of August 12-13, 1961. The wall\u2019s construction resulted from a decree passed on the 12th<\/sup> by the East German Volkskammer or \u201cPeoples\u2019 Chamber.\u201d<\/p>\n

The original wall, built of\u00a0barbed wire\u00a0and cinder blocks, was replaced by a series of concrete walls that were topped with barbed wire and guarded with watchtowers, gun emplacements, and mines.<\/p>\n

This Berlin Wall left many families separated; In The Slow March of Light<\/a>,<\/em> we learn about Luisa Voigt, who lives in West Berlin, but her grandma lives in East Berlin and is now trapped. Desperate to save her grandma and save others, Luisa decides to join a secret spy network, ultimately risking her life to assist East Germans with climbing over the Berlin Wall into West Germany.<\/p>\n