Berlin wall...were the people of east and west Germany allowed to freely travel to either side of Germany if..

...they wanted to? Could they go over to the east for i.e shopping trip for a weeked and then go back home to west germany? how easy was it for German citizens to travel to and from east/west germany?

Because Eastberlin was a socialist state created by the Soviet Union a lot of people left East-berlin to go to Westberlin which belonged to the Federal Republic of Germany and was democratic (better jobs, better living, etc), to stop that Eastberlin built up the wall and forbit people from Eastberlin to go on vacation to european countries, you were just allowed to go to the countries which belonged to the Soviets.
Sometimes they allowed you to visit relatives but not very often. When you tried to flee from Eastberlin you had 2 opportunities, try it over the wall, which had barbwire and guardtowers, which had to shot down escaping people (Between 100-200 deaths) or you could try to leave it over the borderline, trying to say you like to visit your relatives. If they didn't believe you, you came to jail and your children were taken away! When you wanted to go from Westberlin to Eastberlin you needed a visa.
When I was born my great-grandmother wasn't allowed to visit me, because we lived in Bavaria and she in Eastberlin!
Between 11.9.1989 and 11.10.1989 the Berlin Wall got destroyed and people were allowed to leave Eastberlin.

The russians didn't want to punish the Eastberlin citizens, at this time Eastberlin had a own gouvnerment which stood loyal to the Soviets!

No, they could not travel freely or what would be the point of the wall. West Germany was quite affluent compared to there Eastern neighbours.

the berlin wall was built to keep the west germans in? (I think).
When it was built, they even built it through people's houses, right down the middle if it was on the line for the wall to be built. Sad story really.
They had to stay on their side of the wall, there was no going over the other side.
Hope this helps

Beckie :D

There was the Berlin Wall dividing Berlin and the "iron curtain" dividing Germany. Germans could not easily travel to the other part of their country for decades. West Germans were able to travel to East germany - with many restrictions. For average East Germans it was almost impossible to travel to West Germany.

They used to be shot for trying to get to the other side.

Incredibly hard to travel - hence the barbed wire, guard towers, etc. It was quite common for people to flee to the west before the wall went up, so much so that it caused a brain drain, and the Soviets built the fence. If people were allowed to freely travel across like before, then they would continue to use west berlin as an escape hatch for western Europe. You had to get all kinds of documentation to be allowed to visit family on the other side - it was VERY rare.

No, they were were not...East Germany was under the USSR (Russia) and Communist before the the wall came down in 1989. Now all that is left is Brandenburg Gate and Charlie Check point for tourist. You can travel around now freely but that was not the case until 1989.

The East Germans were only allowed into the West to go to work or in certain circumstances, to visit sick relatives. The reason for the wall was that the Russians never wanted the germans to forget how they invaded Russia and all the deaths they caused. They made life for the germans in East Berlin as hard as possible. The Russians left the bombed buildings in East Berlin untouched as a constant reminder to the germans.

Allright, let's try to give a correct view after some rather problematic answers.

The border between East and West Berlin was closed on Aug 13th 1961, the "green border" between the GDR and the FRG a while earlier.
The reason for that was neither the war (that was a while before, as you might recognize), nor some kind of symbolism, nor "evilness". It was the simple fact, that the GDR suffered really badly on emigration unto that point. Especially high qualified workers preferred to cross the border to the other Germany, so factories could not produce, hospitals ran out of staff and so on, so the leadership decided to solve it by closing the border and make it a crime to travel to the other side without allowance.
In the first years, it was allmost impossible to cross it from any side. Then, the GDR recognized, that some tourists might be a good opportunity to gain foreign currency, and allowed westerners to visit the country under strict rules and with an enforced money exchange per day.
As the two german states got a bit closer in the 70s, also a few private persons were travel westwards for a while, mainly pensioners and those, who were well known to be faithful to their state. By the years, the dimensions became larger, but still not really high, until the border was opened on Nov 9th 1989.
The border controlls were very extensive to prevent any kind of smuggling.

The transfer from Western Germany to West Berlin was a bit difficult as well. A few roads, crossing the GDR, were opened for transit (only), and leaving them without permission could be punished.


So, the answer to your question in short words: no.
It was not as strict as the border in Korea is controlled today, but still you get a good imagination, if you think of this one.

Greets from a little village in former restricted area (about 5 miles east of the border)

To make it clear again: The Berlin Wall and the entire barbe-wired border fence was built by the GDR (East Germany) not by the Western part. Until Nov. 9th 1989 it was relatively easy for West Germans to travel to the East - provided they hadn't fled the GDR earlier in their lives. But it was almost impossible for "average" people from East Germany to visit the Western part. Exceptions were retired people aged 65 and older or sometimes people were allowed to visit family meetings (e.g. funerals) if they were proven SED (socialist) party members.

@Jerry, about the people who were shot at the GDR/BRD border? Nobody really knows the death toll, but these were Germans shooting at Germans! Everybody with a good conscience should have turned against their generals or officer-in-command and shoot THEM, not their own people. This will be in our flesh forever: How could the east Germans ever DARE to shoot at their own people?

WE, in the west, had Adolf Hitler, and if that hadn't been enough, people in the east had 40 years of communist regime, and now, more than a decade after reunification, we experience that east and west still aren't really united. Some wounds never heal.

My biggest fear (and it's not far-fetched) is that we'll return to a nationalist surveillance state; some politicians are doing the best they can to throw Germany back to the "good old days". If that happens, I'll be gone.

---
Check this one out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Brand...
The best chancellor Germany ever had. In my humble opinion.

They were not allowed to travel at all. They had the strictes laws. They were not even allowed to go to close to the wall without getting charged for it. Only one side was allowed to visit the other, which was very cruel when families have been separated. To travel they had to get a special license, which was not easy to get...most people didn't see their families for years.