the berlin wall

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1945; World War II had ended. People all over the world celebrated, even the citizens in Berlin, Germany. Little did the Berliners know that their war was not over? Another war had started, a Cold War, from 1945 to 1989, tearing Berlin families and friends apart. A wall had been built up; they couldn’t travel where they wanted anymore and couldn’t speak their opinions. These were the rights taken away from East and West Berliners.
It all started when World War II ended. Hitler killed himself and the Nazis surrendered, but Germany couldn’t celebrate the end of the war yet. On May 8, 1945, peace conferences were held in Yalta and Potsdam. Countries agreed to split the defeated nation of Germany into four different zones to prevent further uprising. The Soviet Union got the East side while Britain, the U.S, and France got the West side of Germany. Berlin was split the same way even though it was in the Soviet Union’s area. West Berlin was governed by Britain, the U.S, and France (they were called the Allies) while East Berlin was ruled by the Soviet Union (also called the USSR). The nation was split.
The people could cross over to each side and could go wherever then, but rules were different in each zone. West Berlin had a capitalist government, a form of democracy, with the wealthiest having the most power even though everyone had the right to an opinion. East Berlin had a communist government where, even though everyone was equal, they would be punished if they expressed their opinions and had everything was controlled. Each side wanted the other side to have the same government as their own. It annoyed the West side and East side not to be able to control both sides. In fact, Nikita Khrushchev, who was the premier, said West Be...

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...haven’t really seen since 1945. There was a two-day long party for the Berliners, and all who crossed to the West side each received $100 in German money. One spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party said there was a “change in the city’s relations with West Berlin.” West Berliners were holding beer and champagne and were yelling, “Open the gate!” About 2 million people crossed from the East to the West, and were described by a journalist as “the greatest street party in the world”. Many people chipped off pieces of the wall while bulldozers and cranes tore the wall down. Spray painted on the wall was, “Only today is the war really over.”
The wall came down and so did the Iron Curtain. East and West Germany reunited. The war had ended, and there was peace for the Berliners. The rights to express their opinions and to travel wherever were restored to them finally.

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