The East German Refugee Crisis

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
The other communist leaders saw this as weakness

Resource summary

	Created by Sophia Hinchliffe over 7 years ago