Berlin Wall Essay Research Paper The Rise

Berlin Wall Essay, Research Paper

The Rise and the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Many hardships began for Germany when World War II began, but by the end of the war Germany was in the mists of a disaster waiting to happen. After WWII was over Germany found itself split between France, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, each country controlling a zone. Berlin, which was surrounded by the Soviet Union, was also divided into four sectors. The Soviet Union was in control of half of Germany, and it happened to be the East half of the Germany. The Soviet Union made East Berlin the capital of East Germany. The other three counties were each in control of a small part of what was to be West Germany. These three countries decided that they would come together to form one country out of their three sectors. Those three sectors formed West Germany (The Division and Unification of Germany 1).

After all the land was divided the Soviet Union controlled East Germany. Just like the Soviet Union, the economy in East Germany was struggling to get back on its feet after the war. While West Berlin became a lively metropolitan area like many American cities, East Berlin became what many thought of as a Mini-Moscow. In East Germany there was

literary nearly nothing. The shelves in the stores were nearly bare, and what was there was of bad quality. Under the dismay of the people of

East Germany, the Soviet Union went against their promises, and made East Germany a Communist country. This decision by the Soviet Union even further separated East Germany from the rest of Europe.

East Germany was now all by itself, and by the summer of 1952 the border between East and West Germany was closed; only in Berlin the border was still open. On June 17, 1953 the worker of East Germany were fed up, and they started a riot (Berlin Wall Timeline). By noon the riots had escalated and the workers from East Germany were marching through the Brandenburg Gate into West Germany with intension to consolidate with workers from West Germany. All of this came to an end when the Soviet Union called in tanks, and other troops to take care of the riots. The Soviet tanks shot into the crowds of people killing many, and injuring many others, they even shot into the crowds in West Germany that were rioting (The Division and Unification of Germany 2). The people of East Germany realized that they were trapped in East Germany, and if they wanted out they would have to risk their lives in doing so.

In the late 1950.s approximately 8,000 to 10,000 people from East Germany left and each day they would move further and further west.

Many of these people were from East Berlin, and the government of East Germany knew that they couldn.t afford to loose all of these people.

Their economy was suffering already, and with the loss of so many people the economy would be doomed. Many of the people that were leaving were skilled trades men, or members of professions. East Germany did not have any ideas on how to stop all the people from leaving in droves, until some person came up with an idea to build a wall so high, and so booby-trapped that no one would try to get over the wall (The Division and Unification of Germany).

This idea, thought up by some unknown person became the infamous Berlin Wall. This infamous symbol of the cold war was built on August 13, 1961 (Berlin Wall Timeline). It stunned people from both East and West Germany. Workers from East Germany that worked in West Germany were separated from their family that night, and they were separated for years. The Berlin Wall was 96 miles long. It consisted of 67 miles of concrete segment wall which was four meters high, 42 miles of wire mesh fencing, 65 miles of anti-vehicle trenches, and 79 miles of contact or signal fence. There were 302 watchtowers, and 20 bunkers (Facts About Berlin Wall). Many people are mistaken and think that it only divided East and West Germany. The wall did not only divide Berlin through the center and all around the outer part of the

city, it was built on the border between West and East Germany, from the Baltic Sea southward through the center of Germany all the way to Hildburghausen. From there it went east toward the border of Czechoslovakia. When building the wall, houses were tore down, and replaced with mined strips and watchtowers. At this time the people of Berlin new it was more than just their worst nightmare, it was reality (Facts About Berlin Wall).

The people of East Germany were trapped in East Germany. There was no way to see relatives or anything for that matter on the west side of the wall. The people of West Germany were granted permission to go to the East side of the wall, but could not take anything with them. They were allowed to stay for only a week, and could only do this a couple times a year. As I talked to my German roommate who lived in West Germany, he told me about all of the hardships that the people in East Germany went through. He visited East Germany and he told me about all of the hassle he had to go through just to see friends and family. He said he believes it is as bad as being in prison. He also told me that no one could trust anybody. He said best friends would be torn apart because they didn.t know if the other could have been a spy. He told me that he heard that 1 out of every 6.5 citizens of Berlin were spi