How did the berlin wall affected people, politics, economy of the countries involved?

Question

How did the berlin wall affected people, politics, economy of the countries involved?

Answer 1

I visited West Berlin in February of 1964.  At that time the only way in and out of the city was by air.  You could only fly in and out during certain hours and you could only fly in certain air corridors or risk having your plane shot down.  

I was amazed at the energy and optimism of the people at that time.

West Berlin had been largely re-built, with the powder box and lipstick buildings kept bombed as a reminder of the war.  I remember a park with a rather large man-made hill, made from the rubble of the war, but set into the park to be played on and skiied down in the

winter.  I felt the strength and determination of the West Berliners.

But when I get close to the wall it was so different.  It wasn't just a wall.  It was houses which had been gutted and turned into parts of the wall, and a great barb-wired no-man's land in the space between

the two parts of the city.  Soldiers stood on high platforms on both sides, young men, nervous and armed and ready to shoot if necessary.  All along the wall were small memorials to people who had tried to escape from East Berlin to the West.  There were a lot of them.  One piece of graffiti I will never forget.  It read, "In Tyrannos".

I think that phrase, "In Tyranny", aptly sums up the feeling about what had happened to East Berlin and East Germany.

We were permitted to go into East Berlin.  In contrast to the energy of West Berlin, East Berlin was like a ghost town.  The main street stood with so many beautiful old world buildings and shops and no one shopping in them.  If you looked down the alleys you saw the evidence of people living, jammed in together, but with little light--beautiful city made into a kind of ghetto, in part.  On street corners one saw soldiers, and all we were permitted to see, except for the area where Hitler's bunker was, was a great beautiful and sterile park--a tribute to the Communist take-over.  We were allowed to meet no people, speak with no one, and as I said, there were no people to be seen in the downtown area.  

That was such a great contrast.  In my heart I have always admired the people of West Berlin for their courage and hope and determination.  

As to the more academic parts of your question, you can research that.

Maggie