Thirty Years Later, Are We On The Same Path?
Written by Amanda Jentsch, Culture Editorial Assistant
What is the Berlin Wall?
At the end of the Second World War, the victorious Allied powers split the conquered Germany between them. The Eastern half of Germany went to the then USSR, and the Western half was divided between the United States, Britain and France (Cold War).
All of the countries wanted some influence in the capital city—Berlin—located deep in the Eastern portion, so they divided Berlin in the same fashion that they divided the country (Cold War).
People began to leave East Germany in droves, attempting to flee the oppressive nature of the USSR’s communist regime. Their main flight path: through Berlin, whereupon entering West Berlin, refugees could access West Germany and the rest of the non-Communist world (Britannica, 2019).
Between 1949 and 1961, two and a half million Germans left East Germany, threatening the stability of the economy through the loss of skilled professionals. In response, on the night of Aug 12, 1961, the Berlin Wall was erected, completely cutting off access between the Eastern and Western sides of the city—and subsequently, the country (Britannica, 2019).
People did try to sneak through the wall though; for every person that succeeded, one was captured. Over 191 people died during failed attempts. Until the democratization of the East German government in 1989, the wall remained both a barrier and a reminder of the divisions that defined the Cold War. On Nov 9, 1989, the barrier was officially opened (Britannica, 2019).
Well, “opened” is a peaceful word for it. To prevent losing more citizens to the Western side, East German leaders gave an order to allow for easier travel, effective Nov 10, 1989, and involved applications for visas. A mix-up happened at the press conference to announce this, and the spokesperson thought that the changes were effective immediately (BBC, 2019).
The border guards were ill-prepared to handle the thousands of people who charged at the wall. Fearing that people would be hurt in the stampede if they did not open the wall, the guards opened the gates (BBC, 2019). Even though the wall was “officially” open, that did not stop people from taking pickaxes and chipping away and physically tearing down the reminder of their oppression (BBC, 2019).
Why does it matter today?
Today, the Berlin Wall stands as a symbol of a time when the German government was so divided and polarized that they physically blocked people from having the freedom to move to a better life.
The Soviet Union and East German governments chose to keep people in a bad situation rather than consider the factors that were causing them to flee in the first place and helping to fix these problems (Britannica, 2019).
It has been nearly 60 years since the Berlin Wall came to be, and 30 years since the border was opened. Yet, there are people that still seem to believe that walls can be the answer to much larger problems.
Instead of building barriers between people—at a high cost in both dollars and humanity—we instead must look at the choices we have made at both the government level and the social level. We, together, must decide what changes can be made to be a more welcoming, open society that does not rely on hate to assert superiority. We should not attempt—to a futile end—to stop people that are working to better their lives, and the lives of those they love.
Sources:
“Fall of the Berlin Wall: How 1989 Reshaped the Modern World.” BBC. 5 November 2019.
“Separation of Berlin.” Cold War. ColdWar.org
The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica. “Berlin Wall.” Britannica. 14 November 2019.