Berlin’s history cannot be recounted without the story of a divided city. Berlin is deeply divided into East and West, and the division into East and West has left an indelible mark on the city’s own identity. This doesn’t mean that you know everything about East Germany and Berlin’s history, but in this blog post, we will try to go through the history of Berlin’s splitting and the main characteristics of East Germany.
The Origins of Berlin’s Division
In Germany, there was a great socio political realignment at the end of World War II. The country was beginning to be divided up into distinct parts with East by West major world powers occupying different parts of the country. Berlin was also divided by a demarcation in the eastern part of the Germany.
The cause of the division of Berlin to the geopolitical tensions between the United States, Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and France each had control of certain zones in Germany. Located in Soviet held territory, the City of Berlin was also divided into four sectors that were under control of each Allied power.
The Berlin Wall: Symbol of Division
Berlin’s division was most strikingly expressed by the Berlin Wall. The wall was originally erected by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in 1961, to be both a physical and ideological barrier between East and West Berlin, representing the not so distant past of the Cold War.
There were many reasons why the wall was constructed. Its first and main objective was to stop massive emigration from East Germany to the prospering West. In addition to keeping people on either side separated, the wall was a physical barrier between two political systems.
East Berlin: The Capital of East Germany
The capital of East Germany, East Berlin was the scene of East Germany’s socialist state administration. Grand boulevardes, monumental architecture, and standardised socialist housing complexes were built to create the city.
Another cultural institution that also filled East Berlin were the famous Berlin State Opera, the Palace of the Republic, among others. East Berlin was supposed to be a showcase for where socialist systems were leading but often the reality was much murkier.
Life in East Germany
East Germany was an economy and political system tightly controlled by a central planning. Individual freedom as well as freedom of choice was limited, industries, media and transportation were taken under the state’s charge. Only access to Western goods and information allowed the creation of an insular society.
But we have to remember that life in East Germany was not all that awful. It was a state where the government provided all of its citizens with comprehensive provision of healthcare, education and affordable housing. East Germans also felt solidarity with each other.
Reunification and the Legacy of Division
1989 was the year that a turning point in German history occurred when the Berlin Wall fell. When East and West Germany reunified in 1990 there followed a tide of positive and difficult changes.
Most of East Germany was initially ready for reunification, but this was a surprisingly difficult transition. The sharp contrasts, sense of inequality and differences were brought about due to the merging of two such different such economic, political and social systems. Life under a capitalist system, with economic difficulties that accompanied that, was a struggle for many Easterners.
Today the legacy of Berlin’s division is still in the air. The Berlin Wall is still visible and the infrastructure and urban planning of East and West are still very different. While many might know Berlin as a reunified country with, on the surface, an unlikely and inadvertently decades long unification, what hardly anyone would have thought is that Berlin would become a vibrant, cosmopolitan city having celebrated its rich history and its cultural history.
Understanding Berlin’s Historical Divide
If you want a taste of Berlin’s historical divide, then you have to get to know Berlin. The Berlin Wall was not only a symbol of the division between East and West, but actually expressed the lives of countless people beyond the walls of the latter.
Investigating the roots of Berlin’s division, living through East Germany, or understanding how to bring the city back together in the 21st century allows us to better understand the intricate history — both as Berlin itself and in the shadow of a country and city split into two — which has made it what it is today.
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