Emigrasi dan pembangkangan Blok Timur adalah sebuah titik kontroversi pada Perang Dingin. Setelah Perang Dunia II, pembatasan emigrasi diberlakukan oleh negara-negara di Blok Timur, yang terdiri dari Uni Soviet dan negara-negara satelitnya di Eropa Tengah dan Timur. Emigrasi legal dalam kebanyakan kasus hanya dimungkinkan dalam perintah untuk menyatukan kembali keluarga atau membolehkan anggota kelompok etnis minoritas untuk kembali ke kampung halaman mereka.
Pemerintah-pemerintah Blok Timur berpendapat bahwa pembatasan ketat emigrasi dibutuhkan untuk menghindari pengeringan otak. Pemerintah Amerika Serikat dan Eropa Barat berpendapat bahwa mereka mewakili pelanggaran HAM. Disamping pembatasan, pembangkangan ke Barat terjadi.
Setelah Jerman Timur menghimpun perbatasan zona pendudukannya dengan Jerman Barat, perbatasan sektor kota antara Berlin Timur dan Berlin Barat menjadi sebuah sorotan utama dimana pembangkangan terjadi. Ini ditutup dengan pendirian Tembok Berlin pada 1961. Sehingga, emigrasi dari Blok Timur efektif dibatasi untuk para pembangkang ilegal, emigrasi etnis di bawah perjanjian bilateral, dan sejumlah kecil kasus lain.
Catatan
^Perkes, Dan; Hal Buell; Norm Goldstein (1984), Moments in Time: 50 Years of Associated Press News Photos, The Associated Press, hlm. 56, ISBN0-917360-07-9
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