How did the construction of the Berlin Wall affect the people of Germany?

Victoria Jensen 000116-037 Word Count: 1,951

A. Plan of Investigation Word Count: 165 The question that this investigation serves to answer is: How did the construction of the Berlin Wall affect the people of Germany? To answer this question I will have to be familiar with the previous lives of German citizens before the Wall. The scope of this investigation will include how Eastern and Western Germans lives were different during the time of the Berlin Wall and if these changes were affected by the amount of time it existed. Two sources used will be a television report, The Rise and Fall of the Berlin Wall, from the CBC Digital Archives and an online article The Wall of the Mind by Kareem Nasin. The first is a primary source, a video filmed in 1961, that gives a detailed account of the immediate impact of the Berlin Wall on the people. The second source is a study on the psyche of Germans caused by the Wall. Both sources give personal stories of Germans in some way affected by it. B. Summary of Evidence Word Count: 519 Right after the Walls go up at a refugee camp there are few smiles, but a German girl remarks, Theyre not real, our hearts do not smile.1 Protests sprouted in West Berlin along the Berlin Wall, while the Eastern side remained relatively quiet, they were Demanding action. But what action, few have any idea. East Berlin controls the whole of the railway system, which they shut down along with many other land routes. Many people use rivers and canals to swim to freedom.2 On Aug. 17, 1962, Peter Fechter, tries to jump the wall. East German soldiers fire. The East Germans will not allow anyone to help Fechter. Fechter, the wall's 50th casualty, becomes a symbol of all those slain at the Berlin Wall. 3
1

Berlin Wall Cuts City in Half, in the CBC Digital Archives, http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/international-politics/the-rise-andfall-of-the-berlin-wall/berlin-wall-cuts-city-in-half.html (accessed December 15, 2012). 2 Ibid.

There were thousands of attempts to cross the Berlin Wall to reach the freedom West Berlin represented. More than 600 of them were shot and killed by border guards or were killed in other ways during their escape attempt. 4

Concrete is strong, but no match for the strength of human curiosity.5 The Berlin Wall cannot stop news from crossing.

A twelve year old boy told a reporter, Im tired of everyone in the West thinking were unhappy over here...Sometimes I do want to leave, look around. But I cantbut I would return here if I left.6 In addition to this boy, many other Eastern Berliners were angry with the presumption they had unhappy lives.

A couple from Berlin may never see each other again because they became separated by the newly formed Berlin wall. When they met at the barbed wire, the mother handed their son to her husband.7

Family members grew apart and developed different identities and ways of life when the Wall was built.8 Many people started identifying themselves as either Eastern or Western Germans.

Most Berliners saw the sealing of the West from East Berlin and East Germany as virtually an act of God, a punishment inflicted on Germans because of the Nazi crimes. East Germans would refrain from opposing their rulers.9 However in the mid-70s church-goers would discuss their

George, Gafron. "The Berlin Wall." Newseum. http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/two_sides_one_story/html.htm (accessed December 15, 2012). 4 "BerlinerMauer: Facts and Figures." Berlin.de. http://www.berlin.de/mauer/zahlen_fakten/index.en.html (accessed December 16, 2012). 5 Ibid 6 Davey, Thomas. A Generation Divided: German Children and the Berlin Wall. Duke University Press, 1987. 7 "A City Torn Apart: Building the Berlin Wall." Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/...of...berlin-wall/BerlinPublication.pdf (accessed December 13, 2012). 8 Yasin, Kareem. "The Wall of the Mind." The Human Experience. http://humanexperience.stanford.edu/burnedbridge (accessed December 13, 2012). 9 Colitt, Leslie. "Escape from East Berlin." The Guardian, August 16, 2011.

