The Fall of the Berlin Wall – II

                Intro.: A Moment in Time with Dan Roberts.

                Content: Almost from the end of World War II, West Berlin was a problem for the Soviet Union. There it lay, a shimmering reminder of the failure of the Marxist dream. A public relations disaster. A festering sore buried deep in the heart of East Germany. Berliners gazed across the line dividing their city or traveled back and forth. It did not take great brilliance to recognize the difference between the two sectors. West Berlin, successful, bright, energetic, shining in vivid contrast to the Communist zone with its plain, dull architecture, sluggish commerce, limited opportunities and oppressive political system. By the early 1960s Germans by the hundreds of thousands, exercising their rights of free passage, were fleeing to the West. As embarrassing as this was to the communists, this brain drain, the departure of many of the nation's brightest people was threatening the future of the East.