TMJC 2024 H1 Prelim QP AND suggested answers (1)

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History TAMPINES MERIDIAN JUNIOR COLLEGE JC2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION CANDIDATE NAME CIVICS GROUP H1 HISTORY The Cold War and the Modern World (1945–2000) 8838/01 10 September 2024 3 hours Additional materials: 12 Page Answer Booklet READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name and Civics Group in the spaces at the top of the page. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working. Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid. Section A Answer Question 1. Section B Answer two questions. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. This document consists of 5 printed pages and 1 blank page.

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History BLANK PAGE

Tampines Meridian Junior College 2024 JC2 Preliminary Examination H1 History SECTION A You must answer Question 1. The Collapse of Communism in East Germany 1 Read the sources and answer the questions which follow: Source A On November 4, 1989, a long, happy parade ended with a huge meeting at Alexanderplatz, East Berlin’s central square, where some twenty speakers called for a political reform of the G erman Democratic Republic (GDR) — but not its abolition. Yet, the ruling Socialist Unity Party, the SED, had clearly lost control, and its opening of the Berlin Wall five days later marked the beginning of the end. On December 8–9 the party threw out its old leaders, chose new ones, formally rejected its claim to dominan ce, condemned “Stalinist methods” of the past, and soon added the words “Party of Socialist Democracy” to its title. The election on March 18, 1990, sealed the GDR’s fate. In reunified Germany, if a factory was lucky, it was bought up by its former West German competitor, often some ruling giant, and used to make parts, taking advantage of the lower wages, longer hours, and intimidating pressures of threatening joblessness. By 1994, billions in the GDR’s economic value had mysteriously been transformed into debt. This was blamed on GDR’s inefficiency. Reflections of an American Communist who moved to live in Socialist East Germany in a 2014 interview Source B In many parts of the country, there was a huge desire for the wall to come down, but very little hope, because we were very much aware that the Soviet Union had rudely crushed an uprising in East Germany in 1953. More than 10 percent of the East German population then had turned to the streets and had demonstrated for freedom, unity, and justice. There was very little hope that the Soviet Union would ever allow Germany to reunite. The legacy of the fall of the wall is that a peaceful revolution can make a difference. Let’s not forget, it was not the governments—it was courageous people first in Le