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The Berlin Wall vs. the escapes from Cuba

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The Berlin Wall vs. the escapes from Cuba

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Although there isn't a physical wall blocking the people of Cuba, they still are having trouble fleeing their homes. This blockade takes form of an ocean. Many people are trying to escape political and sometimes economic unrest by fleeing to the United States, where they will automatically become a citizen. These people are floating across the ocean in boats made of tires, old car motors, and scrap pieces of wood, trying to make it to the shores of Florida. They are risking death by dehydration, starvation, or sharks, being found by their government ships which will send them back home, and they are risking everything they own to make it to Florida. For more than 50 years these people have been trying to escape their Communist government, hating the political pressure.

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"I think the American music, the Jazz, everyone fell in love with the American music, and the American men, they were good looking *laughs*. The music brought hope, we were happy when the Americans came.

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"When the front came closer we fled to the outside of Berlin. We heard horror stories about the Soviet Union. My mother got raped 3 times by them. But after I read a book about the Berlin wall I realized that they are people too." Although they did horrible things, the Germans did the same in other places during World War II.

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"The memory of the difference from East and West Germany. You crossed [from West Germany to East Germany] and it was all grey. There were no stores open. We had music and fashions [in West Germany], but there was nothing in East Germany.

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Helga Sobek lived in Germany until 1959 when she moved to America. She was young during the cold war, but clearly remembers the construction of the Berlin Wall. Helga lived close to the wall in the American part of Western Germany, only 3 or 4 blocks from the division. Because she was close to the airport, she saw American planes constantly flying by, delivering supplies to the Eastern side of Berlin. Helga talks about the fall of the Berlin Wall, "I was very excited and had tears in my eyes. I didn't think it would actually happen." I have quoted her many times in this presentation because she was able to offer me insight to her life during the Cold War and her experiences with the Berlin Wall.

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"One time, when I was already in 'America, and a citizen, I visited Berlin, my family in East Germany." It was hard and expensive to get a day pass. She was stopped on her way home by the Soviets and held for a half hour because they said she didn't have the right stamps.

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Life was very tough, although the Americans brought food and necessities as much as they could, many people were starving. Helga Sobek and her family sent packages conaining food and even blue jeans to their family that helped them during World War II.

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Helga's friend lived on the same street as her mother and overnight the Berlin wall seperated them. They could wave to each other through the windows of their apartments but couldn't speak to each other.

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Sobek, Helga. "Berlin Wall." Personal interview. 07 May 2015.

History. "Berlin Wall." History.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 May 2015. <www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall/print>.

Silva, Cristina. "Why Cubans Are Still Risking Their Lives On Flimsy Rafts To Leave The Island." International Business Times. International Business Times, 07 May 2015. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.ibtimes.com/why-cubans-are-still-risking-their-lives-flimsy-rafts-leave-island-1909877>.

Newman, Alex. "Report: With Cartel Help, ISIS Crossing Border From Mexico." The New American. The New American, 16 Apr. 2015. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/20678-report-with-cartel-help-isis-crossing-border-from-mexico>.

Robles, Frances. "In Rickety Boats, Cuban Migrants Again Flee to U.S." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Oct. 2014. Web. 10 May 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/10/us/sharp-rise-in-cuban-migration-stirs-worries-of-a-mass-exodus.html?_r=0>.

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People in the Western part of Germany would throw their trash over the the East side of the wall because they knew they would never be told to get it again.

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The West side of the wall was covered in graffiti while there was none on the East side.

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136 people died trying to simply cross the border.

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136 people died trying to simply cross the border.

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If they were traiters the soldiers were instructed to shoot but not kill'.

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An informative video about the Berlin wall itself and how it was built.

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Berlin Wall  Deconstructed - History.com video.wmv

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Helga Sobek lived in a 3.5 room apartment for with her 5 member family. After many apartment buildings were destroyed, 3 more people came to live with them.

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This video from CBS News talks about the end of World War II, treaties made, and how Berlin was destroyed.

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In this video from 1963, CBS News gives a history of the Berlin Wall.

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"Attention you are crossing into West Berlin.

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"Attention you are crossing into West Berlin.

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This church still stands to remind people of the wall.

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People had to cross through checkpoints if they were crossing between East and West Berlin.

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There were always gaurds around this monument to the fallen and deceased for those of the Soviet Union.

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People would try and jump down from the windows to cross the wall.

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They have added a new church to it that is in full use.

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A monument set up by the Soviet Union that fell into Western Berlin after the division. Eastern Berlin gained this territory.

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The yellow is a base in Western Berlin. The blue is the East. Notice the Russian guards in Eastern Berlin.

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The yellow is a base in Western Berlin. The blue is the East. Notice the Russian guards in Eastern Berlin.

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This is a helpful map of how Germany was seperated by the Berlin wall. Helga Sobek was very close to the wall, in a town near to the only airport in the American side.

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"You couldn't talk about anything in your own household."

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"You couldn't talk about anything in your own household."

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Helga Sobek's nephew repeated what he heard his father say in school to the teacher. His father was found and arrested, serving many years at a labor camp.

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"My husband was in high school, 17 years old, and him and his friends were talking about politics, how they didn't like the communists." Many of his friends were 'disapearing'. In reality, they were being taken to work camps for labor. Her husband was on the list and was being looked for by the police to be arrested so he packed a small satchel and walked across the border. "He left his parents and didn't know if he would ever see them again."

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The Berlin Wall vs. the border between the USA and Mexico

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The Berlin Wall vs. the border between the USA and Mexico

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This connection, unlike the circumstances in Nigeria, involve an actual barrier to stop them from crossing into new territory. People from Mexico and South America are feeling to the United States in search of jobs to bring money to their poor families. At the division of the United States and Mexico there is an actual border trying to keep people out.

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At first, it reminded people in Germany about their lack of freedom of expression. "The wall of shame they first said." Later on "it became one of the biggest monuments for freedom, that people were trying to dig under. They wanted to flee anyway they could."

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How did the Berlin Wall affect the Cold War?

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How did the Berlin Wall affect the Cold War?

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The Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War, reminding people of the circumstances around them. This wall caused a lot of tnsion between the Soviet Union and America, as the Americans didn't like the way people were being treated in East Germany. This wall was a physical representation of the iron curtain, the border between the land of the Soviet Union and other land. The Berlin wall turned into a propaganda disaster for the Soviet Union. Althouth the wall was said to keep those from Western Germany out of Eatern Germany, it was really to keep those in Eastern Germany from fleeing. Many people, including a lot of proffesional doctors and engineers, were escaping to Western Germany. This made the situation in Eastern Germany even worse.