Germany During The Cold War

The excerpt from Jana Hensel‘s After the Wall: Confessions from an East German Childhood published in 2004 tells an honest story of what it was like to be a child of East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Hensel describes how she and members of her generation grapple with the dichotomy of being a part of two different worlds: reunified Germany and the old East Germany that belonged to their parents and their past. The excerpt discusses how commodification during reunification transformed the East German state from a communist system to a capitalist one. Hensel describes how this transformation erased any signs of the GDR and made East Germans foreigners in their own homeland.

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.

wire and fences (Fall of the Berlin Wall). Life for the Eastern and Western Germans was

THESIS: From research and historical analysts, we can conclude that in many cases the people of Germany have been effected socially and economically by the building and construction of the Berlin Wall.

When the wall was torn down, eastern businesses suffered, families separated, yet this would bring pride to Eastern Germans in the near future. This was all due to the switch from a command economy to a market economy in Eastern

When the wall was put up one thing lead to many other things. If a mother had gone to say the west side of berlin for a couple of days while her family was in east berlin where they live during the time period that the wall had been put up, the mother would have to maybe wait some time before she could go back to east berlin with her family. When the wall was put up many scenarios just like this had happened and many families actually were split apart. Families being split up could lead to the other family members trying to get into the side they are on which was now considered illegal and if they had been caught trying to cross the wall they could have been shot on site. People trying to cross from east to the west was very common as it was believed that west was the more favourable side. By 1961 around 3 million east Berliners had gone over to live in the west this impacted the people living in the east because many who had moved were skilled labourers such as doctors this meant that there were only limited doctors for the

The map shows Germany was divided into West Berlin and East Berlin as a result of the cold war because the West Berlin was democratic while East Berlin was communist. In document 3b, an image is shown of the Berlin wall being built as a result of tension from both believing they sent spies and soldiers into one another’s territory. In West Berlin, the United States and its allies used its money to make West Berlin a good advert for democracy and capitalism. Citizens in West Berlin had good living conditions and earned good wages while the citizens in East Berlin were

Today the city of Berlin is a thriving city with excellent nightlife unlike it was in the midst of the cold war. Although the reunification of the two sides was painstaking and expensive, Berlin and all of Germany is growing to be a magnificent city today. In spite of all this you can still see the differences between the two sides of Germany today. Whether it's the economy, population, or school leavers, the contrast is clear and present today. Regardless Germany is working to be a stronger, more peaceful, and unified country. ("Fall of the

During this time East Germany was under the Soviet Union, which was communist; the Soviet Union during the cold war era had many European countries in their union. Germany was split with eastern Germany being communist and western Germany being a federal republic of Germany. Many families were split when the boundaries between the two states were drawn so people typically immigrated out of Eastern Germany into Western Germany. Eastern Germany tried to stop their people from leaving by imposing the “iron Curtain”. The Berlin wall was heavily guarded so America could not barge in and destroy the wall; America did make it known they were not pleased by the

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.

“We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it.” General George S. Patton believed this and was right to a certain degree. America didn’t declare war on the Soviets but they did play a major role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Americans didn’t fire a shot on Russian soil but they pressured them into doing acts that the Russian economy wasn’t capable of doing. Although the Soviet Union was a super power after World War 2, their power was cut short because of the involvement in the space race and arms race.

During the Holocaust about 5,900,000 Jews were killed which is 63% of the Jews in Europe at the time (Holocaust Statistics). This statement easily shows that evil can be very strong however just like Hitler it will not last forever. There were many factors that lead this great evil to come to power and many things working against it.

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 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.

In contrast to the desolate picture life in East Berlin painted, the economy of West Germany, which also included West Berlin, was rebounding and becoming quite strong. West Berlin’s businesses were booming, and their industry products were readily and rapidly bought by its resident who were eager to obtain the products and goods they had so long been deprived of previously, as a result of World War II.10 This new and heightening demand for goods pushed wages up quickly, and many new jobs were created with the development of new housing units and other construction enterprises.11 Movies, plays, and concerts were also available for West Berlin residents to enjoy, and overall life in West Berlin was good. However, life on the West side wasn’t all fun and games. Their city was still divided, and families were still separated. To the children of West Berlin residents, East Berlin was hidden from view and shrouded in mystery, their only knowledge of the other side coming through school or some form of media. It seemed they constantly asked themselves the question, “ Will the lives of East and West Germans forever be so vastly different and separate?”