A Summary Of The Berlin Wall

On the night of August 13 th , 1961, police officers strung barbed wire across the border of

Usually walls are put into places to avoid people to cross borders and keep peace but they destroy peace. Recently one could have heard in the News that Trump wants the Mexicans to pay for a wall between Mexico and the United States. This Wall should make it impossible for people to cross the border unofficially. As one could know from history classes, we had a wall in Germany for many years which was built by the winner countries of the second world war for a similar reason. Before the Wall, many people from East Germany tried to escape to West Germany where they had obviously better living conditions. It divided Germany in East and West Germany. Additionally, there was a part of Berlin, what was in the East German part, isolated from a huge wall that belonged to West Germany. This wall made it hard for the citizens of East Germany to visit West Germany. The Government of East Germany had other principles than the government of West Germany and it was not in the interest of the East German government to show their citizens how good their life could be in West Germany. After the falling of the Wall, it was possible for everyone to travel in Germany whenever they want without standing in line at the borders. But there was a big gap in wealth between East and West Germany. Even today the loans in West Germany are lower and the federal states have less money than the ones in West Germany. But in Berlin, one can visit ruins of the Berlin Wall which are colored and painted. As one could know from visiting Berlin, there is only a small part of the Wall left but at other parts, one could find the position of the wall with marked flagging on the ground. Additionally, one could buy a piece of the wall as a souvenir. Standing in front of the ruins of the Berlin wall inspires this realization: Peace is about breaking barriers not building them.

Following the fall of the Third Reich at the end of WWII Germany was split between east and west into two different countries. In the east the German Democratic Republic was under communist rule and was supported by the Soviet Union. The Federal German Republic was a democracy that was part of NATO. As part of the division of Germany following WWII, Berlin, the capital of Germany was divided evenly between the two nations. However, the entire city of Berlin was deep inside of the GDR, so the Western half of the city was democratic but it was surrounded by communist territory. This made West Berlin a place where many East Germans would try to escape to. As a result of this the German Democratic Republic built a wall surrounding West Berlin to stop its own people from escaping to freedom.

The Berlin Wall is a historical symbol of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall is a symbol of the end of the Cold War. And also, the Berlin Wall played a great role in the life of millions of people and defined the fate of German people, which put them apart by the Wall for a long period of time. Sixteen years after the end of World War II, the communist government of East Germany began building a wall on (August 13, 1961), that would divide the city of Berlin into East Berlin and West Berlin. The purpose was to keep fascists from entering East Germany, but mostly to keep West German citizens, primarily people of valuable professions such as doctors, teachers and engineers, from Changing side to the West. People of Berlin Called the wall Schandmaur, which actually means " The wall of shame". Over the years of the wall being constructed it took at least 3x times to rebuild it, but each time bigger than the last one.

In 1989, one event occupied the spotlight around the world. The Berlin Wall, which for twenty-eight years had separated families and friends came down as thousands of people began crossing Bornholmer Bridge in northern Berlin. NBC’s Tom Brokaw could be seen on television throughout the United States saying, “A historic moment tonight. The Berlin Wall can no longer contain the East German people. Thousands pouring across at the Bronholmer bridge” (Dodds, 2014). This single event changed many things in Europe and around the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall that night, which was the ultimate symbol of the Cold War, was a major turning point in the collapse of communism leading to the unification of East and West Germany and was influenced by political leaders from both the Soviet Union and the United States. The fall of the wall affected the Communist world and eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union allowing countries under their control to become independent and free.

Even though no large-scaled fight occurred, the Cold War still had a devastating impact on the people of East Berlin. People living in the East suffered under Stalin’s secret police. With the Berlin Wall complete, Stalin trapped the people inside a living nightmare. Families were separated, and workers worked for long hours with almost nothing for return.

The Berlin Wall symbolised the difference between the western democrats and eastern communist and the way they though Germany should be led.

Linda Dossantos 11/20/2014 GLS102: Comparative Politics and Government Opinion Paper #2 The U.S. Civil Rights Movements and the East German Struggle for Freedom The Berlin Wall was a physical division that separated West Berlin and East Berlin in Germany from 1961 to 1989 during the Cold War. The wall was a symbolic boundary that divided Democracy and Communism physically.

Two photographs, one captured at the beginning of the wall and the other at the demise of the wall, paints a picture of Berlin’s struggles to become one. Paul

At the beginning of the Cold War, the communist government in East Germany (GDR) and the Soviet Union agreed that a wall, restricting the people’s free access to the west (Allies), was the only way to solve the mass exodus that threatened the East German economy and made the Soviet Union look inferior to their rival the United States. The Berlin Wall, which enclosed West Berlin, was constructed, and the East Berliners were trapped behind a desperate and failing Iron Curtain until a revolution finally led to their freedom.

The Berlin Wall symbolized many things for different people. For the Germans it served as their punishment from World War II, this punishment divided up their country and separated many people from their families who might have lived in different parts of Germany. Everyday things that were accessible to them like going to the grocery store or visiting family members were now made harder since in order to cross to the other side of the wall people would have to go through security checks. The Wall also represented death because if someone were to try to escape to the other side of the wall they would be shot dead. To other countries the Berlin Wall represented communism as well as division between two different forms of government. During

On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of Germany began to build a barbed wire and concrete wall between East and West Berlin. The purpose of the Berlin Wall was to keep the Western extremist from entering East Germany.

In November 1989, the lives of almost half a billion people throughout Eastern and parts of Western Europe drastically and completely changed. This month marked the beginning of the two-year demolition of the “Iron Curtain” that descended across the continent and the thawing of the Cold War that waged between the world’s two rival superpowers. The fall of the Berlin Wall not only marked the reunification of Germany after 28 years but, also, the reunification of all of Europe after almost three entire, long decades. Out of the nine original countries that comprised the Eastern bloc and were effectively separated from the Western world by the “Iron Curtain,” all but one later sought membership in the European Union. Since

How the the wall destroyed. It took nearly 20 years to build the great wall of China covering 21,196 kilometers but only 5 years to build the berlin wall 155 km.It was destroyed by the cold war and what remained was graffitied or destroyed by hand. The wall being built was a horrible thing the tall dark grey wall is now completely destroyed and the frame for the barbed wire is the only thing left. In the form of x shaped posts of medetle.

The Cold War by nature divided Europe in two camps – capitalist West, and communist East. This slowed down the political, economic and social integration drastically. As Winston Churchill put it, an “iron Curtain had descended” across Europe. Consequently, Europe was more divided than any other time in history. Germany was divided into east and west. Berlin itself was also divided into similar territories which caused a huge economic, political and social strain on its people. The construction of the Berlin wall was one of the pivotal moments of the Cold War as it served as a physical illustration of the “iron Curtain”. Today however, Germany has become the economic hotspot of the EU so evidently the Cold War only hindered/delayed the inevitable