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The Berlin Wall

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The Berlin Wall was constructed on August 13, 1961. The reason for this was to separate West and East Germany. People in East Germany received the short end of the stick because “to live in East Germany behind the Berlin Wall meant to live in fear and distrust” (Wagner). The Stasi (state security service) monitored citizens for fear of rebellion. Many students and college graduates tried to cross over but only a few were successful. Those who were not were fined, prosecuted, or even murdered.
The Berlin Wall was more than 100 miles long. It had 11,000-volt power lines to prevent people from crossing over. In the early years of construction, the wall was only miles of barbed-wire fence. Later on, concrete was added and the wall was made longer. Streets were destroyed to prevent cars and trucks from going to the other side. Final measurements were twelve feet high and almost four feet wide.
On November 9, 1989, twenty-eight years after it went up, the Berlin Wall was destroyed when the communist government buckled. It was more than a barrier, it symbolized the “ideological barriers that divided the United States and Soviet Union during the heart of the Cold War” (The Berlin Wall). It has also become a symbol of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain separated the Warsaw Pact countries from the NATO countries. The countries east of the Iron Curtain were somehow connected to the Soviet Union. The countries west of the Iron Curtain had democratic governments. When

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