During this year’s THIMUN conference, participants from all over the world come together to debate “the Future of Borders”. To effectively discuss this theme, delegates must keep the past of every country in mind to avoid repeating mistakes, solve problems, and reduce conflicts between countries. Whether geographical, political, or figurative borders, the world has faced a multitude of difficulties, making it even more important to prevent them in the future. Germany’s past contained many borders, and they have learned many lessons from them.
![Pranaaya-Jhaveri--Spread-1--illustration-1](https://munity.thimun-online.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Pranaaya-Jhaveri-Spread-1-illustration-1.png)
Illustration by Pranaaya Jhaveri
For most of history, the border between France and Germany has never been very concrete. Germany and France fought over multiple regions during the wars and this caused the back-and-forth between the two countries to not cease for a long time. After the Franco-Prussian War, the Alsace region was annexed by Germany in 1871 and stayed German until 1914 when the two countries fought over the region during the entirety of WWI. In 1914 alone, the region changed countries eight times. After Germany’s defeat, France reclaimed the region from the broken country until the Nazis took the city back during World War II intending to “de-Frenchify” it. After Germany’s loss during WWII, Alsace switched back to being French and has stayed that way since.
The civilians of Alsace were constantly forced to change from one nationality to the other, yet both cultures have an extreme impact on its society. Although Alsace has remained French for over 70 years now and is therefore unlikely to switch back to Germany, German culture still influences it with its culture, cuisine, tourists, architecture, and more.
For instance, some communities in Alsace have fluctuated in the past and therefore some regard themselves as more “German” although they are on the “French” side of the Rhine, and vice versa. Especially during the World Wars, many residents chose to pursue a French lifestyle to protect themselves from tyranny, while still preserving their German nationality and identity.
After World War I, France built an array of defenses along its border with Germany to prevent invasion. The prime minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill, was astounded at the sight of the wall and declared that “the French front cannot be surprised [and] it cannot be broken at any point.” Yet the border that included dozens of fortresses, minefields, and underground bunkers proved to have one flaw: the new steel and concrete border to Germany ended at the border to Belgium, then a French ally. When Belgium declared neutrality in 1936, the Maginot Line was bound to be completed, but France never received the additional funding.
Eventually, the German army was able to outmaneuver the French army through the Ardennes, a densely forested area that Germany’s top tank commander knew very well, and was therefore able to encircle the French and their allies and drive them back. The self-constructed border was supposed to protect the French citizens from anything the Germans could throw at it, yet it failed to protect the French from the many attacks during WWII.
However, some borders are not so fluid. After the end of World War II, Germany was split into two nations. The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was founded in 1949 and allied to the Western democracies. In the same year, the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was established and allied to the Soviet Union. Each of the territories had different capitals and governments, eventually resulting in citizens experiencing completely different lifestyles.
Citizens living in the GDR wanted to flee to the FRG, as they hoped to receive more opportunities and live under a more democratic society. But the GDR wanted to close off the access East Germans had to the West and wanted to refrain West Germans from entering their socialist state and undermining its purpose, resulting in the Wall of Berlin being built between the two states. The wall eventually fell on November 9 1989, after a spokesman of the East Berlin’s Communist Party declared that any citizen could cross the border but today the socioeconomic differences between East and West Berlin are still profound.
In the past century, borders in and between Germany and other countries have changed severely, a result of political and socio economic conflicts within the countries. In the present, Germany has removed all borders within the country and shares its 3,767-kilometer land border with 9 countries. Although the borders separate countries, it does not have the means to prevent intrusion or conflict as they have in the past.
Reporters, Luzie Brune & Mia Robertson
Text Editor, Rosa Suh
Illustrator, Pranaaya Jhaveri
Layout Editor, Yuzine Yi