The Berlin Wall, 1961
Notes:
- People had been fleeing to the west through Berlin for many years “Brain Drain” (3 mil.)
- Krushchev wants Kennedy to pull out of Berlin and make it a free city
- Kennedy increases US strength
- Krushchev responds by building a wall around West Berlin
- Both leaders were accused of being soft in Berlin and fixed this by ordering more tests of nuclear weapons
SUMMARY :
People with professions such as doctors or lawyers moved to the West as they could make twice the money in a democratic society. Educated individuals wanted to live in a democracy, causing a lack of educated individuals in the east. Krushchev puts up Berlin wall to separate the communist east and the democratic West.
Quotes:
"Nobody has the intention of building a wall." - GDR head of state Walter Ulbricht on June 15, 1961 in a press conference in East Berlin
Subjunctive questions:
Why did Kennedy not intervene by destroying the wall altogether instead of airlifting support for the east?