Designed in 1961, the Berlin Wall helped East separate from West Berlin both physically and symbolically throughout the Cold War. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) started building among other things ninety-six kilometers of strong barriers, separating families, neighbors, and communities, thereby stopping East-to- Western mass migration.

East Berlin: Resistence

We faced certain difficulties as we were under communist rule in East Berlin. The GDR drastically affected all aspect of its people, hence their daily life were clearly under control.

One of the most clear traits was based on the command economy when the government used to regulate means of production. This seems to have less consumer options than one could expect and less economic growth than in West Berlin.

Since they disseminated propaganda and shaped public opinion, the state-owned media was rather crucial. Good citizen monitoring limited creative ability and freedom of expression.

East Berliners largely did not know what was happening outside and few travelled. It aimed at ideological homogeneity and kept people from the outside world away from global civilization.
From the other side of the wall, West Berlin lived in very separate world from East Berlin life. That was in line with West Germany’s capitalist system, which encouraged private sector and entrepreneurship.

East Berlin’s access to a far better quality of living than West Berlin allowed the consumer goods and services to be offered from a greater spectrum of choices. Its population grew with creative, musical, and philosophical activities until all kinds of people crowded to the city.

West Berlin welcomed individual liberties of expression, press, and assembly since the constitution preserved them. It prepared the ground for a creative blooming and creation.

As free of these same limitations as their brethren in the East, West Berlin citizens also delighted in their freedom to move, travel, and see the globe.

Human Costs

It is also by no means a justification for the enormous cost of division (and in this regard, for decoupling as well). Though this is plain ridiculous, West Berlin appeared richer and had greater personal freedom.

The Berlin Wall’s building split families, friends, and loved ones. A few of them accepted the deadly danger; several East Berliners risked their life attempting to cross into West Berlin.

For most Berlin residents, the wall represents the Cold War physically, generating psychological discomfort, anxiety, and fear of the “enemy.” It so only served to exacerbate the divide between the two factions, which made one suspicious and hostile.

The agent from Chang

Over time, the Berlin Wall came to represent persecution, an affront to human rights. At last East Berliners ran out of activities to occupy their peaceful city and a thirst for change simmered.

The ‘collapse of the Berlin Wall’ was significantly influenced by public demonstrations and marches in East Berlin and other GDR territories. East and West Berliners packed the wall in November 1989 to mark their just acquired independence.

Reunification in view of the legacy

For Berlin as much as for the world, the fall of the Berlin Wall marked a significant historical turn-about. It declared the demise of communism in Eastern Europe and closed the Cold War.

Given considerable challenges, the likelihood of East and West Germany’s reconciliation in October 1990 seemed low. Reunion calls for two different political, social, and financial systems to be combined.

Berlin now is a throbbing organism with a unified perspective whereby artistic, cultural, and historical elements combine. Still, the scars of the past linger, but now the city welcomes its past and represents resiliency and hope.

The Need of Repair

Consider the Berlin Wall that tormented and split people, the suffering they endured, and the lessons we might draw from them. It made us quite conscious of the impact political concepts could have on daily life of normal people.

Understanding the intricacy and consequences of this wall will help us to aim for unification, knowledge, and support of human rights by means of more bridges than we could build walls.

We honor those we lost to the Berlin Wall and may we never forget the force we carry in our human spirit, liberty, and unity.