Cultural Differences Between East and West Germany (1945 - 1961) - Essay Example

of the al Affiliation Cultural differences between East and West Germany (1945 - 1961) For close to sixteen years, an ‘iron curtain’ divided East and West Berlin in the heart of Germany. Many events that happened between East and West Germany caused the leader of the East Germany Eric Honecker to demand the construction of the great Berlin Wall in 1961. The form of leadership system before the wall and after the construction of the wall gave rise to the broad cultural difference between the East and the West Germany. Interestingly, during the time the wall was erected, many people attempted to cross the border though illegally without much success owing to the form of leadership between the two nations. In turn, this gave rise to a very unstable relationship between the government of Federal Republic of West and the government of German Democratic Republic (Wilhelm & Homer, 1976, pp, 121). In the Aftermath of the World War II, Germany was split into four zones with each zone being controlled by a different country. The western part had three major divisions which were controlled by the Americans, British and French sides. The Eastern part on the other hand was controlled by the Soviet Union. Eventually, the three western occupiers which included the British, French and American agreed to unify the region into one and named it Federal Republic of Germany. The soviet sector, on the other hand, developed a state German Democratic Republic. These two nations were as a result of the failure to settle on a harmonious agreement in the aftermath of the World War II. As of 1961 before the construction of Berlin Wall, many Germans in the East deemed the life in the West Germany more desirable, and most of them wished to escape from the hands of the West government. For those living in East dissatisfied with the communist leadership, the West Germany was an escape route. This brought turmoil between the two states. Between the year 1949 and 1961, close to three million East Germany residents had flown to West Germany. Many of these included the intellectuals, skilled labors and their migration to West Germany was creating economic turmoil to the East Germany economy. The massive migration to the west led to the leader of the East Germany Eric Honecker to construct a wall around the city of Berlin. The wall served to divide the city and nation as well as the communist from capitalist world. People, as well as ideas, lifestyle, culture and politics, were prevented from entering freely between the two states. Today, even if the wall doesn’t stand, it has created so many divisions between the minds of those who lived in the West and East. The barrier is still visible in the mind of the people on the way they behave and conduct their things. Before the World War II, which tore Germany into four parts, the East and West of Germany shared a common culture, history, and mentality. The style of government leadership, which was divided between the communism and capitalists, was the core cause of cultural differences that started to be present amongst the resident of the East and West Germany. Even before the wall was constructed, there existed many differences between the East and West Germany. The period between 1945 and 1961 brought a lot of changes in terms of culture between these two nations. The effect of communist party rule between the years 1945-1961 had altered so many things, and the residents exhibited visible cultural differences when compared to their counterparts from the other side. Similarly, the leadership on the other side of the Germany transformed the economic and social life of the residents such that they exhibited big differences in their way of life. In the short-span of 16 years, the effect of the communist party in the East Germany led a number of lifestyle changes (Wood, & Christel, 2011, pp, 268). The residents of the West Germany showed a strong social and collective mentality. The system of collectivism had shown them the sense of being together. The resources belonged to everyone and hence no need for competition. People had to work hand-in-hand and support others for increased benefits. The piece of the national cake would then be shared by the government to the individual regions and then to then the benefit would trickle down to the individuals through increased access to public services, basic necessities such as waters and electricity. The cycle would continue, and people would learn to work and live together as a family in the society. The cultural ties are rather strong with people tending to work with people of they are closely linked. This was very unlike the capitalist West Germany. The resources were in the hands of the individual few who controlled the economy. Basically, these were the social elites, politicians and the few intellects of that time that were skilled. To those who could not afford to own a piece of the resource, they hand to work for those who were endowed to eke out a living. In a way, this brought a culture of competition (Wells & Hewes, 1960, pp 33). Those who worked hard, they were motivated to work even harder so that they could own more resources and to those who did not have resources were too, motivated to work hand to own their own resources. There were unintended outcomes of these kinds of government systems. For instance, the lack of competition amongst the socialist East normally led people to obey and work within the framework of the law. These