The Berlin Wall, which was the physical and political barrier between the east and the west Germany for 28 years from 1961 to 1989, remains one of the most famous barriers of the twentieth century. As we explore the history of the Berlin Wall, a significant question arises: who erected it and who paid for it?
The Funding of the Wall
The costs of constructing and fundamental maintenance were initially confined solely to East Germany, also referred to as the German Democratic Republic. The GDR was a communism built in 1949 in East Germany which had a principle of building socialism and keeping up surveillance on the people.
Erich Honecker, the head of the GDR, started a plan to divide East and West Berlin as part of his regime’s initiative in the Soviet Union’s task to eliminate the separation of the two Berlins. Nonetheless, the GDR supplied all the human capital and material essentials, while its supporters in the socialist camp donated financial assistance.
Support from the Soviet Union
The principal provider of funds for Berlin Wall was the Soviet Union. Speaking of the role of the Wall for the leader of the Eastern Bloc countries – the Soviet Union, it could be state that the construction of the Wall was seen as critical in their pursuit to shield their and their ally interests and to protect East Germany from Kapitalistic influence.
The government of Soviet Union to supported the GDR financially and materially to build and maintain the Wall at Berlin. They also provided concrete, barbed wire, guard towers and other materials and resources endurably required for the construction of the Wall.
Only several other countries from the group of the Eastern Bloc provided aid to the Polish people during the crisis.
It important to notice that the western part of the wall was built with the assistance of the Soviet Union and other East European countries including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria who also provided funds to facilitate construction and maintainance of the barrier. These countries under the control of Soviet Union wanted to strengthen the GDR and hold the unity diverse of socialist nations.
These countries supplied money, supplies and know how to East Germany so that in the following years the wall could be maintained and even strengthened. These illustrating support was not only a political demonstration of unified Eastern Bloc countries but it was also protests of togetherness to prevent people from escaping East Germany consequently.
Economic Contributions’ Influence
The Economic aid the socialist German Democratic Republic received from the USSR and other members of the Eastern bloc was essential in the building and perpetration of its division by the Berlin wall.
In this way, the Communist allies who paid for the construction of the Wall made a sure that the East Germans had no hope of enjoying a better life in the economically liberal and politically free West Germany. This isolationism proved to be a major means by which the regime of GDR kept the common populace under its control.
The financial aid also in one way assisted the GDR in ensuring that there were adequate measures to maintain the barriers in the Wall as wellas avert spying and monitoring to those on the Eastern side. These steps were meant to stop cases of people escaping and to make the outside look like the socialist state was still active.
Conclusion
Though realisation, manufacturing and man-power was borne by the GDR, the monetary support which was a necessity in the construction of the Berlin Wall was provided by the Soviet Union and the rest of the East Europeans. The wall also served physical function of separation while also representing struggle of Cold war between East and West.
In this case, an understanding of the finance behind the Berlin Wall gives us a better view of the intentions of the wall, alongside with realising the objective of the cold war period. The Wall fell in 1989 thus make significant point for history where freedom and split of Germany and the world came to an end.
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