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.
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.
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.
An East German couple is turned away from the border, blocked by East German soldiers and barbed wire, after trying to cross into West Berlin, Aug. 13, 1961. To stem the flow of refugees to the West, East Germany closed the border to all citizens and residents, except those with a special police permit.
Workers set up a sign, warning pedestrians they are leaving the American sector of Berlin, Germany, at the Wiener Strasse (Vienna Street) in the district of Kreuzberg in West Berlin August 13, 1961. Background right is the Berlin wall that divides East and West Berlin.
West Berliners at right watch East German construction workers erect a wall across Wildenbruchstrasse and Heidelbergerstrasse in West Berlin in August 1961. Built with barbed wire and concrete, the Berlin Wall, stretching for about 30 miles, was a Cold War symbol which separated East and West Berlin, preventing people from leaving East Germany. It stood for 28 years as a division between the Soviets and the Allies.
In this Aug. 1961 file photo, an East German worker lays some of the first stone blocks of the Berlin Wall, shortly after the border between East and West Berlin was sealed.
In this file photo from December 4, 1961, formidable concrete walls take shape under the toiling hands of workers from communist East Germany at the seven crossing points between East and West Berlin. The new walls were some seven-foot high and five-foot thick. In center of the Bornholmer Bridge (French/Russian sector border) behind steel tank traps a big sign showing the East German emblem hammer and compass.
In this file photo from August 17, 1962 a dying Peter Fechter is carried away by East German border guards who shot him down when he tried to flee to the west. Two former border guards are now facing charges with joint manslaughter. Fechter was lying 50 minutes in no-man's land before he was taken to a hospital where he died shortly after arrival.
In this file photo from March 20, 1963, a new sign is erected by West Berlin authorities in front of the wall at Bernauer Strasse, Berlin, Germany, where the French sector borders the Russian sector. The sign reads: “Strassensperrung verursacht durch die Schandmauer" (Dead-end road caused by the wall of shame).
In this file photo from March 31, 1972 the Berlin Wall was opened temporarily at various checkpoints to allow East and West Berlin residents to reunite. Crowds and cars wait to cross into West Berlin at Friedrichstrasse railway station.
Joseph Werner of the US stands at Berlin Checkpoint Charlie to hand out black flags to protest the Berlin Wall in a lonely demonstration in Berlin, Aug. 13, 1989, mere months before the wall would be torn down.
In this Saturday, Nov. 4, 1989 file photo, about one million demonstrators crowd the Alexanderplatz in East Berlin during Germany in a protest rally against censorship and repression. On banners they demanded new leaders and free elections.
People climb the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate after the opening of the East German border November 9, 1989.
A man hammers a section of the Berlin Wall near the Potsdamer Platz square after the opening of the East German border was announced in Berlin, Germany, November 9, 1989.
West Berlin citizens celebrate in the eastern part of the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing in West Berlin, Nov. 9, 1989, after the announcement by communist East Germany that it would open its borders to the west. The West Berliners were sent back to the west by the East German border police after a few minutes.
In this Nov. 10, 1989 file photo, East Berliners get helping hands from West Berliners as they climb the Berlin Wall which divided the city since the end of World War II, near the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate). When the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union stepped back, letting East Germany's communist government collapse and then quickly accepting German unification.
In this file photo from November 10, 1989, one day after the border between the East and West opened, people climb the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate.
An East German border soldier looks at a man hammering a section of the Berlin Wall at Markgrafen Strasse /Rudi-Dutschke Strasse in Berlin, Germany, June 2, 1990. The German Democratic Republic would cease to exist on October 3, 1990 and join the Federal Republic of Germany, formally reuniting the East and the West.
This long exposure file photo from August 20, 2019 shows photographs of victims killed at the Wall at the Berlin Wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse at night in Berlin, Germany. On November 9th Germany will mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) in 1989.
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