August 13 Birthday
On August 13, 1961, East Germany closed the border between East and West Berlin. By morning, barbed wire had been strung across streets. Within days, concrete blocks were being laid. The Berlin Wall stood for twenty-eight years, dividing a city and symbolizing the Cold War. Over 5,000 people escaped across, under, or through it; at least 140 died trying. The wall was the most visible manifestation of the Iron Curtain. It fell on November 9, 1989. East German border guard Conrad Schumann, photographed leaping over the barbed wire on the third day, became one of the most famous defectors of the Cold War. Alfred Hitchcock, born this day in 1899, directed fifty-three films. He never won a competitive Oscar for Best Director. He was famous for his cameos — brief appearances in his own films that audiences learned to watch for. He was afraid of police, having been locked in a cell by his father at five as a "lesson." His technique of building suspense by showing the audience what the characters don't know — the bomb under the table — is called "Hitchcock's bomb.". People born on August 13 fall under the zodiac sign of Leo. The birthstone is Peridot and the birth flower is Gladiolus. Historical events on August 13 include 1521: Aztec capital Tenochtitlan falls to Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, 1961: Construction of Berlin Wall begins, 1995: Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle dies at 63. Famous people born on August 13 include Annie Oakley (1860), Alfred Hitchcock (1899), Fidel Castro (1926).