When is World Freedom Day?
Thursday November 9thOn November 9th each year, the Berlin Wall's fall is commemorated each year. This historic event in Central and Eastern Europe signaled the end of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.
At the end of WWII, Germany was divided into East and West Germanys. The two sectors were divided by West Germany's American, British, and French-controlled East Germany, and the Soviet Union-controlled East Germany. East Germany became the country's own country in 1949. The capital city of Berlin fell within the Soviet Zone of Occupation...
The living conditions in East and West Germany were very different, as could be expected. Economic conditions in capitalist West Germany flourished. The opposite happened in communist East Germany. Many Germans defected to West Germany in order to escape the harsh conditions of communist rule. By the late 1960s, East Germany had lost a significant portion of its labor force, accounting for the bulk of the country's population. Nearly 3 million people had left East Germany between 1949 and 1961, according to the BBC. The Soviet Union, out of desperation, has threatened nuclear weapons to overthrown West Germany, including West Berlin..
Soldiers in East and West Berlin erected concrete posts and strung barbed wire between East and West Berlin on August 12-13, 1961. This event occurred in the middle of the night. People in Berlin woke up the next morning, they could not go to the other side of the city. Berliners couldn't cross over even if they had a job or a family on the other hand. For decades, they had been trapped on Berlin's side. Soldiers also built a sturdier wall a few days later.
Electric fences, watchtowers, and minefields were eventually installed along the 91-mile wall, eventually. The Berlin Wall became a symbol of the Cold War.
