History Assignment: The Berlin Wall - Events, Reflections, and Impact

This assignment analyzes the history of the Berlin Wall, covering the events described in Fred Taylor's book, focusing on the 'Sand and Blood' sections, along with the 'Wire and Cement' and 'Money and Afterward – The Theft of Hope' sections. It summarizes key events such as the rise of communism, the construction of the wall, the Berlin Airlift, and the eventual fall of the wall, including the political ideologies and economic crises that shaped the period. The assignment examines the impact on stakeholders, including Germans, Allies, and Russians, considering cultural influences and long-term effects. It addresses themes of division, reunification, and the Cold War's symbolism, as well as the effects of war, economic crises, and political ideologies such as Nazism. The assignment also includes reflections on the stakeholders' experiences and the cultural shifts resulting from the events.

Running head: THE BERLIN WALL
THE BERLIN WALL
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1THE BERLIN WALL
Part 1
The first two part of the The Berlin Wall written by Federick Taylor, that is, Sand and
Blood, involves the events that are associated with Communism, the political ideology that
emerged out right after Germany became Republic, known as the Weimar Republic.
However, after a few year the Germany underwent immense recession in the economy. By
1931, the Great Depression had impacted the economy of the city adversely (Major, 2010).
However, the politics between Nazis and communists magnified as they were recognized as
the arch enemies, and Nazism had just been defeated, so people were willing to try something
new (Flemming, 2011).The tumult of the Berliners, especially those who stayed in Berlin
through the end of the war, Russian occupation, and the feast-and-famine of the blockade
(Spencer, 1968).
The third and the fourth part is the wire and the Cement. The book reveals that on 13th
August, 1961, the Communist Government of the German Democratic Republic started to
create a barrier of concrete wall and barbed wire called “Antifascist bulwark” or
“Antifascistischer Schutzwall between the West Berlin and East (Flemming, 2011). It is the
event that is famously known as the Barbed wire Sunday, when the military force of the East
Germany started off with the construction the Belin Wall. The motive behind building up the
Berlin Wall was to avoid the practice of fascisms in the West from entering the East Germany
and taking control over the state where socialism is practiced (Flemming, 2011). However,
the primary concern lied in the aim of emerging mass defection from East to West (Major,
2010). The motive resulted in firm until 9th November 1989, when the higher authority of the
East German Communist Party declared that the citizens who belong to GDR could cross the
barrier as per their choice (Flemming, 2011). It is to mention that some people crossed free
handedly into the West Berlin whereas there were other category of crowds that brought
picks and hammers and started to break open the Berlin Wall itself (Flemming, 2011). The

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event happened to mark the day as the most powerful symbolism of the Cold War. In the year
1948, a Soviet blockade of West Berlin targeted to make the Western Allies suffer from
starvation and drive them out of the city. The conflicts magnified when the United States and
its forces from the air supplied their regional parts of the city (Spencer, 1968). The effort had
an enormous favourable effect and the event is known as Berlin Airlift (Flemming, 2011). It
is accounted that the supply of around 2.3 million tons of food along with other goods and
fuels were delivered to the West Berlin (Major, 2010). After a decade the tension magnified
again in 1958. It is witnessed that there were endless influx of refugees from East to West
resulted in potential threats, While the allies took stand against it. The regime was ambiguous
provided with the fact that conferences, summits and other negotiations were flustered
without resolution (Spencer, 1968). However, in any way the influx of refugees continued.
The following month, it is recoded that many people left GDR through Berlin. And ultimately
the record led to be recognized as the largest number of defectors to be shifted from the
region of East Germany. And that night , the closing of border was permitted by the Premier
Khrushchev in order to avoid the continuous permeability of emigrants (Spencer, 1968).
The fifth and the sixth part is money and Afterward – the Theft of Hope. The Fall of
the Berlin Wall, occurred overnight, just the way it has been in the time of construction. Just
as on 13 August 1961, the entire society and the communities happened to find themselves to
be divided and following the event, on the morning of 10th November 1989 the division was
found to be non existent. (Major, 2010). It is evidently revealed that million of jobs lost and
the fact that instead of moving towards the East German provinces, man were exported to
countries when they were labored at low cost and low wages. In the view of City’s Berlin
Wall (Flemming, 2011). It reveals that the wall does not just reflect about the concerns of the
city Berlin. Rather it magnifies the picture of the imprisonment of an entire population of the
country (Major, 2010). Berlin is mirrored as broke. However, the city survives and has been

