Introduction
For almost three decades, the Berlin Wall stood as a physical and ideological divide between East and West Germany. This iconic structure holds a significant place in history, representing the Cold War’s political tensions and the Iron Curtain separating the Soviet and Western blocs. In this guide, we will explore the reasons behind East Germany’s decision to build the Berlin Wall.
The Context of a Divided Germany
After World War II, Germany was divided into four military occupation zones: Western and the Soviet-European on the American, British, French, and Soviet and sciences, fields, and technology, and arts. When there were ideological shifts between the occupying powers, there was enmity. In 1949, two separate German states were formed: The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). As the division, it aggravate the Cold War between the capitalist and socialist systems.
Flood of East Germans to the West
Indeed after the division, East Germany lost significant number of people who migrated to the western part of the state which was relatively richer. The socialist regime thought of these emigrations as potentially dangerous to its economic welfare and maybe even political power. This emigration rate increased so that thousands were leaving every day utilizing Berlin which was the only state available for travelling between the two Germanies.
This supervision became a problem for the East German government which tried its best not to lose any valuable human resources to the West. This issue only made them adamant on doing something about the problem.
Construction of the wall in East Berlin
The East German government started building the wall on August 13, 1961 in order to stop the fleeing. The first obstacle was a primitive barbed wire that, in the future, became a strong building. The government said the wall was put in place as a measure of containing spy agents and subversive elements from the west. But it was unveiled in a bid to discourage individuals from East Germany to move to the West.
The wall was made up of concrete blocks, watchtowers, anti-vehicle scars and a ‘death zone’ with more of mines and pitfalls. It weaved itself through the city in a way that created a barrier between East Germany and West Berlin and indeed physically and geopolitically bisected the city.
Life in Divided Berlin
This wall was first built with a goal of stopping people from escaping East Berlin and actually affected the lives of people on both side of the wall. They lost their businesses or jobs, their social networks were disrupted, and they woke up in different countries being told that they couldn’t go home. Movement was strictly regulated in East Germany, and while making the split more rigid and imposing great erasure of restriction between the two halves, it also cultivated distrust between both parts of the city.
Political and Ideological factor 3
Holloway has noted that construction of the Berlin Wall was a mirror of the political and ideological intention of the Socialist regime in East Germany. The wall was intended to maintain the image of East Germany as a socialist heaven that should not let the population turn into the so-called immature Western zone. In turn, by continuing to separate its people further, the government wanted to maintain power and stop ideas of democracy and capitalist from entering East German society.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall for was erected for 28 years but on November 9, 1989, the pressure created by mass protests compelled the East Germany government to allow the crossing point of East and West Berlin. The breakthrough for the wall happened in this year and it signified the door for the destruction and the unification of Germany in 1990.
Conclusion
The erection of the Berlin Wall by East Germany was as a result of citizens emigrating to the advanced region of West Berlin. The wall put an effort to control their people while cementing a clear separation between socialist East and capitalist West. Its collapse later on became the rallying cry for people’s unity and strength of freedom and democracy.
Disclaimer: This blog post is not intended to be a historical overview of the Berlin Wall therefore it cannot attempt to include all aspects of its creation, use, and destruction in detail. But it is still encouraged to research and study this subject even further.