Life in East Berlin was quite different from that of West Berlin. Most of the citizens of East Berlin saw the state as being illegitimate, it was artificial and as a puppet of the Stalin regime. They were very opposed to the enforcement of a single party state of the ruling Socialist Unity Party. They viewed the state of West Germany as being more attractive. Most of the East Germans commonly viewed the Socialist Unity Party as the Russian party not as a German party (Ross 25). However this was not the only aspect of life in East Germany, in fact life in East Germany was way different from what people in the world believe. The socialist government encouraged to a great degree people to start families. It gave newly married couples loans at no interest. It also encouraged early marriages so that couples could finish up with child bearing quickly and concentrate on economic building activities. This meant that the average marriage age was around twenty years. Mothers were given up to a year of maternity leave with pay and a twelve day increase in the annual leave so that they could put things in their family life in order. The GDR encouraged women to work, in fact it required women to work as men in all sectors of the economy without discrimination, and thus women in the state were self sustaining. This led to an increase in the number of divorce cases such that the GDR had the largest rate of divorce in the world. Women would divorce on average in their second child birth, which was around twenty five to twenty six years old. Thus the society encouraged the independence of women and did not deny them their equal rights although they were required to take care of their families more than the men were.
Housing in East Berlin was provided by the state. The East German government constructed large apartment complexes with capacities of up to twenty thousand. This sort of housing was very cheap, it was so cheap that it could be equated to the rates of the 1930s; it was unheard of to get a family spending more than five percent on housing. However the government’s main aim was to the number of houses/ apartment buildings it constructed not the state or environment in which they were in. So, old buildings in a sorry state of disrepair were common site. Most neighbourhoods were muddy with large potholes that would fill up with water when it rained. Employment laws in the GDR allowed a lot of freedom to workers. Being a socialist state, the state ensured that blue collar job and white collar jobs were valued in the same way. This meant that one could change jobs as he wished, just give a two week and you can leave. As much as job mobility was easily allowed, most East German workers were loyal to their work places. This is because the labour laws had made quick dismissal very difficult, thus an employee would give his or her boss a piece of their mind and still come to work the next day without worry of the state of his or her job. The communist government encouraged employers to encourage socialisation among employees that it was very common to see workers hanging out together after work. Television and film in East Germany started in 1952 (Mueller 313). There was only one TV station, which was closely monitored by the communist government; however the film industry blossomed in the cold war period such that it helped develop many talents present at the time. It mainly consisted of educational films and films on literature. The love for literature in East Germany was also very high, young kids learnt literature and art in the fifth grade onwards. The love for literature grew to the point of books being acted in films across the country. However these films were only from Germany and from German or soviet actors
The culture of East Germany had very strong influence from communism and most particularly Stalinism, this as having created a congested feeling among the East Germans. This was as a result the goal set by the East German state to protect its citizens from the dangers that emanate from cultural influence that is deviant to the ideals of the state and popular expression of this nature. This was done through the enforcement of official ideas through repression of a physical and psychological nature by the use of its institutions most particularly the Stasi (Brown 70). Elections were very simple one would very simply take a ballot paper which had the name of the approved candidate in it and place it inside the ballot box. One could however vote against the approved candidate by crossing out the candidate’s name. This had to be done in a separate ballot box and voting was not done in secret. Voting against an approved candidate meant expulsion from school, dismissal/ suspension from the work place and constant monitoring by the Stasi. The STASI was the German secret police; it was formed in 1950 to be an intelligence agency. However STASI agents were trained and put in industrial plants to pose as normal employees, to banks and various places. They were known for their execution of dissidents either by a guillotine or a shot at the back of the head. The agency had made even most of the citizens of the country to spy on each other. Trials by the STASI were not fair, sometimes the suspects were not even given a legal representative, not that he had much use anyway. This led to the unfair imprisonment and execution of many people who were not satisfied with the regime in power (Merritt 516).
West Berlin
The West German state however had life in a much different dose as compared to that of its East German counterpart. Many aspects of the old German culture continued despite having such a tumultuous past. However West Germans culture was largely influenced by the United States. Most of the culture of West Berlin became a blend of old German and western culture. This is because of the freedom offered by the western culture. The day to day life was influenced by the allied powers that had set up bases in the country. This made much of West Berlin life style become more cosmopolitan than their communist neighbor. Therefore the film industry here blossomed. Every West German citizen was allowed to visit cinemas without restriction (Hickethier and Nabrotzky 54). Cinemas were very affordable then. There was a great boom in western films especially those from America (Gehler 102). They took a share of a bout thirty percent of the total film industry. West German citizens were able to watch movies from ‘Charlie Chaplin’ and many other American films (Hagan, Hans and Boehnke 1033). The German film industry took the lion share thus this led to the development of many West German actors in the period. Everyone loved the movies; they would go there every week end. Most West Germans loved soccer, every kid in most neighborhoods used to own a soccer ball. This was partly due West Germany’s success in soccer such that it won three world cup titles before the reunification. West German football clubs grew and size wealth and competitive advantage. They had a national league called the bundesliga where stadiums were packed full and their televisions were crowded with viewers (Camp 91). Soccer was an enjoyable pass time for many citizens in West Germany. A sport was a viable employment activity in West Germany; as such competition allowed the football clubs to pay their players handsomely.
Housing in West Germany was more modern when compared to that of East Germany. This is because most of the houses people living in were self contained and had their own kitchens and bathrooms where those in East Germany were communal. The West German housing was more comfortable and more expensive. It was common to hear of people who spent more than thirty percent of their income on housing. This large amount of housing meant that most West German housing were repaired and not left in sorry states as those on the East German side. However housing the quantity of affordable housing was not enough for most West German citizens due to the high cost of rental housing. There was however housing available housing for poor people even shelters for the homeless although very few were. In the beginning of the cold war, there was a large shortage of houses in West Germany due to the many refugees from East Germany but in the 1960s the government together with many private businessmen embarked on massive construction of houses to alleviate the situation. This reduced the shortage to a manageable quantity. Another aspect of the day to day life of West Germany was the cost of living in the country. West Germans had a high cost of living compared to East Germany. This is because most of West German products came from America and Britain. Furthermore the presence of the allied soldiers in their soil increased the amount of business that they had. West Germany being a capitalist country allowed people to start businesses with the greatest of ease, thus the country embraced the capitalist nature. Due to this surge in private businesses, the West German population was estimated to have a very high per capita as compared to other nations of the world. Thus the cost of goods and services increased increasing the cost of living. Due to its capitalist nature jobs were easily available in West Germany. The jobs used international labor laws to treat their workers and the wage rate was mostly on performance. This meant that there were no advantages to having children or none as compared to the workers in east Germany.The schools in West Germany were greatly influenced by the British system of learning. They however taught on a German curriculum. This kind of education helped most of children in West Germany to develop a free and competitive attitude just like those from the allies. The politics of West Germany were very stable and orderly. The western allies did not try to interfere with the running of the West German political arena. Democracy reigned in the state, with parties freely voting their preferred candidate who was then voted in by the people. Voting was done by secret ballot and the elections were always free and fair. The citizens of West Germany were allowed to voice their opinions and were able to experience a democracy. Most of the West German political arena was divided among the right and left wing factions. Apart from a few cases like the formation of the Red Army faction that carried out terror attacks in the region of West Germany, there was stability and order in German politics.
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