Honors Cultural Geography Course Blog: Contested Landscape- Berlin Wall

Landscape Notebook- Contested: Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall was a major contested landscape for the entirety of its 28-year existence. The wall separated East Berlin, controlled by the Soviet Union, from West Berlin, controlled by the other Allied powers, being the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. This occupation came about after the aftermath of World War II.

The purpose of the wall was to keep the citizens of East Germany within its borders, rather than fleeing to West Germany as they had been before its construction. While the rest of Germany was split in two, with the borders being closed, Berlin was uniquely open, making it the only path to emigrate from East Germany to West Germany. The Berlin Wall was made to stop this migration from occurring.

Physically, the Berlin Wall was in fact two walls with a minefield in between and surveilled 24-7 by Soviet forces who were to kill anyone trying to cross over. It is estimated that about one to two hundred people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall, significantly more died trying to cross the larger German border, and yet more were apprehended.

Beyond the physical, the wall was a manifestation of the ruthlessness of how the Soviet Union ran during the Cold War, and one that would be very visible to many of the world’s superpowers at the time. As a result, the wall became a symbol of the cruelty that the Soviet Union’s iron fist brought down onto all of the people under its rule in the eyes of many.

Alongside the Germans directly affected, people across the United States and Europe began to call for the Berlin Wall to be opened. The other major powers would do things such as airdrop in supplies to the East German citizens who faced economic hardship under Soviet rule both to aid the citizens and protest against the Soviet Union. From within Germany, the Berlin Wall’s western side would be covered in graffiti, both protesting the wall and otherwise, and all in an act of defiance against the Soviet Union.

These protests came to a head in early November, 1989, when a protest of about half a million people mounted along the East Berlin side of the wall. Five days after this protest, on November 9th, 1989, the Soviet Union had plans to amend the rules regarding travel from East Berlin to West Berlin. The intent was to allow for people to apply for visas allowing them to travel across the border. Notes regarding these rules were given to a spokesman, who had little to no time to review them beforehand. This spokesman, being bombarded by reporters, stated that “private travel outside the country can now be applied for without prerequisites”, and that as far as he was aware, it was effective immediately.

With this statement, which was by all accounts official, having been broadcasted live to television, countless East German citizens flocked to the borders to finally cross the Berlin Wall and escape their oppressive regime. With their higher-ups remaining silent, the border guards chose to open the gates and let the people through. The wall had finally fallen, and the people of East Germany were finally able to be free and escape the cruel regime they were stuck in in spectacular fashion.

With the Soviet Union already having a number of issues elsewhere, the contested wall would metaphorically fall that day, and literally shortly after, eventually resulting in Berlin and later Germany’s reunion.