The lives of people in the West of Berlin were completely different to the lives of people in the East of Berlin. After WWII, Germany split up into states each one governed by one of the allies (the USA, France, England and the Soviet Union) all split equally over the country and capital city, Berlin. The Soviet Union decided to make their state into a communist run state, whereas the other three states decided to lead their states as a democracy much like their own. Due to this disagreement in governing directions, the democratic states made their own republic (the German Democratic Republic (GDR)) and the Soviets created their own republic as well (the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)) and in 1961 the FRG created a wall through the capital
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They would work in the East side of Berlin during the day and go to the West side after work to watch a movie or hang out with friends there. ‘About eight million theatre and movie tickets were sold each year in West Berlin to East Berliners. About 60,000 people from the East came daily to West Berlin to work in factories and workshops.... For 13 years people could move fairly freely in both parts of the city and meet whenever they wished. Some 200,000 Germans from East Berlin and the Soviet Zone visited West Berlin every day.’ (Source 3) This statistic was taken from the Atlantic magazine from December 1963 by Otto Frei and shows how strict the government in the East of Berlin really was and could be one of the reasons for them wanting to build the wall, to keep their strict communist governing system. After the wall though, people from the East couldn’t leave without special forms and permission from the government which was extremely hard to get. People in the West were free to move within the two sides of Berlin as they pleased whereas people in the East were stuck on their side with the strict laws and close eye of the Stasi. Appendix 2, shows a man waiting at the wall for his daughter to return after not seeing her for twenty-six years. This photo shows how hard the wall was on families and loved ones on the other side to what you were. It shows the effect on the people living in Berlin at the time and the sense of relief people must have had when the wall came down to see their family and loved ones that they were not able to see at the time. After the wall came down, people on both sides of Berlin would’ve been having the same sort of emotions, even if they went through different experiences to feel
They would work in the East side of Berlin during the day and go to the West side after work to watch a movie or hang out with friends there. ‘About eight million theatre and movie tickets were sold each year in West Berlin to East Berliners. About 60,000 people from the East came daily to West Berlin to work in factories and workshops.... For 13 years people could move fairly freely in both parts of the city and meet whenever they wished. Some 200,000 Germans from East Berlin and the Soviet Zone visited West Berlin every day.’ (Source 3) This statistic was taken from the Atlantic magazine from December 1963 by Otto Frei and shows how strict the government in the East of Berlin really was and could be one of the reasons for them wanting to build the wall, to keep their strict communist governing system. After the wall though, people from the East couldn’t leave without special forms and permission from the government which was extremely hard to get. People in the West were free to move within the two sides of Berlin as they pleased whereas people in the East were stuck on their side with the strict laws and close eye of the Stasi. Appendix 2, shows a man waiting at the wall for his daughter to return after not seeing her for twenty-six years. This photo shows how hard the wall was on families and loved ones on the other side to what you were. It shows the effect on the people living in Berlin at the time and the sense of relief people must have had when the wall came down to see their family and loved ones that they were not able to see at the time. After the wall came down, people on both sides of Berlin would’ve been having the same sort of emotions, even if they went through different experiences to feel