Berlin Wall Significance

What would happen if thousands of people were being held within an area against their will? Exit routes are blocked off and those who attempt to escape are shot on site or left behind to bleed to death. One may wonder how someone would allow this to happen, how humans could treat other humans so poorly. Well, this has happened before as one of the most well known events known as the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. Occurring exactly as previously described, the Soviet Union constructed a wall dividing West Democratic Berlin and East Communist Berlin. Berliners were forced to live on one side or the other and as time went on, people tried to escape. That is when the blood was shed and the innocent were shot on site. This continued for years as the wall kept growing and as people attempted to escape to their freedom. President Ronald Reagan once said, “For I find in Berlin a message of hope, even in the shadow of this wall, a message of triumph,” even though the wall symbolizes a negative time for Germany, they showed that even they could resolve their problems by tearing down the wall. The Berlin Wall should be included in the curriculum for AP Human Rights because of its historical significance concerning human rights. After World …show more content…
Also, because of its obstruction of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the “Right to Free Movement in and out of the Country.” The right given to East Berliners to Free Movement was brutally taken away as the wall was constructed and eventually, was returned when the Wall was torn down. The existence of the Berlin Wall clearly ignored Article 13 and because of this, should be included in the Curriculum to explain occurrences of real world destruction of Human