We chose to do our history day project on the Berlin Wall. We
became interested in the topic a few years ago when Brett's teacher had a piece
of the wall itself. We didn't know much about the topic when we started this
project so the research has been interesting. We are doing our project in group
on a website. The Berlin Wall was built in the year of 1961. It was taken down
on November 9, 1989. With the taking down of the wall it ended communism in
Germany, and was an important part of history.
Research for our project was not too difficult. With several class days
to work on research we finished most of it without problems. We had two trips to
the Minnewaska Area High School library, and spent probably around 2 1/2 hours on the internet. We think we did a relatively good job with the research, and that we found good primary and
secondary sources.
Our most used and best source was the internet site http://www.historywiz.com/berlinwall.htm. This site held many of the primary sources, photographs, and also held valuable print
material about the Berlin Wall. It also included some of the speech John F.
Kennedy. Although it contained some, it did not contain all of the speech. So we
found the entire speech at http://130.18.140.19/stennis/jfk-berlin.html.
Another valuable primary source was found at http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/reagan-tear-down.htm. This contained Ronald Reagan's speech at the fall of the Berlin Wall. The
majority of the pictures used on the website were found using the path of
Google.
During our research of the topic we learned lots of interesting new facts
and history. We especially learned new things about the time of the standing
wall. We found it interesting learning about the zone given the nickname "no
man's land". This was a 100 meter zone that was used to control the border. This
"no man's land" was guarded daily by tanks and soldiers, stopping people trying
to escape to West Germany. East German patrols were not told to shoot right
away. They were instructed to yell a verbal warning, next warning shots, and if
escapee did not listen they were shot. We also found the tearing down of the
wall very interesting. The night of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 2 million East
Berliners rushed to the wall with the joy of freedom, and on December 22, 1989
the Brandenburg Gate was opened and many people chipped off pieces of the wall.
The fall of the Berlin Wall marked a major mark in communism in Europe,
and ended it completely. If Germany was still divided today we would still have
many problems with communism. Today, with the end of communism and the cold war
we no longer need to worry about a nuclear war. Our country and European
countries have all benefited from the fall of the Berlin Wall.
became interested in the topic a few years ago when Brett's teacher had a piece
of the wall itself. We didn't know much about the topic when we started this
project so the research has been interesting. We are doing our project in group
on a website. The Berlin Wall was built in the year of 1961. It was taken down
on November 9, 1989. With the taking down of the wall it ended communism in
Germany, and was an important part of history.
Research for our project was not too difficult. With several class days
to work on research we finished most of it without problems. We had two trips to
the Minnewaska Area High School library, and spent probably around 2 1/2 hours on the internet. We think we did a relatively good job with the research, and that we found good primary and
secondary sources.
Our most used and best source was the internet site http://www.historywiz.com/berlinwall.htm. This site held many of the primary sources, photographs, and also held valuable print
material about the Berlin Wall. It also included some of the speech John F.
Kennedy. Although it contained some, it did not contain all of the speech. So we
found the entire speech at http://130.18.140.19/stennis/jfk-berlin.html.
Another valuable primary source was found at http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/reagan-tear-down.htm. This contained Ronald Reagan's speech at the fall of the Berlin Wall. The
majority of the pictures used on the website were found using the path of
Google.
During our research of the topic we learned lots of interesting new facts
and history. We especially learned new things about the time of the standing
wall. We found it interesting learning about the zone given the nickname "no
man's land". This was a 100 meter zone that was used to control the border. This
"no man's land" was guarded daily by tanks and soldiers, stopping people trying
to escape to West Germany. East German patrols were not told to shoot right
away. They were instructed to yell a verbal warning, next warning shots, and if
escapee did not listen they were shot. We also found the tearing down of the
wall very interesting. The night of the fall of the Berlin Wall, 2 million East
Berliners rushed to the wall with the joy of freedom, and on December 22, 1989
the Brandenburg Gate was opened and many people chipped off pieces of the wall.
The fall of the Berlin Wall marked a major mark in communism in Europe,
and ended it completely. If Germany was still divided today we would still have
many problems with communism. Today, with the end of communism and the cold war
we no longer need to worry about a nuclear war. Our country and European
countries have all benefited from the fall of the Berlin Wall.