The Cold War saw the building of a concrete barrier, the Berlin Wall, that separated the city of Berlin from 1961 to 1989 and is now a symbol of that division. The first was a physical division of the two sides, countries who made up the Western Bloc (United States nations) and countries who made up the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union nations), outlining ideological differences between these nations.
1. Berlin Wall – The Construction of It
The Berlin Wall was built between August 13, 1961 and August of 1962. The Soviet response was a response to the fact that the growing number of East Germans were fleeing to West Berlin to try to although the USSR.
Concrete segments, barbed wire fences, watchtowers and, of course, minefields made up the wall that was 155 kilometers long. It was designed to keep East Germans from running over to West Germany.
1.1 Dividing Families and Friends
It’s one of the most heartbreaking effects of the Berlin Wall — the separation of family and friends. People were suddenly cut off from their loved ones and were confronted with the brutal fact their loved one was on the ‘wrong side’ of the wall.
1.2 No Man’s Land
‘Bereits verstobbar vor einem Meter von der innern Wand des Berliner Wandels weg, war der ‘Todesstreifen’, der ‘death strip’, der sowieso schon ein ‘no man’s land’ war.’ The place was heavily guarded, some of it blocked off to prevent any escape attempts. It was later to become a symbol of how far the East German government would go to keep people from defecting.
2. Life on Each Side of the Wall
There was a huge difference in life on either side of the Berlin Wall.
2.1 East Berlin: Life under Communist Rule
Soviet control of east Berlin and strict communist policies were under place. All was not well with the economy and there were little or no personal freedoms. The government was watching its people, and had been propagandizing them for as long as the war had been happening.
2.2 West Berlin: Thriving Capitalist City
Conversely, the city of West Berlin was a capitalistic one. It had economic growth, and it gave its citizens more personal freedoms. People would come to the Gdansk shipyards whenever they felt such hope was worth fighting for; it became a symbol of democracy.
3. The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Tensions and protest had been going on from years and then, the Berlin Wall finally came down the same day as November 9, 1989. It depended on an excessive number of things, such as changes in political power in the Soviet Union, and pressure from the outside world.
3.1 Peaceful Revolution
This was a mostly peaceful revolution. In the months preceding its collapse, peaceful demonstrations and protests grew ever larger and more fervent. In time, the East German government was forced to allow people to cross the border without restraint.
3.2 Germany reunified, East and West Germany
On October 3, 1990 East and West Germany were reunified n. 28 It became the symbol of hope as the end of Cold War period.
4. Legacy of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall is a symbol of division, of oppression, a symbol of triumph over adversity. Some parts of the wall have been conserved as memorials and behind these are some lessons of political division.
The fall of the Berlin Wall is the end of an era and the victory of freedom over oppression. This is a reminder to us all that, even when it feels as though there is no way out of the mine on a technical level, that the power of unity and hope do still work in our favor.