Importance of East Germany and West Germany

The consequences of the Second World War were very strong, marked the society German and largely to the world. As a result of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the countries at war with it that became known as the Allies resolved to disband initially with the aim to dismantle any attempt to succeed Adolf Hitler but then generating an internal conflict between them and that opposed the capitalist world with the world communist. The division of Germany into four regions (East Germany in Soviet hands and the remaining three under the name of West Germany in British, American and French hands) was perhaps the most relevant geopolitical event of the entire world. twentieth century.

The lust for power and territory that altered a society

The four countries that came together to defeat Hitler's Nazism would be in charge of dividing, after the war ended, German society as if we were talking about objects in themselves. The former German territory was divided into four relatively balanced parts. The sum of the three western parts would be known as the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet-dominated section would be called the German Democratic Republic. This event of great historical importance would take place in 1949, that is, just 4 years after the end of the war.

The separation meant a human problem since the Germans were isolated from each other and had to think over the next forty years of being part of different countries. Its identity was then built on the basis of different elements, which one Germany did not share with the other. While the western region began to see an interesting process of economic growth and modernization, the eastern section fell under the hands of communism and that meant in many ways economic backwardness, authoritarian control, etc.

The case of Berlin as a representation of the hardships of an entire society

One of the most striking elements of this entire separation process was that it also took place in the then capital of Germany, the city of Berlin. It was divided into two regions separated from each other by a wall. This was the famous Berlin Wall that was built in 1961 and stood until 1989. This construction It arose from the constant displacement of the inhabitants of East Berlin to West Berlin for the reasons mentioned above.

Families and acquaintances from Berlin were kept away from each other by this wall, which had very harsh security measures, even becoming a double wall in some parts of the city. The inability to cross to the other side meant that many families lost contact with each other. yes for decades and the harshness of the Soviet regime especially kept East Berliners in he silence and absolute ostracism.

What happened with Berlin and in general with Germany was a mirror of the world division that the capitalist bloc and the Soviet bloc wanted to establish and that was historically known as Cold War.

Fotolia image: Brad, Nikolaskus