The Berlin Wall Flashcards
What did East German troops begin doing on the night of August 12th 1961?
They started to build a wall, mainly out of barbed wire, in Berlin.
How did the wall help the USSR but also show them to be the “bad guys”?
It stopped migration to the West, meaning that their economy would no longer suffer from losing young and skilled workers.
However, East Berlin, and communism in the East, looked like a prison.
How long was the eventual concrete wall?
43km (27 miles)
How did people try to escape East Berlin while the wall was being built?
Jumping the barriers, jumping out of windows, running through checkpoints.
How was the West able to use the Wall as a propaganda victory?
It made it look like Communism only worked if you trapped people in and forced them to live that way.
What was the theme of the speech that President Kennedy gave in front of the wall in the June of 1963?
That freedom was better than communism, that the USA would defend West Berlin and that the Berlin Wall was wrong.
