Berlin Wall Research Paper

The East German Government wanted to stop the incoming immigrants from crossing into Eastern Germany. The wall started as a thrown together as a block wall with barbed wire on the top. The temporary wall was replaced by a concert wall that was 4ft wide and 12 ft wall. Close to two hundred people lost their lives attempting to cross over. The wall was finally taken down in 1989.

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.

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

The Berlin Wall was erected the night of August 13th 1961. Before the Berlin Wall was built it was a border but without warning in the middle of the night they closed all borders so no one could cross. The border was soon turned in a 3 layered wall. The length of the wall was 96 miles with 302 watchtowers. The wall wrapped around East Germany. East Germany had erected the wall to prevent people from running away from there to West Berlin. People that lived in the east were running away to the west because Stalin was in power and he was trying to make East Berlin turn into a communist country. About 2.6 million people were able to able to escape to live a better life in the west but that was only about 30% of the population. For the other people who were not able to escape, they were forced to stay there since the border was turned into a barrier known as The Berlin Wall. No one

Ronald Reagan advocated for the removal of the Berlin wall, as best portrayed when he famously said on June 12th, 1987, in his speech before the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Germany, “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!” President Reagan strove to bring freedom to all people, not just to his own. He strove to abolish big government systems like communism and bring justice to ordinary citizens. Along with President Reagan’s efforts, statements Gorbachev made and the East Berliners rioting in protest of their government contributed to the fall of the wall. Still, the fall of the wall shocked the world. On November 9th, 1989, the government of East Germany declared that the wall would be open. At first, people of East Berlin could not believe the news, but after the truth settled the people rushed to the other side. Some five hundred people crossed before the Berliners began tearing the wall down to be reunited with West Germany. Meanwhile, America watched the event on television, celebrating the freeing of a repressed people and the dissolving of a totalitarian system. Though the fall of the Berlin wall did not affect the majority of the American population on a personal level, optimism for the future surged. After forty-four years of Cold War, the

This is a newspaper source from the London Herald dating Saturday 11th of November 1989. This primary source demonstrates the views of the British towards the fall of the Berlin Wall, what it symbolised and how it affected the political world.

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.

The Berlin wall was put up in 1961 to prevent the spread of communism and to separate Germany from Berlin. Mass protests and revolutions led to a chain reaction which caused the wall to fall. On November 9th, 1989 the wall started to fall, the military eventually began to help taking down the wall, this was the beginning of German reunification.

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.

On the night of August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic and volunteer construction workers of East Germany began to seal all points of entrance into West Berlin with miles of barbed wire, concrete, and stationed soldiers. “Antifaschistischer Schutzwall”, as they called it, or the “anti-fascist bulwark.” The purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western fascists from entering the socialist state of East Germany, and to prevent Easterners from pouring out of the USSR-occupied zone. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, many refugees fled from the east to reunite with family in the west, and to escape the oppressive government that had developed in East Germany after Germany’s defeat in the second World War. Soon, the wall was extended to divide all of Germany, spanning over 96 miles across the nation, dividing the Communist East from the Western Federal Republic of Germany. The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years. Finally, on November 9, 1989, the head of the East German Communist Party announced that members of the GDR could cross the border as they pleased. Celebrating citizens of Germany brought hammers and pickaxes, and began to chip away at the cement that had divided friends and families for nearly three decades. To this day, what’s left of the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful symbols from the Cold War.

The Berlin wall was a wall that was up to 15 feet high, which separated East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It lasted 28 years from 1961 and 1989. Throughout this time period, many people living in East Germany left and fled to West Germany because they had a better economic system. Since their lost in WWII, East Germany built the wall to prevent access to West Berlin. Because of this separation that lasted 28 years, many families, friends and relatives were separated. The wall slowly progressed to become even more advanced so that it would be harder for people to get to the other side. About 5,000 people survived, 5,000 people got caught and 191 more were killed. People were willing to do anything at any means just to get over the wall

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

The Berlin Wall was taken down 0n November 9, 1989 because of the constant civil unrest, and as a result, thousands of citizens in East Germany climbed to West Germany and vice-versa as a celebratory action.

In 1961 there was a wall build with barbed wire to separate the east and the west in Berlin. This resulted in a riot from the citizens who proceeded to attack offices, military officials, and threw rocks at military vehicles like tanks and cargo trucks. The people of Berlin were outraged, people were forced away from their friends and family and were not allowed to cross the border of the wall because Khrushchev wanted to gain control of the entirety of Germany.

When the wall eventually came down in 1989 and German reunification begun shortly thereafter, there was genuine dismay to find those living behind the wall essentially frozen in time.