On the night of August 13, 1961, a giant wall separating East and West Berlin was built. It prevented people from the Soviet zone of Berlin to go to the American, French, and British controlled-part of Berlin (after World War II, the capital of Germany was divided into territories for Allied Powers). The wall showed how both sides had different economies, different cultural beliefs, contrasting political views. Also, the wall separated families from each other for years until the wall was taken down on November 9, 1989. The Berlin Wall symbolized the economic differences, cultural differences, political differences, and separation between the East and West Berliners. Due to Communism in East Berlin, many skilled workers defected into West Berlin, creating economic differences. According to usatoday.com, “so many left that by the time the Wall went up, East Germany lost one-sixth of its population.” This many people leaving caused a shortage of skilled workers. Also the standard of living was so much higher in East Berlin, jobs paid more, and money was worth more in the West (Epler 39-40; Schmemann 34). Like Beate Kosch, a young biochemist who left East Berlin, people wanted to have more opportunities. Sadly, due to the wall, over sixty thousand commuters could not travel back and forth …show more content…
East German authorities did not value Western culture. For example, East Germans were not allowed to listen to popular western music such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, because of blocked radio stations and police raiding of concerts (Sis 18). People in the rest regularly listened to live concerts and any music they chose. Additionally, having long hair or displaying Western flags was a sign of defiance, and people got in trouble by the Stasi, the Secret German Police (Sis 19). Everything that East Germans liked was taken away from them. The cultures of the two sides were dramatically
Meanwhile, tensions grew as the Soviets constructed a wall to separate East and West Berlin, until its demolition in 1989, the Berlin Wall symbolized the division
After World War II, Germany and Berlin were controlled by four major powers, US, Britain, France and Russia. Many people fled from the east side, which Russia controlled, because they did not like being under the rule of the Soviet Union and communism. Over 2 million people fled over the course of the years 1949-1959. Russia did not like how people were leaving their side of Berlin, so they built a wall. This wall started out as a barbed wire fence that later was made into a 15 feet high and 4 feet wide wall made of concrete blocks.
The Berlin Wall became a physical and historical symbol of the division of two ideologies; communism and capitalism. It also proved that there was a great amount of hostility and tension between the Soviets and Americans. It even showed the world the different ways one could rule a
The number of trained professionals in particular threatened the economy of East Germany. The Wall changed this. It did stop the flow of people West, but imprisoned the ones living in the west.
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
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 was a wall set in place to try and stop the flow of emigrants between east and west Berlin. After World War II, the Allied forces split Germany into four occupation zones. The United States, Great Britain, and France all got the three western Germany sectors, while the Soviet Union got the East
Life with the Berlin Wall is hard for both sides but it was easier for the West democratic Germans then the East communist Germans, The life on the east side was different from the west in terms of the amount of freedom each side had, with the East having much less freedom than the West because of the Berlin Wall. The east side life was different from the west side because the east side was stricter, controlled by communism, and did not have the freedom the west side has, The first reason why is because the east is more strict and in the article “The Berlin Wall from the East German Side” by Sidney Brown states, “Even though there were checkpoints along the wall that allowed passage between East and West Germany, receiving permission to pass through the wall was nearly impossible for East Germans.” ( Brown, P 3 ). This explains some of the struggles of the East Germans
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, 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.
With its fall tumbled down the idea of a divided Europe. When it had stood, the Berlin Wall had kept East Berliners from moving from the communist zone of the city to capitalist West Berlin. To those who watched events from the west, the Berlin Wall symbolized the restrictions of those living under a communist government. After World War Two, the Soviet Union imposed communist governments in many Eastern European countries. In addition, to keep western capitalism out of these places, the Soviets built a barrier between communist eastern countries and capitalist western ones. This barrier, which was ideological as well as physical, was termed the “iron curtain” by the west. The barrier between West and East Berlin was known as the “Berlin Wall”. Behind the “iron curtain” lay countries where the communist state ran the economies. Germany represented the divisiveness of an “iron curtain” as it was one country split into two states – a communist one and a capitalist one. This is one of the countries most crippled by World War Two found itself at the center of a stand-off between capitalist and communist forces after the war ended. In addition, the capital city of Berlin was divided down the middle, with half the citizens owing allegiance to capitalism and the other half to a communist regime. In 1961, East German communist forces erected the Berlin Wall to stop capitalist thoughts from spreading into the communist state. The Wall officially
Germany was split in two by the Berlin Wall from 1961 to 1989. This wall had many reasons to be torn down but one reason it was up was to separate Eastern Germany from Western Germany. This separation would cause many issues at the tearing down of the wall in 1989. The reason Eastern Germany was separated from Western Germany was because Eastern Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union, due to the Cold War. This wall was built to stop the communist Eastern Germans from seeking refuge in non-communistic Western Germany.
Even on a chilly day in Glasgow, temperatures in the Kibble Palace are warm enough to keep the plants inside green and healthy. The ornate iron-framed conservatory was built in 1865 by Joseph Kibble, an inventor and engineer, at his estate on Long Loch. It was later moved to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens
Last year marked the 25 year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Life in Germany was very different before then. This event caused many changes in Germany, including the way people thought and acted. People have gone from no phones, to phones, and fancy daily dress, to casual. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the big changes in culture in Germany are marriage traditions, clothing trends, and religion.
The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany.