After Germany was defeated at the end of World War II, in Europe the Allied powers of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1944 that divided Germany into three occupied zones and did the same with the capitol city of Berlin. In 1949, the Soviet Union announced the creation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and claimed East Berlin as the capitol city. This claim was recognized by all the communist countries in the East and East Germany became a part of the greater Soviet Union, but it was never officially recognized by the Western powers. East Germany became a socialist republic under the control of the GDR and attempted to implement communist ideas within their half of the country. This did not come without its problems however as the East German economy was under strain due to having to pay back war reparations to the Soviet Union, as well as not having access to the support of the Marshal Plan that allowed Western Germany to make such a quick and impressive recovery. These problems led to an air of unhappiness within East Germany, and there were many different occasions where the unpleasantness of living within East Germany, and the capitol of East Berlin, created tension and unrest among the public. Examples of this tension appears in many different events throughout the history of East Germany, and in East Berlin more specifically. The Berlin Uprising of 1953, the events at Checkpoint Charlie, and the creation of the Berlin Wall in 1961 are all major examples of the East Germany government attempting to exert their control over the people, and how the responses of the people, and the enemies of the Soviet Union, raised tensions within East Germany and Berlin and led to conflicts between the many sides who resided within the borders of Germany.

On this tour, we will visit the following sites:

Platz des Volksaufstandes von 1953 - Point of Interest #1

Checkpoint Charlie - Point of Interest #2

The Remains of the Berlin Wall - Point of Interest #3

The goals of this tour are as the title suggests, we will be going to points of tension and conflict within East Berlin to try and understand why these events took place in these areas and how the people there responded to them. During the time of Soviet control over the Eastern part of Germany there was a great effort exerted by the East German government to attempt to implement a communist way of life in the country and no place in Germany was as important as East Berlin. There was already a large amount of tension in the city as it was directly opposed by West Germany, which, to the East and the Soviets, was a direct attack on everything they were trying to build. Out of this situation many different conflicts arose, and the main goal of this tour is to understand how they happened where they did and how the people in these situations responded.