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The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer, pronounced [bɛʁˌliːnɐ ˈmaʊ̯ɐ] ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government of the GDR on 13 August 1961.
The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night,...
Berlin Wall, German Berliner Mauer, barrier that surrounded West Berlin and prevented access to it from East Berlin and adjacent areas of East Germany during the period from 1961 to 1989. In the years between 1949 and 1961, about 2.5 million East Germans had fled from East to West Germany, including steadily rising numbers of skilled workers ...
The Berlin Wall stretched for almost 27 miles across the city and employed landmines, dogs, and barbed wire to discourage escape attempts. Still, over 5,000 people managed to reach western...
West Berlin became an island surrounded by communist East Germany. The wall was eventually built in 1961 because East Berlin was haemorrhaging people to the West. The BBC reports from the scene as...
Erected in the dead of night on August 13, 1961, the Berlin Wall (known as Berliner Mauer in German) was a physical division between West Berlin and East Germany. Its purpose was to keep disaffected East Germans from fleeing to the West. When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, its destruction was nearly as instantaneous as its creation.
In the West, the Berlin Wall was regarded as a major symbol of communist oppression. About 5,000 East Germans managed to escape across the Berlin Wall to the West, but the frequency of...
The Berlin Wall closed off the population flow between East Germany and West Germany. Between 1949 and 1961 about 2.5 million East Germans had fled to the West. By the 1980s the Wall, including electrified fences and fortifications, extended 28 miles (45 km) through Berlin and a further 75 miles (120 km) around West Berlin.
1961 is the year the Berlin Wall was first built, but the conditions that led up to its construction began earlier, shortly after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The Berlin Airlift (1948-1949) was the landmark event that most dramatically signaled the growing divide between the Soviets and the other Allies.
The Berlin Wall was actually two walls. The 27-mile portion of the barrier separating Berlin into east and west consisted of two concrete walls between which was a “death strip” up to 160 yards...