What Are The Ruins Of The Berlin Wall

This was a leading climatic event in towards the end of the 1980’s marking the end of communist regimes around the world, making it evident to even average citizens that change was coming. The Berlin Wall stood as a symbol for the two opposing sides of the Soviet Union and the United States. In 1949, Germany split into two different nations. Germany was a central hub for Cold War politics, with the West side allying with democratic states and the East side allying with the Soviet Union. The end of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the Soviet Union’s status as a reigning power in Eastern Europe, with the Soviet Union falling not long

The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany. The Wall was built because of a long lasting suspicion between the Soviet Union on one side and Western Europe and the United States on the other. For 28 years the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. After WWII was over Germany was divided into four parts. The United States, Great Britain, and France controlled the three divisions that were formed in the Western half and the Eastern half was controlled by the Soviet Republic. The Western sections eventually united to make a federal republic, while the Eastern half became communist.

In 1989, one event occupied the spotlight around the world. The Berlin Wall, which for twenty-eight years had separated families and friends came down as thousands of people began crossing Bornholmer Bridge in northern Berlin. NBC’s Tom Brokaw could be seen on television throughout the United States saying, “A historic moment tonight. The Berlin Wall can no longer contain the East German people. Thousands pouring across at the Bronholmer bridge” (Dodds, 2014). This single event changed many things in Europe and around the world. The fall of the Berlin Wall that night, which was the ultimate symbol of the Cold War, was a major turning point in the collapse of communism leading to the unification of East and West Germany and was influenced by political leaders from both the Soviet Union and the United States. The fall of the wall affected the Communist world and eventually led to the collapse of the Soviet Union allowing countries under their control to become independent and free.

On November 9, 1989, Berlin Wall was torn down, the wall stood for more than just a barrier but years of suffering, sacrifice, and division. This is a huge historical moment in American and World history, it was the last straw in the cold war. My research from primary and secondary sources will reveal significant detail about this event that plays a big part in American

The photograph was supposed to be published, but never was, in Life, a magazine, it was meant to inform and demonstrate the separation of the city. A realistic scene, the people on the left watches across the wall as the sole East Berlin police officer does his patrol around the wall. The expressions of the crowd can be described as inquisitive, sad even, as they watch the officer. Some of the onlookers, though, look indifferent as they watch. The close-up photograph has a high vantage point as it only captures the heads of the crowd, but it captures the majority of the police officer. Taken from this angle, the viewers are able to see over the wall, but still captures the crowd of West Berlin citizens. Additionally, this allows the viewers to understand that the walls are long. Not only this, but it shows the emptiness of of the Eastern side of the wall with the empty

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 aim of this essay is to evaluate and understand the effects on the city of Berlin with the creation of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall has played an extremely important role in the life of millions of people. This 155km Wall has defined the fate of German people that have been separated by the Wall for a very long time.

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.

“Escape hatch”no more. The Berlin wall consisted of barbed wire and concrete, it was built to prevent East Germans from fleeing for their democratic freedom. Once the communist government realized that their people were fleeing the country they were outraged. According to History.com, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) constructed the wall on August 13, 1961. Now because of this there is no more departing. Everyone on the East side of Germany could no longer flee without their life being seized. They were stranded. There was no more escaping the Communist Government and they . It was a wall of shame or as they say Wand der Schande.

“…the Wall was there to protect East Germans… by imprisoning them.” (Allen 35). The freedom of the East Germans was unfairly restricted by the wall. Many in the government did not care about the lives of the citizens as long as they were not losing anymore to West Germany. “Border guards are issued shoot-to-kill orders for all those trying to flee.” (“East Germany Opens Border” 7). When a boundary is placed with a strong defense it makes a person want to go over the boundary. People have an urge to go to the other side of the wall but it is way too dangerous to even think about attempting. “The Berlin Wall was a “rampart against fascism,” he recalls. “When it went up on the 13th of August, 1961, I cheered.” (Nelson 6). People cheered and appreciated the wall because if was keeping fascism away from them and their lives. Sooner than later fascism started to seem pretty great as more people wanted to go across the Wall. The Berlin Wall was effective but did it do the job it was supposed to

On August 13, 1961, the Soviet Union that controlled East Berlin (and East Germany) rolled out a wall of barbed wire overnight to separate their claims on East Berlin from the Allies that controlled west Berlin because they thought that the allies were damaging their communist regime in the East. The reason for this ‘overnight barricade’ was to keep the “Western fascists from undermining their city” . Families were broken apart and if you were at the wrong side of the wall at the wrong time, you would be separated from your families by a string of barbed wire that later became a giant concrete wall. This was seen as a somewhat aggressive action and immediately began making political actions to make the Soviets tear it down. When Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union, he noticed that it was causing famine and chaos in East Berlin, so he agreed to demolishing the wall that his predecessors had built.

"Even though the U.S.S.R.’s final collapse came two years later, the fall of the wall that separated West from East in Berlin more than any other single moment symbolizes the end of the Cold War” (Karon and Hayoun 1). During the cold war there was a constant threat of a third world war breaking out. During the cold war most of the world was integrated into a an economy revolving around either the United States or the Soviet Union. “Just as the wall had come to represent the division of Europe, its fall came to represent the end of the cold war” (Office of the Historian). Once the cold war was over there was no longer always fear of nuclear war, which calmed down the national defense, and put an end of the need to keep spending millions of dollars on next-generation weaponry.

Walls that divide are destined to be destroyed. In August of 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected for one sole purpose: to prevent the emigration of East Berliners and Germans to the democratic West Berlin. However, the wall did more than just this; for twenty-eight years it separated friends, neighbors, and even families. The Berlin Wall was one of the most powerful symbols of the Cold War until its fall and marked the fall of communism in Europe. Focusing on its emotional and physical impact on Germany, this paper will examine the factors that led to the wall’s formation, how the wall changed Berlin, East and West; and how Germany conquered its partition. It closes the paper with the analysis of how the wall, twenty-five years after its destruction, impacts Germany today.

The Berlin Wall known as Berliner Mauer in German (Rosenberg, 2016). It was a symbol of the Cold War. Trying to cross the Wall meant risking one’s life. One side of the Wall people were free to do all the normal things. While the other

The Berlin Wall being a symbol of the suppression of human rights in Eastern Germany during the Cold War contributed towards the desire of Capitalism in Western Germany. Kennedy’s refusal of the Western powers in leaving Berlin and assurance that he would not allow the people living in West Germany to fall under communism. Khrushchev’s decided in cutting all contact between the two halves of the city which was virtually impossible for people “behind the Iron Curtain” to cross to the West except East Berlin to West Berlin. On August 13, 1961, The East German government made a border of barbed wire and soldiers armed with machine guns between East and West Berlin. 3 days later, work started on a 45 km concrete wall. Anyone who crossed the wall