Understanding the Birth of a Barrier
The Berlin Wall was a wall split through the middle of the city of Berlin through May 1961 and November 1989. This was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR popularly known as East Germany) to separate the East Berlin from the West Berlin in the Cold war.
The Construction: 1961 – A Decade of Tensions
The construction of the Berlin Wall started on August 13 in 1961. The construction of the wall was as a consequence of sharpening differences between the Soviet Union and the Western Bloc fronted by the United States. In years before the construction of wall many east Germans were migrating to West Berlin in search of political asylum, better job opportunity, and quality life.
As is well known, in order to stop the emigration rate, the GDR has for the first time in its history decided to build a material one. Original fencing was barbed wired, but it was soon changed to a wall made of concrete and maasive in size. The wall was around 12 feet (3.6 meters) high and the entire construction was 96 miles (155 kilometers) long completely around West Berlin. They were guard towers, watchtowers, and ditches; Burkers had interconnected trenches encompassing about two hundred yards that any escape attempt would trigger the alarms.
The Impact on Berliners
This paper evaluates the effect that the construction of the Berlin wall had on the people living in the divided city. People were divided by the wall, friends were separated from their families and families never seen again. The wall appeared as a sign of the confrontation between two global political systems – communism and democracy; it amplified the divide between the two main powers in the Cold War.
According to people of West Berlin, the wall depicted division ahead as well as limitation of freedoms from the GDR regime. It restricted their contact with friends and relatives in eastern part of Berlin and made routine activities such as going to work or school testing. West Berlin did get economically better, but the psychological side of dividing those two cities was enormous.
In turn, difficulties experienced by East Berliners were even greater than the described above ones. The wall subjectivized them into a restricted and controlled society where their opportunities were limited and freedom had little chance of suc-ing. East Berliners, in order to get to the other side with the opportunity of leading a better life, had to endanger their lives. Unfortunately many people died in these attempts which underlines a cold fact of this divide.
The Fall: 1989 – A Symbol of Unity
Growing Dissent and Winds of Change
During the adopted period of the 1980s also the international politics was changing and the Cold War was in decline. In this period people of the GDR especially the youths grew dissatisfied with the autocratic style of leadership and economic isolating policies. ER3 Ost mit Linken Aufrufe der Massen für demokratische Veränderungen gaben den Druck auf die Regierung im Osten Deutschlands weiter zu erhöhen.
The Momentous Night – November 9, 1989
Finally on the evening of the 9th of November, 1989, The GDR’s ruling party declared that there would be a relaxation of restrictions on emigration for … This kind of an announcement caused much joy and enthusiasm among the East and West Berliners contrary to what people expected. Many people went to the border checkpoints and guards allowed people to cross the border of the two zones, even though they could not cope with the flow.
The breaking down of the wall in Berlin become symbolic representing the breakdown of communism and the joining of the two Germany. Both East and West Berlin residents came out in greets and jubilant, with hammers and chisels ready to teardown the once dreaded barrier physically.
The Legacy and Lessons Learned
The Berlin Wall is simply another call to human freedom and costs of partitioning nations across the globe. It was the German reunification and the end of communism in almost all the nations of Eastern Europe. Today is it preserved as memorials and to remember the lessons which were taught to fight for unity, tolerance, and to work towards change of the world.
In Conclusion
The Berlin Wall was put up in 1961 as a sign of the Cold War when East and West Berlin were separated. Construction of the wall was carried out during instability and the wall was an embodiment of communism and democracy. But it was finally the rising discontent and the spirit of the change that spelled out its end. The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 emerged as one of the greatest events to have a unification impact on Germany and icons for the people of the world. The lesson learnt from construction of the Berlin wall is priceless lesson of freedom and the strength derived from unity hence building a stronger spirit of humanity.
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