Discussion of the Cold War

History teacher Eric O’Connor recently presented an engaging lecture on the vast components of the Cold War, including narratives on how it began and ended in several European countries.  O’Connor’s lesson included a number of in-depth looks at Romania, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), and the former Czechoslovakia, to name a few. The lecture also focused on dictators and despots, the character traits that empowered them, and those that sent them to their downfalls, such as that of Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu. O’Connor answered a number of questions about the fall of the Berlin Wall and how Hungary’s open borders unofficially brought an end to the divide between East and West Germany. Students were especially interested in the economic aspects of the Cold War, namely, how West Germany rolled a marketing campaign and economic boost into one gesture to give East Germans 100 deutsche marks to spend in West Germany after the wall fell. “Germany’s slogan for reunification was powerful,” said O’Connor. “It changed from, ‘We are the people to, We are one people.’”