Fall Of The Berlin Wall East Germany example essay topic

... d a deadlock, but the Berlin Wall remained, representing the remaining Cold War related tension between the two countries. In the mid 1980's there was a beginning of change in the relationship of East and West Germany. Finally, in November of 1989, emigration barriers finally dropped in November 1989, which allowed free passage between East and West Berlin. Soon after the free passage was allowed the Berlin Wall was taken down.

The entire wall was taken down except for the areas of historical meaning, such as the part in front of the parliament of Berlin and the places with graffiti artwork. The collapse of the Berlin Wall signified the true end of the Cold War and its terrifying era. The Cold War was coming to a gradual end. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was then the leader of the Soviet Union, said that his country, and the world, was in need of reform. After Gorbachev got his point across to many people, and even many government officials, the end of the Cold War was in close sight. By September 10, 1989 the Hungarian government had opened the border for the East German refugees.

This was a big step for the East Germans freedom. On October 6, 1989 East Germany celebrated its 40th anniversary of statehood. The day then finally came about a month later. On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall was finally opened (Schulze). The crowds were amazing; thousands of people were at the wall going over to see friends and family that they hadn't seen for years. The celebrating continued throughout the night, and the next day.

On the 10th and 11th of November the flow from East to West Germany was endless. The evening of November 11th the first concrete slab was taken from the wall, and as this happened the cheers from the crowds were heard from miles away. The last step was the opening of the Brandenburg Gate, which was finally opened on December 22, 1989. This was the end of the legendary Berlin Wall, and the beginning of the reunification of Germany. The reunification of Germany was a great victory for the German people and the nations of the west.

However the Berlin Wall has left economic and emotional scars that can only be healed by the hard work and understanding of generations to come. This explains Peter Schnaider's quote " It will take us longer to tear down the Wall in our heads than any wrecking company will need for the Wall we can see" It can be easily inferred that tearing down the wall was the easy part of the reunification, however, now people have to tear down the wall in their minds. No longer families were separated and many were unedited again; life has returned to normalcy. No longer people have to live under Communist regime! However new problem emerged and, German people still had to face yet another obstacle.

This time it would also be the wall, but this time it was the wall in their minds. Eastern Germans now have to learn new ways to live by. Transition from the Communism to the Capitalism had left many Eastern German stunned. The two systems are very much different and for someone who lived all of his life under such system would be nothing but wearisome to adjust.

Many Eastern Germans still have nostalgic feelings about the life they lived for the past 30 years. For the people who grew up in Western Germany this is very hard to understand how anyone can have good memories about four decades of division much less for a Communist Regime. But one must keep in mind that many of Eastern Germans lost their jobs and housing in state-owned industries and had to adjust to a new reality complicating the process of cultural reunification, which is far from over even today (class discussion). There are many social as well as economical barriers that emerged after reunification. However, these barriers are inside of people and only time can overcome it. These barriers will not be torn down as fast as it was to tear down the Wall.

These barriers can only be torn with the time. How long? No one really has an accurate answer to this question because there are many factors implicated in this process. For instance, educational system in Eastern Germany differed greatly from Western's and not only in administrative aspects but also in much more important sectors, such as academics.

Eastern Germans studied subjects that go along with the Communist regime. Their minds are programmed to think and live the communist life. People in West are thought subjects that go along with the Capitalistic regime. Because of such drastic differences in systems, it is very difficult to change for Eastern Germans. All their lives they were thinking and working one way, now they are expected to change all of that forget everything they learned and lived by and start thinking the new way. For anyone such drastic change would cause unhappiness as well as anger.

That's why Peter says that it would be harder to tare down the wall in our heads than for wrecking company. However, it is very important that the bigger part is long gone, which is tearing down the physical wall. The one and last element that is left for German people is the wall in their minds. As it can be seen from discussion above, only time can bring together the true reunification of German People. With the time, there is very little to do but wait, however we can help by helping and educating each other so what happened in 1961 won't be repeated by generations to come. In conclusion Berlin Wall was an important milestone in the growth of the Cold War.

It was the expansion that represented the thinking of a determined Communist system. Western Capitalism, who was more powerful, eventually defeated the system. The destruction of the massive wall that did so much harm to a country was finally destroyed, and the people of Germany could now live the way they all wanted to live. They could live the life of freedom. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall East Germany has went through a lot of changes, and it still is not easy for all of the people in East Germany.

But no matter how hard it is for the people of East Germany now, it is better than being alone and separated from their families, friends and rest of Europe..