- After the 2nd World War, Germany was divided into Eastern and Western Germany.
- As a result of this the Capital, Berlin was also divided into east and West.
- The West was very capitalist, modern, free owned by the Uk and Us whereas the East was communist under the ruling of the soviet union. The East was government controlled using the secret police, The Stasi.
- For the first 7 years after the split, people were allowed to travel between the borders which let many people in the east move to the west.
-In August 1961, the border closed splitting Berlin, splitting up families and an 87 mile concrete wall was build to divided the two sides, there were 176 watch towers making sure people didn't cross.
- There was a space between the wall called the death strip were people would be shot dead if entered.
- There were several checkpoints that people could cross between, mostly Uk and Us people. One was called Checkpoint Charlie used primarily by Americans.
- It stood for 26 years but in the 1980s many started to criticize the wall. In a speech from Ronald Reagan, the American President, he stated 'Tear down this wall!'
- This cause many Eastern Germans to protest resulting in them approaching the wall and destroying it by hand.
What was life like?
- There was a lot of surveillance and most people lived double lives. They would do one thing at home in their privacy and something different when out in public. E.g. watch western Tv but not mention it outside of the house.
- Poverty was also a big thing as people could only afford the bare essentials. Brands did not exist and the state created its own industry for nearly everything.
- People weren't allowed past the Berlin wall into the west so many tried to sneak into the country but many failed resulting in death. Others hid in cars from western visitors, dug under the wall, went through sewers etc.
What did young people do for fun, like, listen to?
- Music was heavily censored as authorities reviewed lyrics for hints of dissent. Bands were only allowed to sing in German but the youth wanted to listen to bands from abroad so a black market developed of copies of western artists' music.
- Many young people joined youth groups were they would come together to learn socialistic views and organise events for younger children. Others enjoyed going out to theatres and watching movies.
What was education like?
- Instead of being taught English as it is a world language that is usually taught in schools across the world, students were taught Russian.
- Many classes included socialism views which taught children basic etiquette and how to work together. For example, pioneer classes where each child would bring in something like show and tell which gave them the opportunity to talk to each other about their lives.
Why was there so much tension and suspicion?
- Many east Germans were put under surveillance if the stasi thought that they were being rebellious by associating themselves with Western culture.
- East Germany regarded the west as being run by old fascists and corrupted by big, international companies. They suspected the west to prepare for WW3. The west stated that the east deprived citizens of their human rights such as freedom of religion, speech and ability to leave the country.
Why did people want to escape the East?
- The East was heavily run by the government which meant that people had a lack of freedom in how they lived their life. Everything was controlled, their social life, their work, what they said and what they did. People wanted to escape the East in order to have more freedom and the ability to express their views without being scared of being imprisoned or punished.
Why did people like and respect the public?
- There was no unemployment as they didn't believe in the concept therefore there was no benefits and workers were afforded the safety of their jobs as they couldn't be fires unless they committed a serious offence.
- They helped women in the workplace as they though the patriarchy was viewed as a symptom of capitalism. They implemented a strong foundation of laws to protect mothers and distribute childcare services. There was more equality as there was a smaller gender pay gap than in the West.
- They offered free health care, free places to kindergarten and school and had affordable housing.
What was the relationship between the citizens and the government/stasi nearing the end of the cold war?
- The stasi, which was the largest network of secret police in history were able to infiltrate every facet of society and it is estimated that one in five adults in the country were directly connected to them.
- Some citizens were happy in their living standards as there was benefits such as more quality, more work, free health care etc however a majority started to get rebellious as more people were being put under surveillance and being punished for the smallest things as the country was over-dictating. Therefore, this led to citizens tearing down the Berlin Wall by hand in order to get their freedom.
How did they view the West?
- The West contained modern ideas with the allied countries of the Us and Uk. This meant they had popular culture such as western music, fashion and ideals.
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