The Berlin Wall: The Barrier That Divided a City
On the night of August 12-13, 1961, East German soldiers and workers began stringing barbed wire through the heart of Berlin. By morning, a city was divided. Over the following months, the barbed wire became a concrete wall - 12 feet high, 96 miles long, bristling with watchtowers and patrolled by guards with orders to shoot. The Berlin Wall was built to stop East Germans from fleeing to the West; at least 140 people died trying to cross it. For 28 years, the Wall stood as the physical symbol of the Iron Curtain. On November 9, 1989, it fell - and with it, the Cold War.
The Crisis
By 1961, East Germany was hemorrhaging. Nearly 3.5 million people - a sixth of the population - had fled to the West through Berlin, the last open border. Doctors, engineers, and young workers left for better lives. The communist state was dying of emigration.
The Soviet and East German solution was brutal simplicity: close the border. No negotiations, no warnings - just a wall, built overnight. When Berliners woke on August 13, 1961, their city was severed. Families were split. Subway lines that had crossed the border ended at bricked-up stations.
The Wall
The initial barbed wire was quickly replaced by concrete. The Wall evolved over 28 years into a sophisticated barrier: concrete segments 12 feet high, a 'death strip' of sand (to show footprints), watchtowers, anti-vehicle trenches, and tripwires connected to automatic guns.
The Wall was actually two walls with the death strip between them. East German guards patrolled constantly. Floodlights illuminated the strip at night. The message was clear: attempting to cross meant death. Berlin, a city of 3 million, was sliced in two by 96 miles of paranoia made concrete.
The Deaths
At least 140 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall. Some were shot by guards. Others drowned in canals. One man bled to death in the death strip while Western observers watched helplessly. East German guards who allowed escapes faced imprisonment; guards who killed escapees were decorated.
The escapes that succeeded became legendary: tunnels dug over months, ziplines between buildings, hot air balloons, crashes through checkpoints. An East German soldier famously jumped the barbed wire on the Wall's third day; his photo became iconic. But for every success, there were captures - and too often, deaths.
The Fall
By 1989, the Soviet bloc was crumbling. Hungary opened its border; East Germans flooded out through the gap. Protests swept East German cities. The government, desperate, announced new travel regulations on November 9, 1989. In a confused press conference, a spokesman suggested the borders were open 'immediately.'
Thousands of East Berliners rushed to the checkpoints. Overwhelmed guards, receiving no orders, opened the gates. Crowds streamed through. Strangers embraced. People climbed the Wall with hammers and chisels. The barrier that had imprisoned a nation was dismantled by joyful crowds in a single night.
The Memory
Most of the Berlin Wall was demolished within a year. Fragments were sold as souvenirs; larger sections were shipped to museums worldwide. Germany reunified in October 1990. The Cold War was effectively over.
Today, cobblestones mark where the Wall once stood. The East Side Gallery preserves a decorated section. The Berlin Wall Memorial includes a preserved death strip. Checkpoint Charlie is a tourist attraction. The Wall that divided a city for 28 years is mostly memory now - but the memory endures, a reminder of what happens when governments fear their own people enough to wall them in.
From the Air
The Berlin Wall (52.52N, 13.38E) divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Berlin Brandenburg Airport (WIII) is 25km southeast. The Wall's route is marked throughout the city by cobblestones and memorial sites. The East Side Gallery, Checkpoint Charlie, and the Berlin Wall Memorial are major landmarks. Weather is temperate continental - cold winters, mild summers.