The rise of the Berlin Wall physically began the morning of August 13th 1961, but the separation of East and West Germany began years before. The life span of the wall lasted until November 9th 1989, just a mere 28 years later. The purpose of the Berlin wall was to separate the East and the West sides of Germany. The result of WWII divided Germany into zones; those zones were given to Great Britain, the United States, France and the Soviet Union. The rise and the fall of the Berlin Wall were key moments in our global history, as it was a series of events that shaped a country.
World War II was a success in conquering Germany; The Potsdam Agreement officially broke up Germany into 4 zones. The furthest South was the United States territory, the Southwest territory belonged to the French, the British were in control of the Northwest Territory and Soviets had the East. This division was eventually broken down into a division of the West and East Germany, the West part of Germany was called composed of the United States, France and Great Britain, and was also known as the Federal Republic of Germany. The East side of Germany was the Soviet Union’s portion after the Potsdam Agreement; this side was also known as the German Democratic Republic.
The West side of the berlin wall was very different than the East. The west side was the one that sought after to live in by the people of the East side. After the war and the separation of Germany between the four countries West Germany had a large and development in their economy. West of Berlin during the time of their booming economy was considered an “Economic miracle”. This area had more individuals who were considered to be educated, like

RUNNING HEAD: The rise and the fall of the Berlin Wall 3 physicians and lawyers. This side of Germany was known to be more of a white collar community, therefore they made more money and were able to buy nicer things like homes and appliances and cars. So because of their jobs and lifestyles they were able to contribute more into their communities.
East Germany was a completely different story, the Soviets were the ones who had the power over this area and were living in a society that was a communist one. Their overall economy was very poor and the majority of it was factory type work, or blue collar jobs. There were many shortages like food shortages, housing, and the typical goods a consumer would need. When the soviets took over they took the resources and equipment from the factories and brought it back to their own country to help it prosper and to try and re-compensate for what they thought was owed to them from the war. With the political, and economic oppression, and the communist ideals that the soviet were placing on East Germany the people began to flee to the other side.
Many of the East Germans decided they wanted to live in an environment that was not oppressing to their own ideals and to even their families. Many began to leave and go to the other side, to the west side. The types of people that were leaving Germany were the few white collar individuals. So now East Germany were not only dealing with an issue of an oppressive government but also a shortage of the educated, like their doctors and their lawyers their nurses, and dentists because these people wanted to live in an area that was a capitalist or free-market society and where they could make more money and have better economic conditions. Also the

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Marshall Plan was in effect on the West side of Germany, so the people were able to receive assistance and credits. In the 1950’s Germans were fleeing East Germany by the thousands. Not only was East Germany losing their individuals who were skilled workers in higher paying and higher educated jobs, but there were losing their workforce in general and their overall population. So the bad economy was getting worse and worse because there were less and less people who were buying and producing the items that were being made. In this time of extreme worker shortage Ulbricht who was the communist leader of East Germany even solicited help from the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushche. Khrushche’s response was “"Imagine how a Soviet worker would feel," he roared. “He won the war and now he has to clean your toilets!” (Kenny)
To stop the fleeing of East Germans the leaders began to make a plan. There were some actions taken to try and take over West Berlin, starting with a conversation between Khrushchev and Kennedy at the Vienna Summit in June of 196. Where Kennedy told Khrushchev according to Kempe, “No U.S. President had previously differentiated so clearly between his commitment to all of Berlin and to West Berlin. [At Vienna,] it was increasingly clear what Kennedy was saying: Do what you want with what is yours, but do not touch what is ours.... But as East Berlin was Soviet territory, he was suggesting that the USSR was free to do what it pleased there”.
On the morning of Sunday August 13th, 1961 the building of the wall began. The people of Germany were not aware of the erection of this wall; it was a surprise to most. There had been hints from the leaders but the people did not think that a wall would actually be a result. The remaining East Berlin residents were no longer able to cross over to the Westside to enjoy well-

