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The significance of the Berlin Wall
World War 2 and its effects on the world today
The creation of the Berlin wall
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A Piece of History
A seventh grader asks his dad about the eighties. Unfortunately his dad can't remember anything about the eighties;and the older sister helps him remember the past. “Berlin Wall Piece,” by Sam Shepard is a story where a small piece of concrete helps a crazy father remember his modern history. A theme for the story would be: how a small piece of history can bring back so many old memories and controversies. When the story first opens up, a seventh grader is interviewing his father for his social studies class. The father is being questioned by his own son or daughter. The story does not reveal the sex of the youngest child. The father is unaware of the past; he can't remember absolutely nothing. The youngest child is confused, and cannot understand why his father can't help him. The father explains to the child that there was nothing important going in the eighties. The most important and significant thing for his father was the birth of his two children and his wife. The rest of it was lies, trash, and insignificant things the world had offered him. The truth was that nothing more matter to him than his children and wife. He had everything in the world he could ever wish for. The young child could not understand his fathers intentions to his answers. It was all a big mystery.
During the story his father tries to remember the moments he lived in the eighties; but nothing came to mind. It was like if he was never born. He knew nothing, everything was
erased from his mind. Thankfully the oldest child knew much more than the father did. She could remember everything, she had an incredible memory. She helped out her younger sibling by telling her stories of the eighties. She knew a lot. She was a very smart girl who was just a year or so older than the younger child. She also knew political stuff that happened during the eighties. Like when she got a piece of the Berlin Wall that was destroyed back in the eighties. The younger child did not believe this was true. On the other hand the father was unaware of this. He was confused, he couldn't remember when his own child had visited the Berlin Wall. The older sister was amazed by his father's poor memory. She brought down a piece of the Berlin Wall from her bedroom.
Finally, when he knew that he could bear it no longer and would welcome death itself, he opened his eyes and was once again on the bed,” (Lowry 120). Jonas has lived his life in a Community that does not learn about the past memories. Due to this ignorance that the Community instilled in him, it is harder for him to deal with the memory of war. Moreover, the Community uses ignorance as a temporary solution so that the residents feel a false sense of happiness. Jonas can only now see that this is a temporary fix by experiencing the memories through his training.
...his father had acted the way he did, which caused him to be committed. He was facing the same experiences and the same side-effects his father once felt. However, faced with this dilemma between acceptance and equal power, Baldwin looks to the only man he can trust to help him, his father. He trusts his father because he knows that his father went through the same dilemma he is going through, he has seen the same affects in his father’s rage and hate. However, his father already passed away, and what help that could have been gathered from his father is gone; Baldwin can only piece together his memories of his father’s character and life and compare it to his own to see how the two are really alike.
In conclusion, this was an awesome story. The above questions were the catalyst to the real truth that would make the brother to that little girl free at last. His son was determined to break the cycle and remedy this generational condition, although the means by which he used were terrible. But, he would get through to his father. He shed light in the dark place by first beating his father into sobriety, so that he could think clearly. He then helped his father to open up to the discussion concerning the secret he had held on to for so long. Then, he also convinced his father to burn the “Shawl” of his deceased sister. And finally, his father realized what the true story was. A story that would in turn loose the tie that bound them all together with generational sorrows.
After World War II, Germany was separated into four different sectors assigned to the triumphant Allied forces: the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. (Wolski) The capital was located one hundred fifteen miles into Soviet territory. (Kenny) The Western Allies believed this was unfair because Berlin was the only large city at the time. They agreed to separate Berlin into quadrants as well. (Wolski) The United States, Britain, and France joined their sectors together as a democratic state called the Federal Republic of Germany. (Taylor) Meanwhile, Russia kept their portion separate and it became known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR). However, this caused a problem because the democratic West Berlin was entirely surrounded by Soviet land. (Wolski)
Walls are one of man’s oldest defenses; physical barriers that are erected to keep people out, or, in some cases, to keep them in. Walls are physical fortifications that create tension and distain among people on both sides. This is what the Berlin Wall, or der Mauer in German, was; a physical barrier created in Berlin, Germany during the Cold War. It was created by the East Germans in an attempt to stop East German citizens from immigrating to Western Germany. However, the Berlin wall was a crude attempt to separate the political and social variances in Germany during the Cold War, because, while it created a physical barrier, it still was unable separate people in an ethic manor.
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.
