During the time when Germany was being divided into four zones so that the Soviets, Americans, British and French could each control a part of the land, Germany’s capital, Berlin, was completely within the Soviet Zone. The city would also have to be split between the countries. The Soviets ended up controlling East Berlin while the Americans, British, and French took control of the West. This meant half of the city split into a communist government, and the other half became democratic. Citizens who lived in East Berlin at the time, started to feel trapped under a dictatorship. Before the Berlin wall was built, the border between East Germany and West Germany was closed. This meant that there was nothing to stop East Germans from entering West Berlin and fleeing from communist rule. West Germany wasn't happy to see this number of people leaving the East. Not only did it create an incredible economic strain, it increased tensions between East and West to an unbearable level. The Soviets, or East Germany, were also loosing many well-educated people, such as doctors, intellectuals and engineers. Since they were loosing so many of their people, they decided to fix the problem at hand.
On the night of Aug. 12 in 1961, the borders between East and West Berlin were closed, along with all the rail stations. Thousands of East German soldiers guarded the border while workers began constructing barbed wire fences. Residents were stunned and outraged once the Berlin wall was built, strong and mighty. They didn’t like being overpowered, and under the Soviets control. The wall separated families, cut off people from their jobs, and left East Germans to live in drab apartments. Economy was horrible, and citizens couldn’t afford most luxuries. Some people were so desperate to escape the communist control that they tried to climb the wall or tunnel beneath it. It wasn’t an easy task trying to escape, though. Guards marched and kept watch, while military vehicles drove up and down concrete roads in the “death strip.” They were able to respond quickly to any escape attempts. At night, bright and powerful search lights swept over the entire area. And even if a citizen could get past the wall, there was a huge gap, which stretched 30 to 100 yards. “The total number of civilians killed trying to get across the wall is in dispute. Some sources claim 86, while some claim 239 or more [source: Grant, Burgan]. The number is almost certainly more than 100. Even pregnant women were shot to death trying to escape.” Seem like a prison? Most would say so.
The Soviets didn’t care much for the people. There motives were purely political, Communism vs. Capitalism. They were so willing not to loose their people that they would lock everything down, and therefore, let no one escape. They “closed the door to the West,” and reduced the problem of East German citizens fleeing to West Berlin. These people were trapped in a place where they didn’t want to be. They sought after a better life, but instead, were kept in a city by force. Citizens became innocents in jail, who were guilty of nothing. They did no crime, and yet they were kept in a prison-like environment.
Still not convinced?
http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1966-08-12-08-006&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1966-08-12-08
http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/232/berlin-after-the-wall-decades-after-its-fall-history-still-haunts
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From how East Berlin sounded I would've tried to escape too, I wonder if there was a secret way at some point in the wall that East Berlin people escaped to West Berlin to, I bet there was and it was kept secret to only the few people that made it through.
ReplyDeleteif i were trapped in Berlin i would want to escape and i woundered if a lot of people died trying to
ReplyDeleteEast Berlin should definatley be considered a prison. If people are being trapped and not allowed to go places it is for sure a prison, they were told they would get a better life but that was not the case. Why did this have to happen?
ReplyDeleteI think many people who lived in East Berlin didn’t want to move out because that’s where their home was. I think that some people were scared to move because that would mean they would have to start a whole new life out of nothing. They have been living in East Berlin for so long that they wouldn’t want to lose the live they already have.
ReplyDeleteI think it's so sad that people were being forced to live in a certain area, it shows how conflicted the soviet union was. I don't think i could handle that sort of life. Were the west germans confined in any way?
ReplyDeleteThis does indeed seem like a torture chamber. When you say that families were split up do you mean the wall was built in a random place and just divided the people up no matter what? Overall this is an interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is unlucky that mainly the East Berlin Germans were treated so poorly, they still were in support of Nazi Germany. So they deserved whatever was coming to them because they lost the war to the Allies. The fact that the Soviets are not treating them well is out of their control and they have to live with it.
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