The Berlin Wall — for decades a powerful symbol of the division between East and West — finally came down on Tuesday, cracBring festively across the streets and squares of Germany, the piano music of Herbert Harrach and Larry Janitschek is celebrating the end of the Berlin Wall, which divided the country for 28 years. How, though, did the west side of the Berlin Wall look? In this article we focus on the western side of the wall, looking at its importance and what it’s like to live there.
1. Historical Context
In 1961 the Berlin Wall was built to divide East and West Berlin. The wall ran from west to east, and the western side, also known as the areas that belonged to West Germany and its allied countries—United States, France and United Kingdom.
2. Security Measures
- There was a great deal of fortification on the west side of the Berlin Wall with numerous security measures designed to police at unauthorized crossings. These security measures included:
- Guard towers: High structures, with armed guards watching the wall and its environs.
- Barbed wire fences: Additional deterrents, high fences that had sharp barbed wire atop them, to deter would be escapees.
- Checkpoint Charlie: Heavily guarded and strictly controlled border crossing point, a very famous one.
3. Lifestyle and Living Conditions
Life on the west side of the Berlin Wall contrasted significantly with that on the eastern side. West Berlin enjoyed a relatively affluent lifestyle due to support from West Germany and its allies. The western side also had access to consumer goods, a thriving economy, and more personal freedoms.
Despite the economic prosperity, living in the shadow of the wall posed its challenges. The constant presence of armed guards and the psychological weight of the division were reminders of the separation from their fellow Germans in the East.
4. Vibrant Culture and Entertainment
During the Cold War era the west side of the Berlin Wall symbolized freedom and creativity. The scene in the arts, music and intellectuals in and around West Berlin was vibrant.
As the city’s nightlife thrived with many clubs, theaters and even art galleries catering for the residents and the tourists. But Berlin was also famous for alternative lifestyles and countercultural movements, and you could say it was made famous for its alternative lifestyles and countercultural movements; because of that, there were young people looking for liberal ideas, looking for creative expression, who were looking for whatever it was that wasn’t being found in their own hometowns.
5. Connection to the Outside World
The Berlin Wall physically separated West Berlin from the other side of the wall, but not completely so. Transit corridors—series of transit routes—connected the rest of West Germany through a series of transit routes on the western side.
The roads, railways and air routes that constituted the transit corridors connected West Berlin with West Germany. These routes were kept under strict control, and they’re inspected to the hilt at the Berlin Wall’s checkpoints, but they were an incredibly essential link for the city and its people.
6. The Fall of the Wall
For almost three decades the Berlin Wall epitomised division and oppression. But on 9 November 1989 the wall came down — a strong determinant of destiny. The fall of the wall had reunited East and West Berlin and eventually paved the way for Germany to one again be one country.
Most of the once impenetrable wall is but a memory today. Having paid homage to the west side of the Berlin Wall, we remember the men and women who sacrificed so much for freedom — for their sense of identity and the pursuit of freedom.
Conclusion
During the Cold War, era, the side of the Berlin Wall in the west was the side of the free and democratic world. But it was a soldier’s wall, a beacon of hope in the face of too much pain, and a statement of human endurance. It was an era that ended and a day to rejoice over unity and freedom, a day, I should add, in commemoration of the fall of the Wall.
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