The mass of people moving away from the
east caused massive damage to the economy
of east Germany
Almost 2 million people (a sixth of the population) had
moved away via Berlin
Many young and skilled workers which the
economy most needed left
The crisis was also a huge embarrassment to the USSR as the flow of
refugees leaving made the Soviet system look bad as it made people want to
leave their homes for a better life in the west suggesting that the west was a
lot better and capitalism is how the people wanted to live and communism
was forced onto people and not wanted
The refugees was in danger of wrecking the east of German
economy therefore it had to rely completely on the Soviet Union
Khruchshev was also under huge
pressure and he had to find a quick and
effective solution to combat the problem