The Berlin Wall - Soviet Strategy to Prevent 'Brain Drain'

The Berlin Wall

As World War II came to an end in 1945, a pair of Allied peace conferences at Yalta and Potsdam determined the fate of Germany’s territories. They split the defeated nation into four “allied occupation zones”: The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, while the western part went to the United States, Great Britain and (eventually) France.

The Berlin Wall, was a barrier that surrounded West Berlin and prevented access to it from East Berlin and adjacent areas of East Germany during the period from 1961 to 1989. In the years between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans had fled from East to West Germany, including steadily rising numbers of skilled workers and causing a brain drain. Their loss threatened to destroy the economic viability of the East German state. In response, Soviet-backed East Germany built a barrier to close off East Germans’ access to West Berlin and West Germany as a whole.

The East German government claimed that the Wall was an "anti-fascist protective rampart" intended to dissuade aggression from the West. Goethe.de. (2008)

The fall of the wall of Berlin began on November 9, 1989 when the wall was officially opened following the Cold War that had thawed in many parts of Eastern Germany. Soon after citizens on both sides were allowed to cross the wall without a visa. The fall of the wall of Berlin was the first step towards the unification of Germany which occurred on October 3, 1990. The official demolition of the wall began on June 13, 1990, and was completed in 1992.

Vs The Trump-Mexican Wall

Governments continue to fall back on the idea of creating physical barriers, when they seem to rarely work/achieve their goal? whether it’s the fall of the Berlin Wall or the penetration of France’s Maginot Line in World War II (Which was considered impenetrable). Topical as ever with the Trump administrations proposed, infamous wall, why pursue it when the pros-to-cons ratio seems unjustified? Some believe such wall building is powered by a rise in nationalism, racism and the constant fear of terrorism.