Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ulbricht, 1893-1973
Overview of Chapter U: Few prominent individuals in communist countries lived long enough to experience the most important events of the twentieth century, but the often-discounted leader of the German Democratic Republic most certainly did. This chapter surveys World War I, Hitler’s rise to power, World War II, Stalinism, the Comintern, the Cold War, and the erection of the Berlin Wall through Ulbricht’s calculating eyes. It addresses East German economic policies and the growth of the Stasi.
Additional resources and scholarship
Discussion Questions and Writing Prompts:
1. Walls separate people. Compare the Berlin Wall to another important wall in history. What parallels and differences to you see?
2. Was Ulbricht's decision to erect the Berlin Wall justified?
3. What would your ideal society be like? What steps would you take to maximize its realization?
Classroom Activities
1. Create a map of Berlin with the Wall as a 3-D addition.
2. Design a poster for a German political party in 1930 or an East German government poster in 1964.
3. Listen or watch speeches relating to the Berlin Wall's construction, existence or demise.
Links to New Scholarship
• By comparing the experience of Vietnamese immigrants to West Germany and East Germany, this study offers an interesting window into the policies and everyday realities of the two nations; see: Frrank Bösch and Phi Hong Sul, “Competing Contexts of Reception in Refugee and Immigrant Incorporation: Vietnamese in West and East Germany,” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, (2020), DOI: 10.1080/1369183X.2020.1724418