dissent about liberty of travel, fear of police, and communist control over people's professional development.10 At the height of the fortifications, in 1982, a man illegally crossed the border for smuggling purposes 23 times before authorities were even aware of his actions.11 C. Evaluation of Sources Word Count: 334 The Rise and fall of the Berlin Wall is an important primary source that originates from the CBC Digital Archives website. It is a news report filmed right after the construction of the Berlin Wall; it was broadcasted on August 20, 1961, and was narrated by a reporter named Stanley Burke. The purpose of this broadcast was to inform the world on the events happening right after the Berlin Wall was erected; it reports personal escape stories, descriptions of military movements around the wall and their actions regarding citizens, and the reactions of German citizens from both sides of the Wall. Values of the source are that it captured that period in history, giving a unique first hand glimpse into the lives of the German people, and it shows specific Germans recounting their stories of escape, and even captures one escape attempt on film. Limitations would be that it could reflect biases and prejudices of the reporters and editors, certain scenes or details could have been deleted or manipulated for audience viewing purposes. The purpose of the article, The Wall of the Mind by Kareem Yasin, is to analyze the perspectives of Eastern and Western Germans and how the Berlin Wall changed them. This source is valuable because Kareem Yasin is published in Stanfords Humanities center, also the place it originates from. His article is based from a published book Burned Bridge: How East and West

10

"The Berlin Wall." Newseum. http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/two_sides_one_story/html.htm (accessed December 15, 2012). Yasin, Kareem. "The Wall of the Mind." The Human Experience. http://humanexperience.stanford.edu/burnedbridge (accessed December 13, 2012).
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Germans Made the Iron Curtain, by Edith Sheffer, the Assistant Professor of Modern European History at Stanford. It is also valuable because it investigates the social impact of a divided country and argues that the shifting perspectives of Germans are a gateway to understanding the time period better. One limitation is that it tends to focus on broad psychological impacts after the Wall was taken down, which is not useful to my investigation. Another is that the while the author has considerable experience, he was a research assistant at the time; this leads to the question of reliability. D. Analysis Word Count: 828 The understanding of the social effects caused by the Berlin Wall is essential to understanding Germany as a country after the Cold War. Stanford scholar, Edith Sheffer, believes it reveals much about the human condition itself. The divide between Germany and more specifically Berlin was not only physical but ideological as well, and these differences did not immediately come down as the wall did. Even today there is evidence of divisions within German communities, and there is concern for how artificial divisions can produce long-term differentiation and discrimination.12 Many sources differ in evaluating the effects of the Berlin Wall, often either focusing on personal narratives from German citizens or quantitative analyses on total number of emigrants, people killed, and escape attempts during the time which the Wall existed. For instance, the article Facts and Figures only attempts to evaluate effects of the Wall quantitatively. It contains lists of useful data, one example of the figure of 600 hundred killed in attempting escape.13 While the article written by the Central Intelligence Agency, A City Torn Apart: Building the
12

13

Ibid. "BerlinerMauer: Facts and Figures." Berlin.de. http://www.berlin.de/mauer/zahlen_fakten/index.en.html (accessed December 16, 2012).

Berlin Wall, focuses more on the political effects of the Wall, it does give accounts of personal stories as well laws passed in both sides of Berlin that give perspective at the time; for instance the story of an imprisoned mother handing off her child to her husband over a newly formed wall of barbed wire.14 Many sources focus on one period of time after the building of the wall. In the broadcast, Berlin Wall cuts city in Half gives examples of stories and the general mood of Berlin, the broadcast giving quotes such as from a girl-eastern-Berliner who commenting on the few smiles, Theyre not real, our hearts do not smile.15 This remark symbolized how eastern Berlin felt for most Germans, anxious for the future, too tense to be happy. It rolls as a newsreel, reporting on people resorting to swimming for freedom in canals, and the protests in Western Berlin, where the people were Demanding action. But what action, few have any idea. 16It underlines the futileness of the situation, of not only the physical separation of the people, but the division of a country split between democracy and communism. Escape from East Berlin describes a single perspective of one Western Berliner. It mentions the thoughts of many Germans blaming past Nazi crimes as reason for the division they only see as a punishment.17 Other sources are useful for their range in coverage, as well as their generality. The Berlin Wall, an interactive article gives an account of on Peter Fetcher, the fiftieth victim of the Wall, who is shot by guards. He dies when they refuse anyone to help him, and becomes a symbol for those slain. It comments on the news between the divided Berlin, that Concrete is strong, but no match for the strength of human curiosity. It brings the Wall in perspective that

