The document summarizes the key events surrounding the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. It notes that following World War 2, Berlin was divided between the Western Allies and Soviet Union. By 1961, many East Germans were fleeing to the West for political and economic reasons, which embarrassed the USSR. In response, the Soviet leader Khrushchev demanded the withdrawal of Western troops from Berlin. When Kennedy refused, the East Germans, with Soviet backing, erected the Berlin Wall overnight on August 13th 1961 to stem the flow of refugees. The Wall separated friends and families and resulted in over 100 deaths of people trying to cross over the years until it eventually fell in 1989.

1. The Berlin Wall 1961
By: Jose Tasca, Chopa Montoya,
Lucas Caputo, Alina Claps and Tota Lupi.

2. World War II was over and Berlin, as well as Germany itself, was
divided into four sectors; the American, British, French in the West,
and Soviet in the East.
GERMANY
BERLIN
BERLIN 1945

3. Causes of the Berlin Wall 1961
● Khrushchev tried to intimidate the new US president Kennedy, demanding that all
western troops be removed from Berlin. Kennedy refused.
● East Berlin was poor and under strict communist rule, while the West was enjoying the
growing prosperity.
● Many 1961, 3 million people had fled to the West. Many of them were skilled workers.
By 1961 the flow was 1800 a day. This was an embarrassment to the USSR.
● Some wanted to leave for political reasons, others for economic ones.
● The Soviets claimed that the Americans were using West Berlin for spying and
sabotage.

4. People involved
Walter Ulbricht
East German leader
John Kennedy
President of the USA
until 1963
Nikita Kruschev
leader of the Soviet Union

5. August 13th 1961

6. BERLIN WALL
Barbed Wire Watchtowers
“The Death Strip”

7. Escaping East Germany
Peter Fechter 1962
Tunnel, dug by college students
Hot Air Balloon 1969
Horst Klein

8. Consequences of the Berlin Wall
● Around 5,000 people tried to escape over the wall, approximately
100 people were killed trying to cross the Wall.
● People who had previously worked in West Berlin lost their jobs.
● They were also separated from friends and family.
● America complain, but did nothing to destroy the wall. “It’s not a nice
solution, but a wall is a whole lot better than a war”
● Tension grew and both sides started nuclear testing.

9. Ways in which the Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War
● Concrete version of the Iron Curtain.
● Symbol of the divided world.
● Concrete symbol of the ideological divisions between the "free world" and the
"communist world".
● Proof that capitalists could never work with communists.
● Symbol of Soviet oppression

10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7YE-
N448fg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9VKVt4yuhI
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