Analysis Of The Fall Of The Berlin Wall

The end of World War II was the beginning of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union had control over East Berlin, which was governed by a communist government and the United States had control over West Berlin, which was regulated by a democratic government. Both countries wanted full control over Berlin, so the Soviet Union set up a blockade on the West but was unsuccessful. The Berlin Wall was then built to stabilize the economy of East Berlin, which meant that fewer people could escape the east to live in the west. In the article “The fall of the Berlin Wall: what it meant to be there,” by Timothy Garton Ash, he highlights the feelings of no longer having a “iron curtain” segregating both sides of Berlin.

Garton Ash says you cannot recreate the liberation and emotional intensity of those that watched the wall fall. If you did not live on the East side of the Berlin Wall you cannot begin to understand what it felt like to see and know the there was no longer a wall. If you were not present at the time, you cannot recover those memories of liberation or recover what people did not know at the time. Garton Ash says that people say they foresaw the fall of the Berlin Wall, but they did not know when and how it was going to happen. Garton Ash said the only person he knew that said the Berlin Wall would fall was Ursula. The women he lived with when he moved to Berlin in 1978. Ursula had a dream that just for one night the wall would

Those who were born in 1989 in East Berlin were lucky because they did not have to live a life where they did not have the freedom they wanted. The thought of being stuck behind a wall makes you feel confined and as if you are in a prison cell with no freedom to do anything or go where you want. The 1989 generation needs to learn from the past generations and ensure their mistakes are not repeated. If the 89ers do not make an effort to change Europe, then the fall of the Berlin Wall would essentially be for nothing because people will again be trapped and states will become controlling, taking away the freedom of others. We do not want to live in a state or governed by a government where we are being deprived our freedom. The reason Garton Ash made his comment about the 1989 generation at the end of his article is because he wants them to be involved and make a difference. There is a group called the 1989 Generation Initiative who has a proposal called “the Redefinition of the European Mission” to do what Garton Ash hoped the 1989 generation would do, to define a political generation and how they will act and react in situations. Garton Ash’s main goal is to redefine Europe and soon have other individuals from the 1989 generation