14

"A City Torn Apart: Building the Berlin Wall." Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/...of...berlin-wall/BerlinPublication.pdf (accessed December 13, 2012). 15 Berlin Wall Cuts City in Half, in the CBC Digital Archives, http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/international-politics/the-rise-andfall-of-the-berlin-wall/berlin-wall-cuts-city-in-half.html (accessed December 15, 2012). 16 Ibid. 17 Colitt, Leslie. "Escape from East Berlin." The Guardian, August 16, 2011.

some things do not change even if the world itself does. Finally this source brings to attention dissent in Eastern Germany which is hardly remarked upon in other sources, as Eastern Germany was restricted by a communist government at the time. During the mid-70s they would take advantage of the churched to discuss liberty of travel, fear of police, and communist control over people's professional development.18 The most beneficial source was Kareem Yasins The Wall of the Mind, because it combined specific examples and broad effects over a longer period of time. It gives the uncommon perceptions in Germany as well; such as that family members grew apart and developed different identities and ways of life when the Wall was built, and that many people started identifying themselves as either Eastern or Western Germans. And that at in 1982, a man illegally crossed the border for smuggling purposes 23 times before authorities were even aware of his actions. Both uncommon examples of social affects after the Wall, giving a broader perception than what one would expect. 19 This was not the only source with such examples, the book by Thomas Davey, A Generation Divided: German Children and the Berlin Wall, quotes a young Eastern-Berliner, Im tired of everyone in the West thinking were unhappy over here...Sometimes I do want to leave, look around. But I cantbut I would return here if I left.20 It really emphasizes the point that East Germany was not as intolerable by some as many thought. E. Conclusion Word Count: 105

18 19

"The Berlin Wall." Newseum. http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/two_sides_one_story/html.htm (accessed December 15, 2012). Yasin, Kareem. "The Wall of the Mind." The Human Experience. http://humanexperience.stanford.edu/burnedbridge (accessed December 13, 2012). 20 Davey, Thomas. A Generation Divided: German Children and the Berlin Wall. Duke University Press, 1987.

The Berlin Wall caused many social effects throughout Germany, mainly the divisions of family and friends, and the flood of Germans who desired an escape from an enclosure of communist rule, and both these things created a distressed atmosphere in Germany. But the Berlin Wall did more than this; it caused feelings of separation between a nation, generating negative emotions of people exhibited in isolation. Most importantly it caused a whole nation to be divided both physically and ideologically. Where the Berlin Wall once physically stood, now stands reminiscence of underlying dissolution between the people of Germany that affected her still after the Wall fell.

Bibliography "A City Torn Apart: Building the Berlin Wall." Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/...of...berlin-wall/BerlinPublication.pdf (accessed December 13, 2012). Berlin Wall Cuts City in Half, in the CBC Digital Archives, http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/international-politics/the-rise-and-fallof-the-berlin-wall/berlin-wall-cuts-city-in-half.html (accessed December 15, 2012). Colitt, Leslie. "Escape from East Berlin." The Guardian, August 16, 2011. "BerlinerMauer: Facts and Figures." Berlin.de. http://www.berlin.de/mauer/zahlen_fakten/index.en.html (accessed December 16, 2012). Davey, Thomas. A Generation Divided: German Children and the Berlin Wall. Duke University Press, 1987. Nooke, Maria. "The Victims of the Berlin Wall 1961-1989 Results of a Research Project of the Centre for Research on Contemporary History and the Berlin Wall Foundation."Chronik Der Mauer. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. "The Berlin Wall." Newseum. http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/two_sides_one_story/html.htm (accessed December 15, 2012). Yasin, Kareem. "The Wall of the Mind." The Human Experience. http://humanexperience.stanford.edu/burnedbridge (accessed December 13, 2012).

Appendix:

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"A City Torn Apart: Building the Berlin Wall." Central Intelligence Agency. https://www.cia.gov/library/...of...Berlin-wall/BerlinPublication.pdf (accessed December 13, 2012).