East Berlin And The East Germans example essay topic

The grim years that followed the conclusion World War Two began an entire new era of hostility that was to widen the gap between the major powers of East and West. With Germany well and truly defeated, the victorious Allied forces of Britain, the USA and Russia were left to decide on the occupation of Germany. It was decided that Germany was to be divided into three zones, one for each country excepting the concerns of the French. Later, at a conference held in February 1945 at Yalta, U. S President D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill were able to sway Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin to produce a zone for France which had suffered considerable defeats at the hands of the Germans. Each of the four zones would be managed by the country occupying the area. On July 17 the newly made U. S President Truman, Churchill and Stalin met in Potsdam, near Berlin to make the final decisions on how Germany should be organised and where its borders should be drawn.

The Allies agreed in a border in the west; a temporary line for the east was to be the Oder and western Neisse rivers. (The final eastern boundary was supposed to be decided after the peace settlement, but this didn't happen.) Each occupying nation was to ensure that the Germans were not able to build up a military force again. The city of Berlin, 110 miles inside the eastern zone of the Soviets, was a special issue all of its own and caused some disagreement as to how it be dealt with, as did most of the issues raised in Potsdam. It was first thought by the Soviets that whole of Berlin be taken under its control. However Churchill would have none of this foreseeing the implications of such actions and believed that the former capital city should be under joint Allied occupation. Berlin was consequently split up as an area of four-power control.

2,250,000 people living in roughly 188 square miles, were placed in the control of Britain, France and the United States. The Soviets were given the eastern part of the city, which was home to 1,100,000 people living in 144 square miles. Any decisions affecting the city were taken up by the four occupying powers that made up the Kommandatura council. Just before the Soviet Red Army took control of its eastern zone, there was a last minute rush that saw many people crossing from east to west. These people feared that Russians might crack down on border security and make it difficult for people to pass through.

It was a sign of what lay ahead for the ominous future of a divided Germany. By 1948, the tension between the Soviets and the Western Allies was mounting. The Soviets were increasingly tightening travel restrictions between the East and West of Berlin. Moves such as restricting allied officials to one highway and one rail line, demanding permits and cutting off parcel post delivery, were all part of the Soviets eventual plans to force Britain, America and France out of Berlin and leave the city open to a communist take-over. Further disruption between the Soviets and the Western Allies was caused with the unifying of all three western zones into a single unit, which had the goal of forming a West German state the following year.

In addition to this threatening alliance was the issuing of a new West German currency. This act posed the question of what currency would be used in Berlin, since the city would be economically bound to the East or West depending on which it used. The Soviets rejected the offer made by the Western powers of having a single occupation currency for the entire city. With each side failing to come to an agreement they once again went their separate ways, with the Westerners imposing a West German mark in their sector of Berlin and the Soviets introducing their own system of currency in the East of Berlin.

By this stage, the Soviets decided they'd had enough of the western ways in Berlin and began to enforce a blockade. Demanding that all Western troops leave the city, the Soviets shut off all land access to the western sectors. Roads, railways and canals were blocked and what's more the power lines carrying electricity from East Berlin to the western sectors were turned off. This attempt to bring the West Berliner's to their knees under a Soviet siege caused a fiery reaction from the Western Allies. On the 26th of June the greatest airlift in history began which saw planes roar over the skies of Berlin 24 hours a day for 11 months carrying much needed food and fuel to the people of a city cut off from the world. On the 12th of May 1949 the Soviet's failing in the efforts to force the Allies out, finally agreed to end the blockade.

The West Berliner's had survived their ordeal and the Allies had achieved a great moral victory over the humiliated Russians. This was a triumph that saw the work of nations together reinforce their determination to defend their democratic rights in Berlin. However, along with this western victory came a divergence that was to for the next forty years sustain a situation in Berlin of irrevocable division, politically and economically. By the 1950's the division of Berlin was becoming increasingly obvious in more ways than one, with prosperity in the west and deficiency in the east. East Berlin had barely recovered from the War, as with the relentless Russian occupation along with longstanding reparations, the east was clearly struggling. What building there was, was that of gratuitous prestige projects like party headquarters and the like, but while this was happening essential issues were left unattended such as frightful housing shortages and a lack of consumer goods in the shops.

