30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Today marks 30 years since the day Berlin Wall, which separated East and West Berlin for 28 years, fell on the 9th November 1989.
To commemorate this triumphant event and celebrate the freedom that came with it, we are dedicating this week's newspaper to the Fall of the Berlin Wall, with background information about the event, to people’s responses and personal stories, to how this event affected New Zealand.
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People of Berlin standing on the wall
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Background
The Second World War ended, and soon after the Cold War began. The Cold War did not consist of any direct fighting, but rather just extreme hostility between the communist Soviet Union with its East European allies and the USA with its Western European allies.
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The idea of this ‘Iron Curtain’ were first made public by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom at the time, Winston Churchill, when he was invited to speak at American University by Harry S. Truman, who was the American President at the time. The Iron Curtain was a metaphor for the ideological battle in Europe between the Capitalist West and the Communist East. The Berlin Wall was considered the physical manifestation of that metaphor.
“From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended over the continent.”
The USA and their Western Allies believed they had fought for democracy and freedom and World War II, and were now having to fight against being subjected to
The Berlin Wall was erected on August 13, 1961. After World War II, Germany was divided into four Allied occupation zones; Berlin, the German capital, was also divided into occupation sectors, even though it was located deep within the Soviet zone (History.com). In post war Germany, Cold War tensions grew, from situations such as the Berlin Blockade and the US’ Berlin Airlift (History.com). Not only were Cold War tensions growing but East Germany was now under a communist system (History.com). West Germany was in better condition because, unlike in East Germany, it received financial aid from the Marshall Plan (Burkhardt, H). Another big problem was the two different currencies used; West German currency, which was also use in West Berlin,
wire and fences (Fall of the Berlin Wall). Life for the Eastern and Western Germans was
In Berlin, the Iron Curtain had many purposes. It was there to protect, to separate and to enforce a way of life for East Berliners. Firstly, The Wall gave meaning to people’s lives in different ways. It defined where they were to go, who they were to see and who they were to be. For the countless Stasi and informers, it gave them a purpose and an importance in society, and after The Wall came down, that purpose was lost and yearned for. Secondly, The Wall and the controlling ways of the Stasi loomed over the lives of East Berliners, and its implementation was just one of many extreme measures to minimalise Capitalism and encourage Communism. Thirdly, although The Wall
The berlin wall was a big aspect of the cold war that greatly impacted on the everyday lives of german citizen and also caused immense inconvenience to them in many ways but, by the wall being up a potential world war three was avoided, so many could
On November 9, 1989 the Berlin wall came crumbling down. For 28 years the wall did nothing but make everyone's life worse. However, when the wall fell everyone’s lives were about to be impacted for the better. Families were reunited, friends saw each other again, and peace was restored. The fall of the wall marked the winding down of the Cold War, and started a new age where communism would cease to exist. Much of the credit was being given to Ronald Reagan, who had visited the wall just a few years earlier. When Reagan gave his “Tear down this wall” speech, no one could’ve predicted, that it would lead to the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, and the eventual end of the cold war. Although as a result all communist governments in Eastern Europe had come to an end, would be replaced by “democratically elected governments”. With all this, there was a glimpse of peace and a time of rejoicing for all of the world. ("Fall of
After World War II, Germany were divided into four occupied sectors. As shown on the map, the city of Berlin was divided and each dominated by a sector of the Allied Powers: Soviet Union, United States, Britain and France (Doc 3a). East Berlin was controlled under a communist rule by the Soviet Union, while West Berlin was governed under a democratic government. Winston Churchill additionally enhanced the idea of the Iron Curtain being that it represented an invisible line that separated the democratic countries of Western Europe from the communist countries of Eastern Europe. The Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall to restrained people in East Berlin from fleeing to West Berlin. East Germans constructed the Berlin Wall to formally split East and West Berlin (Doc 3b). The Soviet Union denied access to transportation, food and water. The Berlin airlift was an event in which the United States, Britain, and France delivered goods to the people of West Berlin for 11 months after Stalin set up a
June 12th of 1987 held the day when the audience silenced to hear the famous words of President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin (Gaven). “We believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” (Gaven)! Built by the communists in 1961 and surrounding West Berlin, the wall stood as a symbol of
The Cold War was the name given to the relationship between the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A. after the end of World War II. Germany was the representation of the war, and therefore, it became the most disputed country. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 during the Cold War. During late 1950s and early 1960s, the socialist government decided to build a fence across the city border and restrict access to the Western area. Over time, this fence became a brick wall, completely cutting off access to the west, leaving family and friends separated for almost 30 years. The Berlin Wall marked the different ideologies between the different systems of governments, how they functioned, and the meaning to the people.
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.
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.
November 9, 1989, the wall finally came down and the party started. This was a critical time for East and West Berlin. The Berlin Wall was finally removed, making this date known for eternity! A new beginning formed for the people that were bound by the evils of communism.
My official departure date was November 9th, 1989. At that date I no longer was burdened with the responsibilities of standing strong and dividing Germany's two halves. Upon the day of my undoing, "people began hacking off pieces of the wall” a slow and agonizing thing it was, to be diminished in size slowly. There were hammers and machinery and bare hands taken to my side scraping and crashing against my graffiti colored concrete self. My walls were falling and “within a year it was almost gone. Today, there are only a few strips left in the city" (Köhler). With what is still left of me, I watch the two halves that I once divided. Much like me, the government thought that Berlin would just rebuild itself after the wall went down but that really was not the case, it needed direction by government and developers (Nicolson). Though no longer suppressed by a physical boundary, Berlin still suffered greatly. With my own eyes I saw how prominent the differences were between the two sides. “The east side of the wall that had been cut off was very dark, very gray, and very old. The west side had fashion, color, and modern conveniences” (Pruitt). How glad I am to be able to see that even after “all the things that have happened in Berlin after many, many years they have been able to catch up to the rest of the world” (Nicolson). I stand today, just not in the same spot or with the same dreadful
Churchill meant that the term iron curtain was an area that cut Europe into two sections. This separated Europe into two zones, communist, and noncommunist. As shown here on the map by the black line, that like indicates the separation of the two zones. The area that Churchill referred to in his speech was Germany and Russia. This is when Germany invaded them twice, once in 1914, and again in 1941. After this invasion there were areas that separated around Berlin, they were Turkey and Iran.
By 1945 nearly all of Eastern Europe including Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary was under Soviet control. In Fulton, Missouri on 5 March 1946 the British prime minister Winston Churchill gave his famous 'Iron Curtain' speech, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent..."[1] This meant that Europe was divided into two: a Soviet controlled East, and a 'free West'. Churchill wanted and Anglo-American alliance but American President Harry S Truman did not support this as he and most Americans hoped that America and Russia would still co-operate as they had during the war. Churchill's speech
11/9/89: The Berlin Wall for many years served as a barrier between West Berlin and East Germany. It prevented a global view of the future as well by forcing the population of East Germany to be totally secluded from the rest of the world. The fall of the Berlin wall on 11/9/89 changed everything. Not only did this weaken communism, it tipped the balance of power across the world towards democratic advocacy, consensual governance and a free-market economy. The effect was