Germany and Berlin were divided into four sectors and it was agreed that they would be collectively managed by the Joint Allied Control Council. Lenin famously reflected that, “whoever possesses Berlin possesses Germany, and whoever controls Germany controls Europe.” After the war, European countries were anxious to make sure Germany would never threaten their nations again, and divided Germany among the Allied victors for supervision accordingly. Ultimately, this paper will argue that the construction of the Berlin Wall was a product of the refugee crisis, challenges to the Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union (USSR)’s leadership and the USSR’s failed diplomacy with the West. This paper will synthesize these two aspects in examining the origins of the Berlin Wall, following a brief narrative of the status of postwar Germany and a historiographical analysis. Any discussion of the topic must consider both international events during the Cold War and domestic politics. However, this event was a reflection of the tense international system at the time and an attempt to resolve some of the issues. For the ordinary citizen who wanted to flee to the West, no explanation could have justified the Wall’s construction. The Berlin Wall became the most iconic image of Cold War divisions and represented a physical manifestation of Winston Churchill’s 1945 “Iron Curtain” speech. For the next twenty eight years, Berliners would remain on whichever side of the Wall they were the night before, tearing apart families, friends, and loved ones for what seemingly was an eternity. Early in the morning on Sunday, August 13, 1961, barbed wire fences went up all over the boundary between East and West Berlin.
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