Many associate the Berlin Dada movement with Raoul Hausmann, Johannes Baader, Hans Richter, George Grosz, John Heartfield and Weiland Herzfelde, and very few associate the art movement with Hannah Hoch. Although Hoch was overshadowed by her male contemporaries, she did not hesitate from being an active member of the Berlin Dada creating timeless and critical artworks. She is best known for being a pioneer in photomontage, a technique that was instrumental not just for Hoch, but for many Berlin Dadaists. Her most well-known photomontages are satirical and political commentaries on Weimar’s redefinition of the social roles of women, also known as the concept of the “new woman”. If during her early years she would create artworks that attempted to portray the concept of the “new woman”, in her later years she began creating artworks that responded to this new Weimarian
The Berlin Wall, built in August of 1961, was s physical symbol of the political and emotional divisions of Germany. The Wall was built because of a long lasting suspicion between the Soviet Union on one side and Western Europe and the United States on the other. For 28 years the Berlin Wall separated friends, families, and a nation. After WWII was over Germany was divided into four parts. The United States, Great Britain, and France controlled the three divisions that were formed in the Western half and the Eastern half was controlled by the Soviet Republic. The Western sections eventually united to make a federal republic, while the Eastern half became communist.
Each section was controlled by a different country; United States, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union. The Capital Berlin, being inside the Soviet controlled East Germany, was also divided into two sections, East and West Berlin. West Berlin was controlled by the United States and East Berlin was controlled by the Soviet Union. Starting on August 13 1961, Berliners woke up to a barrier separating the east from the west. East Germans had closed off the border with barbwire and guards. Many families were separated. Many jobs were lost. Two days after the border had been closed off, a wall had begun to get built.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 during the Cold War between Soviet Russia and the United States. The wall was built to separate Soviet controlled East Berlin from US controlled West Berlin. It soon became a physical barrier that symbolized the differing political and social ideologies of the two superpowers. The Berlin wall stood for 28 years separating a city into two very different sections with differing governments, economies and social organization. The importance of Berlin in International politics stemmed from Germany’s role in World War II. After WWII ended, Berlin was divided between the victors, France, England, the US and the USSR. The area surrounding Berlin was under Soviet control making West Berlin a strange island of democracy,
For 28 years, the Berlin Wall separated West from the East of Germany and became a symbol of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 by the Soviet, it was meant to stop East of Germany’s citizens to over flow to the West since East was under communist power. The wall was built over night and many were surprised about it, the physical construction of the Berlin Wall began in August 5, 1961. Many families on either side were separated from their loved ones and were very saddened by the separation. The Berlin Wall connects to Responsibilities and Rights because they wanted East Germany and West Germany to unite after World War 2.
The Berlin Wall ferociously slashed through the rights of the people of Germany. People have the right to go and live where they choose. Constructing a wall to trap and limit people was wrong. The people of Germany were oppressed economically and politically.
At this point in time, seniors at Mira Costa feel trapped, as if they can't get out of Mira Costa and Manhattan Beach soon enough. Imagine being physically trapped in their city, surrounded by nothing but a big concrete wall holding them hostage. The Berlin Wall kept half a city hidden behind, what was known as, the iron curtain. The wall was “...a symbol of oppressive and divisive government, not only to the East Germans it contained, but to the rest of the world as well.”("Transitional Justice.") The people of Germany were separated from their jobs, their loved ones, and were forced to live under communist rule.
On August 13, 1961, the residents of East Berlin found themselves cut off from friends, families and jobs in the West by a tangle of barbed wire that ruthlessly cut the city in two. Within days the barbed-wire became a 103-mile-long wall guarded by three hundred watchtowers. The wall symbolized the struggle between Soviet Communism and American capitalism—totalitarianism and freedom. This would take place for the next thirty years (Taylor)
I chose to write about the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty serves as a symbolic fixture of the principles America was founded on. She represents freedom, liberty, and opportunity. The location of the Statue of Liberty is an amazing feat in itself, it is right in the middle of a very wide and a very deep Hudson river, and at the time it was brought there, with the limited technology, was amazing. Adding to the location, The State of Liberty as everyone knows is right next to the old customs ports where thousands of hungry, and poor immigrants fresh off the boat would pass through looking for a better life. The fact that Liberty is a woman is an ingenious idea because a woman tends to be more sympathetic and willing to help, if Liberty was a man the statue would seem more cold, stiff, and even militant. Throughout history statues have been built to represent a great moment but the Statue of Liberty was build to symbolize a great idea and country. At that time in history people were flocking to America because they were either being persecuted in their home countries or they were just disappointed at the status of their lives and wanted to come to “the land of opportunity” to start a new life.