Berlin Wall

About Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany. The longer 'inner German border' demarcated the remainder of the East-West German border between the two states. Both borders were part of the Iron Curtain.

The wall separated East Berlin and West Berlin for 28 years, from the day construction began on August 13, 1961 until it was dismantled in 1989, and was considered to be a longtime symbol of the Iron Curtain. During this period, at least 133 people were confirmed killed trying to cross the Wall into West Berlin, according to official figures. However, a prominent victims' group claims that more than 200 people had been killed trying to flee from East to West Berlin. The GDR/East German government gave shooting orders to border guards dealing with defectors; such orders are not the same as shoot to kill orders which GDR officials have denied exist.

When the East German government announced on November 9, 1989, after several weeks of civil unrest, that visits in West Germany and West Berlin would be permitted, crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters; industrial equipment was later used to remove almost all of the rest of it.