The rise and fall of the Berlin Wall Essays - Eastern Bloc

For twenty-eight years, the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. After the second World War in 1945, the victorious Allies, the US, Britain, France, Russia divided Germany into four sectors, each under the control of an ally. The US, British, and French Sectors combined to form a democratic state, The Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany. The Soviet sector became a communist state, The German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, on October 7, 1949. A barrier now separated east and West. Winston Churchill named this barrier the Iron Curtain. Even though Berlin lay deep within the Soviet sector, the Allies thought it best to divide this metropolis. Therefore Berlin was also divided into four sectors. Again the US, British, and French Sectors combined to form West Berlin. The Soviet sector became the East German capital, East Berlin. The governments of these two new countries were set up by the occupying forces, not the populous. Most of the residents of East Berlin and East Germany did not like the communist regime. In fact, most people were not communists. The Berlin Wall, though not part of the iron curtain, was a reminder of it. The wall was made of steel, cement, and barbed wire fences with traps and explosives. There were guard towers with machine guns and other weapons. It was almost impossible to cross this barrier without the communist government's permission. Conrad Shuman was a nineteen year old border guard when he witnessed families tearfully separated. He realized he was not protecting his country, but imprisoning its people. Three Days after the border was closed, he leapt to freedom. The people of East Germany became dissatisfied with the economic and political conditions of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Private trade was outlawed, as was the ownership of private land. People were forced to work on collective state owned farms. There were food and supply shortages. One hundred-sixty thousand refugees crossed the b order from East Berlin to West Berlin between January and the beginning of August of 1961 in search of a better life. This upset the East German government and the Soviet countries. (East Germany was a Soviet satellite, but was of special interest to Moscow). Nikita Kruschev, the Soviet premier of that time ordered the Berlin wall built to stop the flow of refugees. The GDR began building what they called the anti-fascist protection wall on August 13, 1961, using barbed wire and anti-tank obstacles. However the East German citizens were still escaping. The GDR added tanks at important streets some supplied by the red army. They tore up the streets to use the paving stones to build barricades. There were many escape tunnels dug under the wall. The tunnel system was an extraordinary resistance movement dug by hundreds of East Berlin students with thousands more willing to help. The first successful tunnel was in an East Berlin Graveyard. Mourners brought flowers to a grave and then dr opped out of sight. A woman with a baby accidentally found the tunnel and escaped leaving the baby carriage. The police found the carriage and closed the tunnel. The largest tunnel was in the basement of a house at number sixty Wernerstrasse, twenty-nine people were freed from this location. On August 23, 1961, the GDR stopped the subways, the railroads, and the telephone lines going to West Berlin. The people of East Berlin were no longer allowed to enter West Berlin, including the sixty-thousand workers who worked in West Berlin. However East Berliners still managed to get out. Some of them bribed their way out with cigarettes and money. After some people managed to scale the wall, there was a ban on the sale of rope and twine. On September 20, 1961, the GDR began to demolish all of the houses near the wall. They began construction of a more permanent concrete wall. When completed the wall was one hundred-sixty six kilometers long, and an average of four meters high, topped with c oncrete tubing and barbed wire. Behind the wall was a trench to stop vehicles. After that was a patrol track with a corridor for watch dogs, watch towers, and bunkers. Behind that was a second wall. This area of