The Berlin Wall

After WWII, Germany was spilt into 4 zones divided by USA, France, Great Britian, and Soviet Union. The same was done with Berlin. The three allied powers’ territory made up West Germany, while the Soviet Union was in control of East Germany. West Germany was composed of a democratic government and East was a communist government. Although they were separate countries East Berliners would still come into the West for activities and jobs. In the 50’s the capital economy of the West was booming while the East’s economy was not. By the 1960’s 2.5 million people had left the East. In order to stop the mass exodus, on the night of August 12-13, 1961 the Berlin Wall was built. The Berlin Wall stretched over a hundred miles. It ran not only through the center of Berlin, but also wrapped around West Berlin, entirely cutting West Berlin off from the rest of East Germany. The Berlin Wall started out as a barbed-wire fence with concrete posts, but just a few days after the first fence was placed, it was quickly replaced with a sturdier, more permanent structure made out of concrete blocks, topped with barbed wire. The fourth version of the Berlin Wall, constructed from 1975 to 1980, was the most complicated and thorough. It consisted of concrete slabs reaching nearly 12-feet high (3.6 m) and 4-feet wide. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, there was a 300-foot No-Man's-Land, an additional inner wall, soldiers patrolling with dogs, a raked ground that showed footprints, anti-vehicle trenches, electric fences, massive light systems, watchtowers, bunkers, and minefields. The soldiers had orders to shoot down any citizen that tried to escape. Then just as suddenly as it was built, on the evening of November 9, 1989, an announcement made by East German government official that the checkpoints would be permanently open. People tentatively went to the wall to see if it was true. When they saw it was, celebrations occurred. People cried, laughed, and sung. On October 3, 1990, Germany became a single state. http://www.history.com/topics/berlin-wall http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall_2.htm