East Germany $1.69 AUD
Category: History
Reunification in Germany was a slow process. The country was divided between the communist East and the capitalist West from the end of World War Two in 1945 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. To understand how momentous a step reunification in Germany was, it is necessary to go back to the start of the division in 1945.When World War Two ended, the four Allied powers of the US, Britain, France and the Soviet Union divided Germany between themselves. This was to share the load of helping a war-ravaged country rebuild itself. The US, Britain and France were given land in the west of Germany and the Soviet Union was given land in the east of Germany. Due to the influence of the occupying forces, over time West Germany developed into a capitalist state and East Germany developed into a communist state.There was a boundary built to make the split between West Germany and East Germany more official. This boundary effectively divided Europe as a whole. This is because the Soviet Union imposed communist governments on all states to the east of the boundary, whereas all countries to the west of the boundary were governed by a capitalist system. The Western world called this strict division of Europe the “iron curtain”. Berlin was behind the “iron curtain” but as it was the German capital, it was likewise divided into four segments. Effectively, therefore, the three West Berlin zones of the US, Britain and France formed a collective pocket of capitalist culture in a sea of communist territory.
