A student is writing a report about the events that led up to the construction of the Berlin Wall. Read both sources and the directions that follow.



After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation, one for each of the big powers: the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union. However, the relationship between the Soviet Union and the other three powers quickly worsened, causing a rift between them. As the occupation zones of the three Western powers combined to form the Federal Republic of Germany in the West, the Soviet zone formed the German Democratic Republic in the East. Moreover, as West Germany began to thrive on an economic system based on the private ownership of properties and businesses, East Germany lagged behind because the Soviets were sending job opportunities and assets back home. This policy led to a rapid decline of the East German economy and workforce. By 1961 about 2.5 million people had left East Germany. In an attempt to keep more of its citizens from leaving, the East German authorities decided to build the Berlin Wall.


Although the Berlin Wall was structured as a simple fence in the beginning, it slowly evolved into a 300-foot-wide creation with minefields, security checkpoints, and electric wires. The checkpoints were used mostly by officials who had been granted permission to cross the border. While the complexity of the wall discouraged some people in the East from trying to escape to the West, others attempted to flee. The structure angered leaders in the West, but they gave up the thought of destroying it because the Soviets and East Germans protected the wall with armored troops. Until the late 1980s, the Berlin Wall was a physical representation of the contrast between East and West Germany. Beginning in November 1989, East German leaders opened the Berlin Wall at several points and later demolished it.

The student took notes about information in the sources. Which note correctly paraphrases information from both sources?
Some of the people in East Germany fled because the Soviet leaders were tyrants and did not care about the needs of the citizens.
The Berlin Wall prevented the West German government from interfering with the rule of the East German leaders, and kept them from going to war.

After World War II, Great Britain, the United States, and France attacked the Soviet Union because they wanted to spread Western ideas throughout Germany and to remove the Soviets from power.
The tense relationship between the Soviets and the Western powers led to the formation of East and West Germany and the construction of the Berlin Wall, which was designed to keep East Germans from crossing into the West.