The Berlin Wall was a wall which physically separated the city of Berlin between 1961 and 1989. Was it not one to demarcate the two sides of the cold war, East and West Berlin? This blog post will also investigate on various factors connected to the Berlin Wall and what was cut off by this division.

1. East and West Berlin

Before they put up walls and built the Berlin Wall in particular, Berlin was actually divided. The eastern part of the country was occupied by the Soviet Union power while the western part by the Western Allies including the United States, Great Britain and France. The wall was constructed to separate the East and West Berlin as two different political facing each other.

Checkpoint Charlie

The most famous crossing between east and west was Checkpoint Charlie. Originally it was meant for diplomats and servicemen. This checkpoint also marked the division of the city and saw some of the most dramatic stand offs during the cold war.

2. Families and Friends

The division of people East Berlin citizen and west Berlin citizen, relatives, and friend by the construction of the Berlin Wall. When the wall was constructed people were separated and can not easily go to visit or telecommunicate with their relatives or friends. In case of the Brazilian families separated, the communities failed to communicate and see each other for over 28 years.

Death Zone

The zone closest to the Berlin Wall, also referred to as the area that the communists called the ‘death strip.’ namely was a restricted area completely fortified and no one was allowed to approach it. People who try to cross the wall have a chance of being fired at by border security guards. The wall enclosed the death as it separated families continued to do so as it prevented many from escaping what they feared.

3. Economic Systems

The days of the arrival of the wall ted to be one of the most significant symbols of the Western capitalist economies and the Eastern socialist economies. While capitalist market economy was rapidly developing in West Berlin, the socialist planned economy which was modelled to Soviet economy was on decline in East Berlin.

West Berlin

People in West Berlin had better living conditions, its citizens had more job openings as well as employment and greater access to consumer products. The city evolved into a cultural center, with arts and commerce, young and old as well as visitors from all over the world.

East Berlin

East Berlin at that time had its own set of problems to deal with and that was the problems of the economy. The centrally planned economy led to lack of commodities, personal restrictions and far from perfect possibilities to travel. Some of the inhabitants of East Berlin were confined in small apartment houses with limited facilities.

4. Ideological Differences

The Berlin Wall and its construction represented the conflict between communism and capitalism of the Cold War in general.

Propaganda

The government of East Germany also applied the use of the Berlin Wall in its propaganda after painting it as a shed to protect people from the effects of the Western capitalist states. Their goal was not to halt a few of their citizens from fleeing to the western countries in pursuit of a better life.

Freedom and Democracy

The East, of course, saw the Wall as a means for protecting its population, while the West understood the Wall as a symbol of oppression and the violation of human rights. The structure remained as an emblem of the contrasts of freedom and democracy of the western countries to the dictatorial form of governance of the eastern ones.

Conclusion

The Berlin Wall was a concrete division between East and West acting as a divider between people, families, friends, differing economic and political affiliations. It ceased operation in 1989 thus causing the Berliners to welcome a new era of reunification symbolizing hope of a free life.