people believed in the system, and many if not all were taught that the government system held much of their destiny. Everyone was to be equal as far as economic welfare was concerned. Nothing really motivated them for not obeying the system (Saxonberg & Steven, 2013, pp 350). Much unlike the East, the competition for resources led to a massive challenge for the government to set up better systems of leadership where people would be free to make their income without any barriers from forces that were out of hand for them and fell under the realm of the government. For instances, taxes imposed had to be favorable as it directly influenced how much an individual could earn. Similarly, the infrastructure development was a key issue with many investors requiring road constructions, electrification of the area and setting up of public services through the collected tax. Since the government depended heavily on the income from the economy, much of these developments were integrated with the economy. Arguably, there was little tolerance to the government leadership as compared to the East Germany. The difference in economic strength between the two states brought about the difference in standards of living. The residents from the Western side could be able to enjoy better things such as improved toilets systems, a variety of merchandise within the state brought about by competition amongst the various investors. The life was better. The kids would go to good schools, and the access to various facilities led them to be better off than those in the Eastern side. Eventually, the way of things changed, and one could notice and draw a line between a resident of an East and that of West Germany. For the East, people were rather un-ambitious. They depended heavily on the government structures which mean if there are no changes made by the government; equally there will be no changes in their lives. It is reasonable to expect that there are few times the government would be concerned much about the welfare of the people but rather the stability of the government and its possibility of maintain power (Saxonberg & Steven, 2013, pp 350). Having said that, the government would not overly empower its citizens in such scenario so as to hold on power for a relatively longer time. This was the result of the East government; there were little development and the residents lagged behind these developments such as access to better and improved merchandise and the overall standards of living. For the East, it also had the positive side of the leadership style. For instance, there was more gender equality as compared to the West Germany. The resources were to be shared equally amongst the residents regardless of the gender. Children and women alike were entitled to the piece of the national cake despite the fact their role in economy building could have been relatively lower compared to their male counterparts. In an open economy which was in the Western side of Germany, the case was different with regard to gender equality. Mostly, the lucrative and managerial jobs were left in hands of few individuals and particularly men. The woman in this region just like the other region contributed little towards development with their duties narrowed to child bearing and upbringing of the children. In a competitive market, the resources are determined by individual efforts rather than the communal efforts. In return, the gender disparity was more experienced in the Western Germany than the Eastern Germany. The Soviet Union brought more a culture of atheists and agnostics. The religion was hardly put in consideration in their way of life. Such kind of system from the government which controlled majority of the activities led to a culture of atheists and agnostics. People tended less to religion issues, and the roots of this attitude spread more and more with time until the majority of then turned to be atheists and agnostics. The Western Germany was more a democratic government whereby people had the power to make their own choices. There was little influence from the government and hence the culture of religion never died with the introduction of the new systems. The religion played an important aspect to them and was a point of difference between them and the residents of East Germany. Additionally, lack of democracy in the Eastern Region resulted in more racism cases. Racial discrimination against color was rife with the black being forced to work on the plantations. The attitude and culture of racism eventually grew into people. The West Germany led by France, British and America created an open and democratic form of leadership. Everyone has his own right and hence the cases of racism were not common as it would be against the government set of laws used to govern the citizens. Bibliography Bleek, Wilhelm, and Elizabeth Homer. "From Cold War to Ostpolitik: Two Germanys in Search of Separate Identities." World Politics 29, no. 01 (1976): 114-129. Jewishvirtuallibrary.org,. 2015. The Holocaust Wing | Jewish Virtual Library. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/holo.html. Wells, Roger Hewes. The States in West German federalism: a study of Federal-State relations, 1949-1960. Bookman Associates, 1961. Wood, Geoffrey T., and Christel Lane, eds. Capitalist diversity and diversity within capitalism. Routledge, 2011. pp, 207-289. Saxonberg, Steven. The fall: a comparative study of the end of communism in Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Poland. Routledge, 2013. pp, 341-389 Read More