Berlin Wall Built

In the early hours of 13 August 1961, East German troops and police began closing the border between East and West Berlin, first with barbed wire and later with concrete. The barrier cut a single city in two and stopped the flow of East Germans to the West. For 28 years the Berlin Wall stood as the most recognizable symbol of the Cold War, and of the lengths to which a state would go to keep its citizens from leaving.

The roots of the crisis lay in the postwar settlement. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the country and its capital were divided into occupation zones controlled by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. As the wartime allies fell out, these zones hardened into two states in 1949: the Federal Republic of Germany in the west and the German Democratic Republic in the east. Berlin, though deep inside East German territory, remained under four-power control, and its western sectors became an enclave of Western influence. Because the sector boundaries within the city were relatively easy to cross, Berlin was the main escape route from the East. Millions had left since 1949, many of them young and skilled, which threatened the East German economy and the government's legitimacy.

Tensions rose after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev demanded in 1958 that the Western powers withdraw from Berlin, and the emigration rate climbed again in 1961. East German leader Walter Ulbricht pressed Moscow for action, and the Soviets eventually agreed to a closure of the border, provided it did not touch Western access rights. When the operation began, it was carried out quickly and with little warning. Western governments protested but did not intervene, apparently judging that the move, however ugly, avoided a war over Berlin.

Over the following years the barrier grew into an elaborate system of two walls, a patrolled strip between them, watchtowers, lights and obstacles. Families were separated, and people lost jobs and homes on the other side. Many tried to escape by tunneling, climbing, swimming or hiding in vehicles. The number killed at the Berlin border is debated, with researchers generally counting well over a hundred deaths, though estimates differ depending on the criteria used.

The Wall's end came suddenly. After mass protests and political upheaval across Eastern Europe in 1989, East Germany announced relaxed travel rules on 9 November, and crowds streamed through the checkpoints. Germany reunified in October 1990. Today, preserved sections and a memorial mark the line of the barrier, and the Wall remains a lasting symbol of division and of the power of ordinary people to bring it down.