3THE BERLIN WALL
now renovated as well. The construction of Berlin wall (1961-1989) did restricted the flow of
refugees from Eat to West and also reduced the crisis over Berlin. However, the Fall of Berlin
was essentially marked as the reunification of East and West Germany and was made official
on 3rd October, 1990 (Major, 2010).
Part 2
Following the event of terror bombing, Germans happened to shift their self identification
and mourning to housing officers through letters. The lamentations reverberated throughout
the country for the victims of Hitler’s war and predominantly on the Hitler’s regime or on the
practice of Fascism and Nazism (Flemming, 2011). It is to mention that the war effect has led
to variant health issues and concerns that are mainly associated with the trauma. Thereby, it is
evident that Hitler’s regime turned to be ambiguous and amorphous (Major, 2010). Hitler’s
regime is considered as the most barbaric regime in the world history (Major, 2010). As per
Hitler’s racism, it is revealed that the Aryan race was the finest. It had to retain its purity,
become stronger and dominate the world (Flemming, 2011). The other aspect of Hitler’s
ideology is related to the geopolitical concept of Lebensraum, or living space (Major, 2010).
He intended to extend the German boundary by moving Eastwards , to concentrate all
German geographically in one place. Poland became the laboratory for this experiment
(Spencer, 1968). It is to mention that Hitler’s hatred of Jews was based on the
pseudoscientific theories of race, which could be satisfied only through their total elimination
(Flemming, 2011). However, Germany, during the cold war has reverberated an immense
long term effect through the events such as Post war chaos and Economic crisis (Major,
2010). In the Post war chaos the German war, accounts the number death ranging from 5.5
million to 7 million people (Spencer, 1968). There was major chaos as the many foreign
workers left while the military soldiers returned home. Furthermore, 14 million German
speaking refugees were displaced from Eastern Europe and East Central and were expelled

4THE BERLIN WALL
from the regions that were their own home land (Major, 2010). They later came to German
lands that appeared foreign to them. Following it, the Denazification expelled, executed and
imprisoned the hierarchal officials of the old regime (Spencer, 1968). In the East, the Soviets
imposed another police state provided with practice of employing Nazis of the old regime in
the dreaded Stasi (Flemming, 2011).
In the year 1945 to 1946, the facilitation of housing and fooding was disastrous. This is
because the there was a major disruption of the transport, finances and the markets that
retarded down. In the year 1948 (Flemming, 2011). Furthermore, the end of the war brought
an end to the immense shipments of food. The Coal production slowed down to 60% that
affected the entire industrial production. The economic crisis in 1970s, has resulted a hard hit
to Germany (Major, 2010). The worldwide economic crisis has brought unemployment
dynamically. Especially in the region of Ruhr, where the steel industry underwent into steep
declination. After 1979, the issues grew enormously as the Cold War turned hot and
unfavorable again (Major, 2010).

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References:
Baker, A. (2019). The War and the Wall: Berlin and the Divided Music City of Exiles (1700s
to 1990s). In The Great Music City (pp. 153-173). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Flemming, T. (2011). Berlin In the Cold War. New York: Berlinica Publishing.
Major, P. (2010). Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the frontiers of power. Oxford
University Press.
Russell, W. (2010). The Berlin Wall: A simulation for the social studies classroom. Social
Education, 74(3), 152-154.
Sarotte, M. E. (2014). The collapse: The accidental opening of the Berlin Wall. Basic Books.
Spencer, R. (1968). Berlin, the Blockade, and the Cold War. International Journal, 23(3),
383-407.