As we were sitting in class last week, our topic of discussion turned to the Berlin Wall. I just couldn't seem to turn away from what a symbol the Berlin Wall was. Not only was it an actual wall, whether you want to call it a wall representing Soviet oppression or a wall to repell capitalist enemies, it was a very powerful psychological symbol as well. Up till this point in time, the Soviets, by this I mean the party members in Moscow, had tried to at least maintain a semblance of a democratic process but the Wall changed that. It was a physical symbol to the people of not only East Berlin and East Germany but all of the people behind the "Iron Curtain". The Soviets could no longer deny their use of force to quell any and all uprisings. Both the Berlin Wall and the Inner German Border were considered to be defenses against the Fascists and capitalists but all the guns pointed inwards.
I view the building of the wall as one of the pivotal points where the Soviets shed their false "democratic" dealings and let the world view their true identity. It was with this that Moscow would have lost all support from socialists and communists all over the world but disapproved of oppression and the use of violence against the subjects under the communists governments.
It just seems to me that their were pivotal moments in the Cold War that effected the way that the two superpowers would react. With the building of the Berlin Wall, and subsequently the Inner German Border, it seemed as if the USSR was drawing the proverbial line in the sand and setting up the future battle line for Europe that seemed to once again to involve the German people in a war. Germany, both East and West Germany, was where the attention of the world would gaze. And for the most part, the Nazis and their atrocities would almost be forgotten in preparation to for the future war. It seems that, especially in the West, that the atrocities was best forgotten, if not forgiven, in order to move on and provide a buffer between the rest of Western Europe just as the USSR would do with Eastern Europe.
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The Berlin wall was not built until 1961. This tells me that at least in the early stages of soviet control of East Germany, there was a glimmer of hope for a true communist or socialist state, but after the wall goes up, whatever illusion east germans had were squashed. They, along with all the soviet leadership, both saw what the wall was really for: not for protection, but an "iron curtain" to keep the masses in.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The iron curtain symbolically, ideologically, and physically divided Europe into two separate areas after the end of World War II. It is interesting to consider the purpose of keeping the masses in. Like we discussed in class it portrays the irony of the wall itself.
ReplyDeleteThe history of the Berlin Wall is certainly an interesting one. Not only did this make a solid and material representation of what the Soviets were willing to do to protect their ideals, but it also showed that they were more than willing to virtually imprison people to protect themselves. I think that with the building of the wall, the Soviets really stopped trying to pander to the side of people that would lean towards the Communist ideal and just decided to do whatever they had to do to achieve their goals.
ReplyDeleteCreating a physical border between Russian ideas and western influence created tension in the air that could be deflated only by its destruction. Forcing citizens to stay within these borders while keeping liberal and democratic ideas out created an awful balance of repressive power. The wall definitely served as a constant reminder that though there was the perception of stability between the Allies and USSR, tensions easily could have elevated this into a nuclear military confrontation that was thankfully alleviated by the wall's destruction.
ReplyDeleteThe Wall served a symbol for so many things in the Cold War period and as you rightly point out, the post-war division of Germany and rising US-Soviet tensions made the reconciliation with Germany much easier. Rather than purge Germany of Nazis, the Allies sought to rehabilitate Germans in order to erect a bulwark against Communism in the heart of Europe. To me, the great irony of the Wall is that while it showed the moral bankruptcy of a system that needed to imprison its own people, the building of the Wall also stabilized the GDR, forcing people to come to terms with the reality of the Communist system.
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