Following World War Two, Germany was divided into four sections. Each section was directed by Great Britain, France, the United States, or the Soviet Union. The US, UK, and USSR had agreed upon the decision to split up Germany during the Potsdam Conference. In addition, Germany’s capital, Berlin, was also divided into four sections. It was hoped that Germany would be reunited again, however as tensions between the Allies and the Soviet Union rose, that hope quickly disappeared. The struggle between East and West Germany emerged as a symbol of the conflict between Communism and democracy. Eventually, the four countries made the struggle an official statement of differences. France, the United States, and Great Britain quickly reunited to become West Germany, also called the Federal Republic of Germany. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, called itself East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic. The same division of east and west occurred to the city of Berlin as well, with each side representing democracy or Communism.
Throughout the 1950s, conditions between the two sections began to change drastically. In West Germany, living conditions improved while they deteriorated quickly in East Germany, resulting in many East Germans to leave and move to West Berlin and consequently to the rest of West Germany. At this time, travel between East and West Berlin was fairly simple. While some were stopped on the way, many others escaped easily. In the early 1960s, East Germany’s population declined rapidly and lost its young labor force. As a result, East Germany decided to build the Berlin Wall as a physical blockage between West and East Berlin.
The Berlin Wall was built overnight from August 12-13, 1961, encircling West Berlin and separating it from the rest of East Germany. Berliners were stuck on whichever side they were on that tragic night for decades. In the beginning, the Berlin Wall was merely a barbed-wire fence, but just a few days after the initial structure went up, concrete blocks topped with barbed wire replaced the fence. Throughout the years, the complexity of the Berlin Wall increased as an additional inner wall, guards, and watchtowers were implemented as additional security systems. However, despite the fact that there were few openings in the wall, it is estimated that as many as 5,000 people were successful in making it across to the West.
Sources: http://history1900s.about.com/od/coldwa1/a/berlinwall.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
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