Forging the Iron Curtain

Hey everyone. For today's class, we will be trying some imaginative learning. All this means is that you have to imagine that you are someone else. This perspective exercise is important, seeing the world through other people's eyes is an important part of History. Complete all objectives along the way. Here goes:

You're German. You live in Berlin, the German capital. Your parents live nearby, on the other side of downtown. You visit them regularly; it's a big part of your daily routine and you feel a sense of duty to these visits because your folks clearly need your help with daily tasks. They're getting old. They're kinda frail. You like the independence of your own apartment near the Tiergarten, but you're happy to have your folks only about a ten-minute drive away. You're actually considering moving in with them to be their eventual care-taker. You're a really good kid. Selfless.

However, it's a dangerous and tumultuous time right now; it's May 1945, Germany just surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. Everything has changed. The Soviet Red Army controls the city. There are reports of atrocities. You're actually really quite lucky to be alive.

You emerge from the relative safety of your small apartment, feeling the need to go explore what's left of your once great city. Mein Gott! Heilige Scheiße! It's worse than you thought out here. The city is a complete ruin! You need to go check on your parents. You hope they're alright.

You've received a new objective: Interact with the map below to locate your house, your parents' house, and have a look around by clicking "read more" when scrolling over the numbers. Your panic button is in the upper right corner. Be on your guard and stay low. Watch for falling debris and Soviet patrols.

With Europe more or less destroyed by the war, the US saw an opportunity to address their new ideological enemy, Soviet communism, and its influence on the continent. The Marshall Plan aimed to pay for the wholesale reconstruction of Europe (except, of course, the Soviet-controlled parts).

By suppyling Westren Europe countries (including West Berlin) with the means to restart their economies, they built up an ecomonic union to build up their ideological strength in Europe. The stage was set for the Cold War between the only two superpowers left standing: the champion of capitalism vs. the bastion of communism.

New objective: Zoom into Europe and explore. Can you brainstorm any potential logistical issues (think geographically) for West Berlin to receive their Marshall Plan supplies?

For more than a year, Stalin blockaded the city from their rail contact corridors which supplied their Marshal Plan goods. For an entire year, the city was a prison.

Hey look, a recap! Watch the above video for a primary account of one of the pilots of the Berlin Airlift. Using your knowledge of the geopolitical situation, what would have been one of the major threats to the pilots and their cargo. What might have happened if Stalin had given the order to shoot one of their planes out of the sky? Because he was probably thinking about it too

Questions:

1. Write down a few things of interest about the runways in Berlin
2. What were three dangers for the pilots like Gail Halvorsen, the candy bomber?

With supplies pouring in to west Berlin, many people started to appriciate that Eastren Europe (the Soviet Bloc) didn't have nearly the commercial resources as the West. Many began emigrate out of the soviet-dominated East. The loop hole was: anyone from Eastren Europe could travel to Berlin, cross town to west Berlin with an interzonepass, and board a safeguarded flight to the West. Many of the intelligistia (the educated class) weighed their options and made this bold move while the loophole remainded open knowing that it wouldn't be forever.

In response, Stalin ordered the construction of a barrier surrounding West Berlin, making it an inaccessible island within East Germany. This 'Berlin Wall' would become the symbolic central flashpoint of the entire Cold War clash. Soviet soldiers who patrolled the wall were given orders to kill those East Germans who tried to escape. Their country had become a prison.

Oh wow, another objective: Watch the video above and try to identify the parts of the more secure Berline Wall below

A wild objective appears. But interacting with everything above, answer the following:

1. Find a place where a person could escape East Germany by boat
2. Locate the three airports in West Berlin
3. Locate Checkpoint Charlie
4. Locate the Brandenburg Gate
5. How many years passed between the end of the Berlin Airlift and the beginning of construction on the Berlin Wall?
6. How many flights participated in the year-long Berlin Airlift? How much candy did they bring?
7. What was the birthyear, and eye colour of the women in the example interzonepass?
8. Which four European countries received the most Marshal Plan aid?
9. Imagine how you would get through the Berlin Wall in the above picture (super secure). Tell me your most creative plan? Think imaginatively. Think outside the box. Let's make things fun and say you have unlimited resources to do this without getting yourself, or anyone else, killed.
10. Finally, and consider this your primary learning objective, discuss in a few short paragraphs the significance and impact of people's physical movements in post-war Berlin on world history.