If you went to East Berlin, you'd see in the food shops just endless jars of pickles and things, whereas West Berlin then was really like West Berlin today. It was a prosperous Western city. Unemployment was not an issue for concern. It was a Western city that allowed the free flow of emigrating East Germans, who came in their hundreds of thousands as refugees. These people realised the opportunity of a better life in the West and so took their place amongst the constant stream of people coming into West Berlin. In 1952 the East German Communist regime was toughening up and was bearing down on its population very hard.

In this period a large exodus was occuring, which saw over fifty thousand people come over every month. These people were a particular problem for the East German economy, as it wasn't just anybody fleeing to the west, but East German youths, doctors, scientists and basically the education of East Berlin. East Berliners faced not only economic hardship, but a hardship of another kind- their loss of intellectual freedom. For example, if one were to visit a library looking for a book on another country with a different form of government, they would be told they had no right to the book and that it was forbidden to read it.

The government was beginning to control and politisice every aspect of social life. Each town's local newspapers printed only news approved by the government and gave no information on foreign affairs, this way people only knew what their government wanted them to know. Bit by bit, tight controls were placed on all cultural activities such as plays, books, and other forms of expression. The East German government also controlled the radio stations, and filed the airwaves with communist propaganda. Soon artists and writers were no longer free to produce their own works. They were told what they could do and anyone who violated these rules risked imprisonment.

The East Germans had lost all sense of security, while just across the other side of a white line painted on the asphalt stood a glittering capitalist showcase amidst Communist territory. As the flood of refugees continued to poor into West Berlin, the East German government was losing its grip on its depleting workforce and a society without benefits. Those East Germans that did stay behind wore the brunt of extremely low living conditions and found themselves increasingly dissatisfied. Industry was in the hands of unskilled people, and the laborers had lost all pride in their work. People under the severity of the communist system felt there was little hope for the future and no motivation to improve their situation. On the 17th of June 1953, people's frustration erupted into an uprising.

Two thousand East Berlin building workers entered into a demonstration known as 'Stalin Alee', which was in reaction to persistent rationing, hardship, persecution and more specifically a decree issued by the East German government ordering workers to increase production or suffer a pay cut. As the angry crowds gathered all over the streets of East Berlin, government ministers were summoned to an emergency meeting. With scenes turning violent on the streets, loudspeaker vans then approached the people announcing that the decree for a step up in output had been cancelled. However, this did little to control the fuming thousands, who proceeded in their protest shouting up and down the streets, promising more demonstrations the next day. The East German authorities were reluctant to challenge to challenge the crowds, as intervention would have meant bloodshed.

The following day the tension surrounding the revolt had turned up considerably, with the introduction of Russian troops positioning tanks and field guns in the key positions of East Berlin. In addition, due to a worsening situation, Soviet military units had taken command and declared martial law. By 11 am, the protest movement had risen to 100,000 and was marching towards not only government buildings, but also groups of Russian tanks, troops and field guns. With the situation reaching crisis point, tanks stepped into action, driving at high speed around the Marx-Engels Platz and chasing off numerous demonstrators. The main force of the procession however, carried on with hundreds of East German police unable to stop them.

Higher scale tanks, such as the T - 34, then was imposed, towering over the crowds and causing a dispersion of protestors. As people hid from pursuing tanks and the riot continued, they would shout to the units in the tank turrets, 'Go home to Moscow'. The streets were in complete chaos, with uniformed and plain clothed police arresting and beating victims, buildings burning, communist paraphernalia set on fire, police barracks up in flames and the dismantling and destruction of red flags. While Communist leader Ulbricht had been whisked away to safety in his private Soviet tank, the blood of many East Berliners was flowing on the streets.

Russian troops and East German police had opened fire at the crowds. From Berlin, revolt spread like wildfire across East Germany occurring Magdeburg, Chemnitz, Leipzig, Dresden, Rostock and other major East German towns. In all, more than 240 East Berliners and some 800 East Germans died in the uprisings. Through harsh constraining moves of the Soviet authorities, uprising fluttered out in East Berlin and the East Germans wanting their lives changed achieved very little. Nevertheless this movement of revolt, despite its crushing defeat from the Soviets, did make its mark, revealing to the rest of the world, the sense of bitterness and disturbance that existed amongst East Germans.

The East Germans showed in their protest that they were not prepared to let history's fatal mistakes repeat themselves, and succumb to the power of a dirty dictatorship. The Soviets had won this battle and would even continue to keep a stranglehold on the Eastern sector of Germany for years to come, however enough was done in 1953 to push for what would be the long awaited reunification of Germany in 1989.