Why was the Berlin Wall erected in Berlin?

Question

I understand the divide between East and West, but why was the Wall erected specifically in Berlin?

In: Other

Answer 1

Germany as a whole was divided between the western and eastern allies.

Berlin the former capital of Germany was inside the part that would become Eastern Germany. The city itself mirroring the country was divided between the allies.

This lead the result where there was half a city controlled by the western allies surrounded on all sides by communist controlled territory.

The soviets controlled the eastern half of the city and the surrounding countryside.

So you had this tiny island of capitalism inside a see of communism.

Initially Germans could move relatively freely between the different occupied zones.

Some even commuted for work from east to west Berlin or the other way around.

As things evolved over time, many people found that they might have a better life in the west than the east. Things might not be too bad for the common worker, but educated and skilled workers could get a much higher standard of living in western parts of Germany and Berlin.

There were some who went the other way going from the west to the east out of ideological reasons, but the number of people going from communist to capitalist were much higher.

The leadership of the communists thought this would be a problem things would look bad if their best and brightest kept leaving their country to go to the competition.

So they shut down the border and made it harder for people to freely move from one side to the other.

Eventually Walter Ulbricht the leader of East Germany declared that nobody had any intention of building a wall, which was a bit weird as nobody had asked about that.

Shortly afterwards a wall was build.

The wall primarily separated east and west Berlin. The border went straight though the heart of the city.

The border was also fortified around West-Berlin from the other side so it was completely encircled by a strong border.

Additionally the border between the two Germany’s was also build up.

It is just that there was more room to build traditional border fortifications on the border between two countries or the border separating West-Berlin from the surrounding countryside.

The Berlin Wall part that went right through the city itself was famous because it was so centrally located and right next to were people lived and worked.

For decades until the fall of the Berlin wall West Berlin remained a small island of western life inside the communist dominated territory.