Berlin Wall: A Symbol of the Split of Berlin Essay

For thirty years, an iron curtain lay across Germany. This iron curtain was called the Berlin Wall, and it represented the divide between East and West Germany. It also represented the loss of East Germany’s freedom and democracy. The Berlin Wall separated families and friends. This resulted in children growing up without a father and wives losing all communication with their husbands. The Berlin Wall poorly affected many people and businesses, and caused an ugly dent in Germany’s history.

East Berlin to keep Eastern German citizens from escaping to West Germany. The inner German

After World War II, Germany and Berlin were controlled by four major powers, US, Britain, France and Russia. Many people fled from the east side, which Russia controlled, because they did not like being under the rule of the Soviet Union and communism. Over 2 million people fled over the course of the years 1949-1959. Russia did not like how people were leaving their side of Berlin, so they built a wall. This wall started out as a barbed wire fence that later was made into a 15 feet high and 4 feet wide wall made of concrete blocks.

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.

Walter Ulbricht, who was the German Communist leader under the command of Stalin, organized the construction of a large wall to be built in order to restrain illegal emigration from the East to the West. They tore up the streets to use the paving stones to build the wall. It stunned people from both East and West Germany. Workers from East Germany that worked in West Germany were separated from their family that night, and they were separated for years. While the Wall was being built, the West began protests and speeches that prohibited the complete isolation of East Berlin. The United States, in particular, was opposed to the establishment of the Wall. Unfortunately for East Berliners, however, Western involvement did not go much beyond protests and speeches.

These blockades later became the infamous “Berlin Wall”. The wall was infamous because it “stood as a grim symbol of totalitarian socialism” (“Berlin Wall” 2). “The soviets tried to control all of berlin by blockading the roads.”(“Berlin Wall 2). After the building of the wall the Westerners responded with the Berlin Airlift. The Airlift was was series of helicopter flights that supplied the country with food and supplies. The Airlift not only helped them in their food situation but also caused success for the economy in western Germany. The wall was later destroyed after the Eastern Cabinet resigned. On “November 7… hundreds of thousands of Berliners took to the streets, breaching the wall in frenzied celebration.” (“Berlin Wall” 3). This was a momentous day as the effect of the wall was essentially imprisonment for the people on the eastern side. The wall was armed with guards that were instructed to kill anyone who attempted to escape. The destruction of the wall was significant because it displayed how things can be accomplished without violence. Then 21 days later “West Germany outlined a proposal calling for the reunification of the nation” (“Berlin Wall” 3). All in one year the wall that stood as a sign of separation was destroyed and the two sides were

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 was built in August 1961 during the Cold War. The Wall that separated East and West Berlin came to show the different ideologies between different systems of government, Communism and Democratic supported by the USSR and the USA.

In August of 1961 one city became two separated by a wall. Families were divided and lives torn apart from the separation. The East side was ruled by communism while the West side was democratic. The wall became known as the Berlin Wall, and it stayed there for twenty-nine years. During that time, East Berlin became terribly poor under the iron fist rulings of communism. West Berlin, on the other hand, prospered economically. Then, in 1989, the wall finally began to fall as citizens of West Berlin began to hack away at the wall.

On August 13, 1961, Germany permanently closed the border between East and West Berlin. They used barbed wire and concrete fencing armed with guards to divide the two sides. Prior to the wall, Berliners from either side could come and go freely, but after it became impossible to do so except by going through one of three checkpoints. Only under special circumstances were they aloud to cross over. With time the makeshift wall was replaced with a larger more sturdy one. The wall stood 12 feet tall, which included 79 miles of fencing, nearly 300 watchtowers, more than 250 guard dogs, 20 bunkers, and 65 miles of anti-vehicle trenches. People attempting to escape East Berlin were shot on sight, and the area between the two became known as “the death strip.” Still more than 5,000 people managed to escape by driving through the Death Strip, leaping out of buildings along the wall, or digging tunnels underneath it. Some even made it across in a hot-air balloon. At least 171 people died attempting to

The Berlin Wall had a major impact on humanity’s views on how society should be ruled. Berlin is the capital of Germany. After the ending of WWII, Berlin was split up into East Berlin, and West Berlin. East Berlin was communist, suffered from the repressions of the Communist Party. West Berlin had a better lifestyle, and had financial aid from the United States. From the years between nineteen forty-nine to nineteen sixty-one, approximately 2.5 million people from East Berlin escaped to West Berlin. This toll included skilled workers, professionals, and intellectuals. Because of the loss of these people, the economy in East Berlin was threatened. On August twelve-thirteen, nineteen sixty-one, the Berlin was built in order to stop the people of East Berlin from fleeing. The Berlin wall was a major point during the Cold War, and many opposed it. It gave another reason to detest communism.

The world was shocked when it learned of the entrapment of of citizens of East Berlin. The wall was put up by Walter Ulbricht, forcing East Berliners to live under communist rule. Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall separated the communist nation from the rest of society. Friends and families were divided by the wall, prompting thousands of escape attempts that left at least a hundred people dead. Eventually, in 1989, the Berlin Wall was torn down, two years after President Ronald Reagan demanded it. For twenty eight years the freedom of East Berliners was encircled by a wall that stretched for ninety one miles, limiting the encounters of East and West Berliners. Lack of exchanges between East Berlin and the rest of the world left many economic

Airstrikes that were deployed towards the U.K. (United Kingdom) and strikes down near Moscow Russia. The second crisis in Berlin begins in November causing Nikita Khrushchev to ask the west to leave the eastern side of Berlin.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 in the Cold War. It was used as a separation tool that divided Germany into a communist side and a democratic side. The West side was democratic and the East side was communist. These sides had different views and ideas of how Germany should be led and run. The Berlin Wall blocked people in the West side from going into the East side to go to work, shop, to see their family and vice versa. It was very difficult to try and cross over from the West side to the East side. The Berlin Wall had the physical wall that separated the two sides alone with soldiers stationed on each side of the wall, these soldiers were given orders to shoot anyone that attempted to cross the wall. Hundreds of people were killed trying to cross the wall. When it