Why Was the Berlin Wall Built?

When the Berlin Wall was built, the world had just survived the largest war it had ever experienced. Germany and the axis forces had been defeated and overrun. The allied forces were setting up governments in the former Nazi stronghold. The seat of the Allied Control Council was established in Berlin, the former capital city of Germany. The political climate throughout Europe was tense, and the Wall was a reflection of that.

The mass exodus of people from the east to the west was economically hurting the east by removing mostly educated and skilled workers from their population. The largest groups of emigrants from East Germany were doctors, teachers and engineers. All of these classes of workers were needed for the rebuilding of East Germany following the end of the war.

In order to stem the tide of emigration to the West, a border between the western sector of Berlin and the eastern sector of Berlin was erected. The flow of commuters was halted. Why was the Berlin wall built? To close the border between the two sectors of Berlin.

The border throughout the rest of Germany was officially closed in 1952. Until 1961, the border in Berlin itself remained open. Berlin became a mecca for those seeking to escape from East Germany.

The border was officially closed by the use of barbed wire barricades and patrols along the border line. Within the first few days of the border closing, plans were made to erect a wall that separated the sections of East and West Berlin. On August 15th, plans were made to close the border to tourist traffic and to stop free travel from the east to the west.

The wall was expanded from barbed wire barricades to a concrete barrier over 3.5 meters high. At the height of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall was lined on both sides by chain link fencing, electrical fences, barbed wire, guard dog patrols, elevated guard towers with spotlights, mine fields and an anti-auto trench. These security measures were all in addition to the wall itself. A cylindrical pipe running along the top of the wall made escape more difficult. The Communists claimed that the wall was simply an anti-Fascist barrier.

This part of their propaganda machine worked to some degree, but most people knew it was erected for other reasons. Prevention of skilled workers from leaving East Germany, influences of the West and avoidance of conflict between the followers of communism and those that followed democracy and freedom were among the major reasons for the erection of the wall.

History of the Berlin Wall

Geographically, Berlin is located inside of the eastern portion of Germany and to the east of the Russian controlled portion of Germany. Before the wall was built, the city was split into zones, and each zone was governed by one of the Allied countries. The four zones were France, United Kingdom, United States and Russia.

By 1949, the remainder of Germany had been divided into two separate countries, one controlled by the Allied Forces in the west and the other by the Soviets. Since Berlin was located in East Germany and was still considered the capital city of Germany, each of the Allied countries had a section of the city under their control to use for administration purposes.

Following the end of the war, life returned to a somewhat normal routine. People went to work, worked their full day and then came back home. Due to the large business regions of Berlin, some residents lived in the Russian zone and lived in one of the other allied areas of Berlin.

Therefore, every day, workers would cross from the Russian zone into one of the other zones to work and return back to the Russian zone at the end of the day. Many families were scattered around the city and found themselves in different occupation zones.

By the time of the construction of the Berlin Wall, as many as 60,000 commuters crossed back and forth over the border everyday. During this time, emigration restrictions had been established during the period of occupation but there were up to 1500 East Germans fleeing to the west every day due to the greater levels of freedom in the west. Once the Wall was constructed, all emigration ceased.