RUNNING HEAD: The rise and the fall of the Berlin Wall 5 paying jobs, participate in recreational actives they were previously involved in, see family and friends, the side you were on the night the wall was built was the side you would stay on. The wall when first built was only posts that were connected by barbed wire, in addition to this new wall the phone wire were cut so there was not to be any communication between sides during this event. The rail ways were shut down the streets that crossed the border into west Berlin was drilled and destroyed, and even the sewer systems were often checked for people trying to flee to the other side. The wall encased the majority of West Berlin it was not limited to just the center of the two. The length of the first model of the wall approximated 96 miles long. A few days following the first model of the wall, rubble was placed in addition to the barbed wire to increase the probability of it working. There were individuals in building on the edge of the border who were trapped because the buildings were sealed off to prevent more escape attempts. The individuals in those buildings jumped from their windows and balcony’s to be met with firefighters with nets and trampolines from the West side of Berlin, some of the individuals lived and some did not. Although this was not a solution that was an ideal one, the leaders of the West side of Berlin were in agreement that it was a more peaceful one that having to go to war. The wall went through a few stages In its development; the first being the original in 1961 96 mile long with the barbed wire between posts. The government officials who were patrolling the areas of the walls found that the wire was still too easy to climb over so the second model was built. The second model was built around a year following the first and this structure was a concrete wall that was topped with barbed wire to try and keep the people from being about to scale and climb over. This new wall was in addition to the previous barber wire fence that was in
RUNNING HEAD: The rise and the fall of the Berlin Wall 6 place. The new wall was just east of the first one, the space in between was filled with guard and watch towers. This area was commonly called “No-mans-land” and “Death strip”, because the guards that patrolled this area were instructed to shoot individuals who were trying to flee to the other side. In 1965 another wall was added to the 2 already in place and this concrete structure was the primary wall until 1975. In 1975 the final and most structurally sound of the models of the Berlin wall was constructed. It was approximately three and half miles high and one and half miles wide. There even more watch towers and guards, there was additional piping along the top of the wall to prevent scaling, still contained the barbed wire and had trenches to keep out motor vehicles. The site of the Berlin wall was not one that frequently tested any longer. The seriousness of the attempt to prevent people from trying to flee to the other side was major. Life on the East side of the wall was even more somber than before, communism and the GDR were falling but the government still tried to gain support. The people of East Germany felt even more oppressed because their choices had been stripped and their identities were given to them instead of something of their own, as individuals and as a community. Although this wall had gone through many measures to ensure no one escaped there were spots that were openings of the wall, these places were for the use only of appointed officials and individuals with specific permission to cross through. One of these points is a globally known check point, called checkpoint Charlie. This was popular opening used by allies and is now seen in books and movies about the Berlin Wall. It is estimated that even after the wall was constructed that there were a total of five thousand individuals who made it safely across. But that amount as opposed to the thousands daily is a significant reduction. While there were around
RUNNING HEAD: The rise and the fall of the Berlin Wall 7 five thousand that successfully made it through approximately 200 people died while trying to emigrate to the West side of Berlin. Eventually there were evident signs that the communist movement was lessening and weakening. Even though the individuals who were the leaders pushed for small changes as opposed to a rebellion the people of east Germany did not follow. Around 1988 communism was failing in the surrounding areas as well, such as Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland borders began to open their borders and East Germans were able to enter West Germany. Russia was also involved in the weakening communism movement and since the soviet were the ones who had control over East Germany, changes started to happen. On November 9th, 1989 government official Gunter Shabowski announced that places in the border would be open for private trips or relocations. This news was huge to the people of East Germany because they could now enter West Germany without fear. The news spread quickly and people soon began to flock to the Berlin Wall. The people of Germany were very surprised at the opening of the wall. They began to sing and cry and celebrate this renewed reunification. Germany was now more like a free republic and had open travel between East and West Berlin. The few days of celebration people from both sides showed up with hammers and axes to help physically tear down the wall as a symbol to other nations and to their leaders. These pieces are now items that can be seen in museums or are valuables and sentiments in people’s homes. Since the unification of both sides of Berlin and the obvious decline of communism the Warsaw pact was now a thing of the past and the Soviet Union was destroyed.
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These events during the rising and the falling of the Berlin wall are pieces of our history that learn from. The West side of Germany because a more economically prosperous area after the war and the East had not and because there were so many people fleeing from one side to the other the government felt as if they had no choice but to physically separate the sides and keep people in the east as to maintain their workers and their overall population. The Time of the Berlin wall was obviously a very sad and dark time for those on both sides; oppression was high in the East. When finally the communist regime was no longer holding on the East and the wall was able to fall there was a feeling of freedom given to those on both sides of the issue. The Berlin Wall was an obvious statement from the soviet government and the effects it had on the people were obviously negative. These types of events although were positive and showed unification of the German people in the end are not events we want repeated. Through things like this in our history we are able to learn from previous leaders and economic situation and political stances and see what has worked. The Berlin wall separated people of one culture and people of one city and divided them into two worlds.