History of the Berlin Wall :: Germany War Wall History Essays

The Berlin Wall separated the people of east Berlin from the people in watt Berlin. It separated families, kept people from their jobs, and caused people to die. It was erected in an effort to keep east Berlins economy, but in the end it did so very much to a greater extent. The fleeing of residents of East Berlin to air jacket Berlin affected the Soviet heart and East Berlin in two ways. The first of which was economic. By 1958, 15% of the population of East Berlin had fled to West Berlin. East Berlins economy provided much for the Soviets and among these 15% were doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and other crucial figures for the East Berlin economy. The birth rate in East Berlin was higher than the close rate, but still 250,000 people were leaving every year. In 1961 alone, 5,000 doctors, 20,000 engineers and technicians, and 17,000 teachers left field East Berlin. All together in the years from 1954 through 1960, 4,600 doctors, 15,885 teachers, 738 university teachers, 15,536 engineers and technicians travel from East Berlin to West Berlin. Besides these professionals, 11,705 students with initial intentions of working in East Berlin left to work in West Berlin after getting their redundant education from East Berlin. This hit East Berlin very hard, for it needed these capableness workers to rebuild the country after the destruction caused by World fight II. Walter Ulbricht, the leader of the East German communist party and president of the hugger-mugger Council, was greatly distressed by the fleeing of East Berlins citizens, for it hurt his 7 year plan to bring East Berlins economy to the same take aim as West Berlins. Walter Ulbricht ordered regular police spot checks of anyone carrying a suitcase, but this barely had any impact on the number of East Berlin citizens fleeing. Citizens making many trips with very little baggage at at one time easily avoided them. Ulbricht tried very hard to convince Soviet Union to take over West Berlin, but the Soviet Union wanted to keep peace with westerners. Finally, the Soviet leader, Stalin, backed Ulbricht and declared that West Berlin must(prenominal) be turned into a free city in six months. The Western powers did not comply with these demands and Stalin, after six months, did nothing in retaliation for being ignored. During the six months that Stalin spoke of, the citizens of East Berlin feared their time was rivulet short to flee to West Berlin, so in those six months, more people fled than had previously been fleeing.