This paper analyses one of the most famous decisions made by Germany during the Cold War, namely the decision of the government of the GDR to build the Berlin Wall. It was constructed during 1961 up to the year 1989 or approximately over 27 years of duration of the construction of the wall. This blog post is to focus on the cause of construction of the Berlin Wall and the effects it had on Germany and the world.

1. The Cold War Divide

After the defeat in WW II Germany was divided into four zones of occupation, each administered by one of the allied powers – the United States, Soviet Union, great Britain and France. The city of Berlin also situated in the midst of Soviet controlled sector of East Germany was also divided into four sectors.

Relations between the Western powers and the Soviet Union worsened to trigger the Cold War. It became a question of who would gain the upper hand, capitalism or communism, and correspondingly Soviet influence started to infiltrate and dominate more of the workings of the country.

2. Mass Emigration

In the 1950 and the initial part of the 1960s there was a high level of migration from East to West Germany. In this case, freedom to exercise basic human rights and rid a dictatorship formed the reason for people to flee the East Germany dominated by communism. Berlin was a divided city and anyone desiring to taste freedom from the tyranny of East Germany could easily cross the border into West Berlin.

About 2, 700000 people had migrated from East to West Germany by 1961, and as a result, the economy of East Germany decelerated, and the number of employees also reduced. The drain of the population which culminated in thousands of intellectuals fleeing to the West posed great danger to the Soviet grip on power in East Germany.

3. Stability at the political and economic front

Actual quit of the skilled workers and intellectuals from East Germany put the government and its communism propaganda in a disadvantageous position. East Germany fell on hard working force majority those were young people many left for west Germany even the economy of the east German was failing.

3.1 East German Government’s Response

Such problems being realised, the East German government, with Khrushchev’s sanction, resolved to construct a barrier – a wall – that would enclose the whole of East Berlin and most specifically separate it from the West. Berlin Wall construction, began on August 13, 1961.

It was first a simple barbed-wall but it developed to concrete walls, watch towers and heavily guarded check point.

4. Symbolic Significance

The wall was not only physical, but was rather the physical, visual extension of the ideological barricade of the Iron Curtain that divided east from west between communism and capitalism. It symbolized the split of the evil Russia in the Eastern society and the free world in the Western society.

It became an embodiment of personal freedom, and restriction of human rights under communism reign. It widened more the gap between East and West Germany which almost made reunification a distant hope for many people.

5. Impact and Fall of the Wall

This paper aims at discussing how the construction of Berlin Wall influenced the Germans as well as the entire world. It destroyed families, split friends and friends and brought a lot of sorrow and death. But it also aligned with populism and resistances and struggles for transformation.

For several decades, people became dissatisfied with the Soviet system, and the pressure was heightened by events like Reagan’s speech in the Berlin Wall in 1987, in which the US President urged Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!”

Finally, the gates fell on November 9, 1989, after months of non-violent demonstrations, the East Germany government said that its citizens could cross the barrier. Many people of both sides of the wall danced joyously when the wall was demolished for bringing the cold war and East West Germany reunification.

Conclusion

That is why the Berlin Wall was built, mainly for the purpose of preventing people’s flight from East to West Germany because of political, economic, and stability reasons. But, at the same time, it accommodated a powerful symbolic embodiment of the Cold War division between East and West.

Obs: The top image symbolizes theitem that reflects triumph of oppression – the Berlin Wall . That, I believe, is the essence of why it represents liberty and the ability of people to make their own destiny. The analysis of the reasoning behind the creation of the Berlin Wall makes people realize how important the event was after the Wall was collapsed.