Germany to mark 30 years since modern history's most famous wall fell

Fortified with barbed wire and overseen by armed guards who would shoot to kill, the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, following the collapse of communism.

By Melis Alemdar
A man sits atop the wall nearby the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg gate), Nov. 10, 1989 in Germany as he chisels a piece of the wall that divided East and West Berlin. Thousands of East Berlin citizens came into the western part after the border opened, unifying East and West Germany. / AP

After World War II, Germany was defeated and Allied forces entered the country. As divisions between the allies became unrepairable, the country was divided amongst the US, the UK, France and Soviet Union. Even though Berlin, the capital, was in the Soviet zone, it too was also divided into four sectors.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin expected the other three countries to withdraw from Germany within a few years and planned to establish a communist Germany afterwards but that did not fully happen and Moscow had to settle for just the East.

On October 7, 1949 The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was established and the two Germanies began to evolve in different ways. West Germany became a capitalist ‘miracle’ which attracted many East Germans who sought better life conditions.

The Berlin Wall wouldn’t be built until 1961. After an estimated 3.7 to 4 million Easterners escaped to the West, the border was closed and a wall was erected that would tear the country apart for 28 years.