The Berlin Wall: A Cultural Analysis

a million people crossed the border into Berlin from both directions. The building of the Berlin

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.

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.

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 built on August 13, 1961. It was built because millions of East Germans were defecting to the West via West Berlin. In the documentary it was said that before the wall was built one person every three minutes was defecting to the West. This was threatening East Germanys labor force and its economic survival. The GDR said the official reason for the wall was to keep out anti-socialist influences.

History seems to remain in an endless cycle of repetition. In the world's most contemporary issue: walls. History has proven to us that walls either protect, in the case of the Great Wall of China, or divide, as proven by the Berlin Wall. Depending on the intended purpose of walls and borders, they can protect or ruin lives. Any sort of barrier creates restrictions, and if caught beyond those limits can result in banishment, exile, separation, estrangement, and displacement. Nevertheless, with great effort walls can be brought down.

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.

On August 12, 1961, the Berlin Wall was built to separate East Berlin (German Democratic Republic) from West Berlin (The Federal Republic of Germany). The Wall has a “ 66 mile concrete section that was 3.6 metres high, with a further 41 miles of barbed wire fencing and more than 300 manned lookout towers”6 and was meant to separate superpowers Britain, France, and the United States from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It lead to countless problems such as social separations, family breakages, starvation, deaths due to low living standards, hatred among politicians within a country, among others. The Berlin Wall perhaps helped the American policy of containment winning people's support.

This book takes place in Berlin, Germany. It was the year 1961 when the book began. There was a girl named Gerta, her older brother named Fritz, her younger brother named Dominic, her father Aldous, and her mother. It was two days after Aldous and Dominic went to the west when the Berlin Wall went up. The Berlin Wall was a barbed wire and concrete wall that separated East and West Berlin. The wall went up around night-time when everyone was asleep and nobody could escape or get warnings. That morning Aldous and Dominic were supposed to come home but sadly the wall went up too early for them to make it. Days passed and life was pretty rough for half of the family. There were a bunch of Stasis everywhere, especially on top of the wall that made

Germany has 16 states and three of them are called City-States. Their country capital is Berlin, Germany. Berlin was divided into four zones, America, British, Soviet, and French. The British and American Zones were combined in 1946 when it was first established, calling it the Bizone. In 1948, the French joined the Bizone causing it to be called the Trizone. In 1961, the Soviet’s built a wall all the way around West Germany to keep them from going to the land controlled by the USSR. The Berlin wall was demolished in 1989, and you can still see where the wall stood.

In society people base their identity on their cultural background, customs and history that their landmarks and cultural facilities represent within their community. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Berliner’s experienced a loss of identity due to reunification. Not only was East Berlin impacted by the cultural shock, West Berlin had to adjust to the new lifestyle as well. Even though West Berlin had a change in identity, East Berlin was a more drastic change to communism. Having lived in a communist state for so long when the wall fell East Berliners once again experienced a drastic change. People who had formerly lived in East Berlin experienced a loss of identity after the Berlin Wall fell. The people living in East Berlin’s experienced a change in their community, services, cultural facilities, geographical landmarks and were unfamiliar with working in a free market economy which contributed to a loss of identity after the wall fall.

This paper examines the reasons for the construction of The Berlin Wall, and the inner and outer factors that resulted in the destruction of The Berlin Wall. This paper will furthermore assess the consequences for the East Germans when The Berlin Wall was destroyed.