What was a key difference between East and West Germany?
What was a key difference between East and West Germany?
East Germany was communist, while West Germany was democratic.
What were the differences between East and West Berlin?
East Berlin is the capital of East Germany, also known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR). East Germany is a communist country. West Berlin is like an island surrounded on all sides by East Germany. It is cut off from the rest of West Germany by more than 100 miles of East German territory.
What was the conflict between East and West Germany?
Berlin crisis of 1961, Cold War conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States concerning the status of the divided German city of Berlin. It culminated in the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961.
What part of Germany was Communist?
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin.
Is East Germany poorer than West Germany?
While its per-capita productivity remains lower than that of West Germany, the former East Germany has made major gains since unification. In 1991, per-capita productivity in the former East was less than half (43%) of productivity in the former West.
Why did East Berliners fled to West Berlin?
Some fled for political reasons, but many were impelled to leave by specific social and political events. The imposition of collective agriculture and the crushing of the 1953 East German uprising prompted thousands to flee to the West, as did further coercive economic restructuring in 1960.
How did East Berliners try to escape?
In 1962, around a dozen elderly East Germans dug their way out of Berlin through what was later dubbed the “Senior Citizens Tunnel.” Over two nights in 1964, 57 people escaped through another tunnel, which became known as “Tunnel 57.” It was the largest mass escape in the Berlin Wall’s history.
Why did so many East German citizens defect to the West?
In response to growing numbers crossing the borders, the Soviet Union instituted tighter border controls around their zone, the Inner German border. When large numbers of East Germans then defected under the guise of “visits”, the new East German state essentially eliminated all travel to the west in 1956.
What did East Germany call the Berlin Wall?
GDR authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall). The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the “Wall of Shame”, a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall’s restriction on freedom of movement.
What are two reasons East Germans decided to flee and seek safety in West Germany?
What are two reasons East Germans decided to flee and seek safety in West Germany? 1-They experienced political oppression by the East German government. 2-East Germany had started manufacturing and testing nuclear weapons. 3-West Germany had decided to declare a nuclear war on East Germany.
How many East Germans moved west?
3.5 million East Germans
Why did East Germany close their borders?
The border remained relatively easy to cross until it was abruptly closed by the GDR in 1952 in response to the large-scale emigration of East Germans to the West. Barbed-wire fences and minefields were installed and draconian restrictions were placed on East German citizens living near the border.