Glencoe World History © 2008

Chapter 28: The Contemporary Western World

Web Activity Lesson Plans

Fall of the Berlin Wall

Introduction

The fall of the Berlin Wall followed a period of much suffering in East and West Berlin. In this activity students will learn about conditions in the divided city, and how events in the Soviet Union and in East Germany led to a swift decision to tear down the wall and reunify Berlin.

Lesson Description
Students will go to a Web site about the Berlin Wall and its fall. They will read the information and answer four questions about what they have read. Students will then write manifestos from the perspective of an East Berliner who is calling for democracy and the tearing down of the wall in 1989.

Instructional Objectives
The learner will be able to describe the events that led to the building and, eventually, the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The learner will write a manifesto calling for democracy and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. It closed the border between East and West Germany in response to the flight of thousands of East Germans to the West.



2. The East German government claimed the Wall was a barrier to Western imperialism designed to protect East Berliners from Western aggression. However, the wall was designed primarily to stop people from escaping to West Berlin.



3. Life in West Berlin was much better than it was in East Berlin. East Berlin had decrepit housing, and the political conditions were dissatisfying while West Berliners lived in prosperity.



4. The borders between East Berlin and West Berlin opened on November 9, 1989. Germans organized mass demonstrations, which pressured the East German government for liberalization.



5. Students' manifestos will vary but should incorporate points about democracy and communist ideology as well as details from the Web site about the difficulties of life in East Germany and East Berlin under communism.