35 Years On From the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Unpacking its Surrounding Emotions

On the night of 9th November 1989, the infamous Berlin Wall was dismantled by some hopeful East Berliners, who rejoiced to see its end, and despite being caused by a bureaucratic accident, this event sent shockwaves across the world, profoundly affecting the bigger political landscape; East Germany was free from communist rule, but what next?

The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years and was seen as a physical representation of the ongoing power struggle of the Cold War, between the two superpowers of the time: the USA and the Soviet Union.

The fall of the wall was seen as a turning point in the Cold War, as it showed the emerging weaknesses of the Soviet Union and eventually contributed to the collapse of the Eastern bloc.

However, it is easy to forget the effects this event had on East Germany itself, as the wider world had long been waiting with baited breath to see what would be the outcome of the international superpowers’ struggle.

Emotions varied throughout the world. A local History teacher (Teacher A) described the mood in Britain: 

At the time, people in Britain did not celebrate...because from the moment of creation, Germany had been a problem for the other European countries, so people looked on, wondering ‘is this a good thing? Is this going to be okay?’

 

"Some did celebrate, because for conservatives and, in particular, American conservatives, the Berlin Wall coming down was, for them, a sense of 'our ideology has won the Cold War.'

 

"So it was a moment of victory for people like George Bush and his predecessors.”

 

However, when we look at emotions running through East Germany, the picture becomes more complicated.

Talking to another local teacher (Teacher B) , who grew up in Thüringen in East Germany and was a young girl at the time of the wall’s fall, she described the moment: 

I couldn't quite really fully understand what it meant. But I don't think it's necessarily down to the fact that I was a child; a lot of people just didn't know how to react...

 

"I think overall, people thought it was probably quite a positive thing, because they felt like maybe they could have a bit more freedom in many ways. “

 

For many East Germans, it was a moment of hope for reform, but perhaps not in the way that everyone might expect:

We didn't think of capitalism as something appealing. It was just having the freedom to say what you want [that was appealing]. That has nothing to do with capitalism…

 

"Women were considered to be exactly the same [as men] - when it came to pay, there was no difference between them. There was no assumption that men can do only this or women can only do that - it didn't exist.

 

"As a child, you were really well provided for; child care was free and you could have a childcare place from the age of three months onwards, and the hours were really suitable for working parents. 

 

"There was no difference in opportunities for children; it didn't matter what their parents did.They could learn an instrument for free. They could do ballet classes for free - everything was free.

 

"Medical provision was excellent.  There was no unemployment.

There was enough housing, and maybe it wasn't the most modern, but at least nobody was homeless.

 

"...Everything was really well thought out to provide and care for the population.”    -Teacher B

 

In East Germany, the view was that there was a good quality of life, which sometimes distracted from the larger political problems. However, the main thing which some kids noticed was restrictions on travel:

It was just peculiar because obviously you talk about a family member, but why are you not able to visit them?”   -Teacher B

and the atmosphere of secrecy:

People were aware of the secret service, the Stasi and potentially that it was all around us. So you were not meant to talk about things in certain settings and you were aware, even as a child, not to talk about things at school.

 

"You had to be a bit more guarded...

 

"But I think because a lot of things were focused on society, it probably made it easier to almost forget about the things that were really unpleasant.”   -Teacher B

 

After the wall came down, the East adopted the laws and economic policies of West Germany, including the privatisation of millions of companies, leading to high unemployment. 

As a result, there was an emerging concept in East Germany: 

Ostalgia - it means nostalgia for the east. In the 1990s, ostalgia became a thing where people in East Germany were saying, ‘what have we done? Our lives were better in the old days.’

 

"That had a backlash of people saying, ‘are you mad? We were literally the most spied on people in the world,’ which they were; one in six East Germans were working for the secret police in one capacity or another.”    

-Teacher A

 

Many people struggled to adapt to a changed Germany:

Not knowing whether you've got a job or a house or a flat, or potentially not having access to health services; that causes anxiety...

 

"[East Germans who settled in the West] would be made to feel quite like the outsiders.”    -Teacher B

 

Only 329 days after the wall was dismantled, Germany was united as one nation.  

However, even to this day, there remain some divisions, with many people still choosing to distinguish themselves as East or West Germans. 

Additionally, there is a marked difference in pay of around 15%, between doing the same job in East or West Germany.

In conclusion, the emotions which followed the fall of the Berlin Wall can be difficult to generalise to the entire population, but 35 years on, it is largely felt that the fall of the wall brought around positive changes to German life and remains a symbol of hope and perseverance.