The Berlin Wall
For people that have family or friends living in another country or State, not being able to visit these people often because of distance is normal, but could you imagine not being able to see family or friends that live in the same city as you do??It would not make sense these days right?!Well that’s what happened to thousands of people living in Berlin between 1961 and 1989 when the famous wall dividing the city into West and East was built.
Because of Germany’s loss in World War 2, it was decided that Berlin was to be divided into 4 sectors. The west was divided between America, France and Great Britain and the East was controlled by the Soviet Union; however this 4 way government did not last to long and in the month of March of 1948 it was suspended.
In May 1949 America, France and Great Britain formed the Federal Republic of Germany to govern the west side of Berlin. On October 7, 1949, the Soviet Union created the German Democratic Republic (aka GDR) in East Berlin as a response to the creation of the Federal Republic on the west side (Burkhardt Heiko)
The west side of the city was experiencing an economical boom that began in the 50’s and lasted about 30 years.
Meanwhile the East side was facing serious economical problems due mostly to the fact that the Soviet Union was constantly demanding financial help which they needed to rebuild the damage caused by the war. Another factor damaging the Eastern economy was that they were not getting the same amount of financial help that the west was getting.
Because of this economical situation, life in the East was hard and the fact that the Soviets imposed a very strict and controlled lifestyle certainly did not help. Thousands of people started to move to the West looking for freedom and better life conditions.
Many of these people where graduates, artisans, doctors and professors which were looking to put there degrees to work instead of not being...
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