History of Berlin Wall by Europe-Cities

There is hardly anyone in the world who doesn't know that the Berlin Wall separated East and West Berlin before it was demolished in 1989, the year that communist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe collapsed on a mass scale. Germany was no exception.
The wall was referred to as the Anti-Fascist Protection Wall by the government of East Germany. It was a barbed wire fence in 1961, enhanced and strengthened over the years, until it became the solid, heavily fortified barrier that everyone remembers.
Toward the end of World War II Berlin fell to the Soviet army, and subsequently Germany was divided into four occupied territories, each one controlled by the Allied Forces - France, the UK, the US and the Soviet Union. Additionally each country had authority over a portion of Berlin.
Gradually tension between the western powers and the Soviets grew, finally resulting in the Cold War. The Soviet Union launched the Berlin Blockade in 1948 after a conflict related to currency reform, while the disputes led to the Berlin Airlift by the western allies. Prior to the Cold War Berliners could move around the city freely, but the governments gradually started to impose restrictions. The border between West and East Germany was closed in 1952, and remained open only in the capital. It was closed there temporarily in 1953. Lured by the greater opportunities in the western part of the country, millions of East Germans began crossing over. After 1952 they crossed mainly through West Berlin. Conversely, many West Germans travelled to the east to buy food at lower prices. Most immigrants to the west possessed high qualifications, while those that stayed behind were less skilled. As a result East Germany almost reached the point of economic collapse. This fact was a threat to the entire communist bloc.
East German politician Walter Ulbricht proposed the construction of the wall. A barbed wire fence stretching for 45 km was erected in 1961. It was built on East German territory and surrounded West Berlin completely. West Berlin was thus totally isolated, an enclave in a field of aggression. Many East Germans lost opportunities for a better life forever. They could not depend on the support of the west allies either, even though these powers had the right to intervene in matters regarding the administration of Berlin under the Four Powers Agreements, adopted in the wake of the war. The US officially endorsed the wall, calling it a fact of international life. The country's support for West Berliners, isolated in a land of hostility, was purely emotional. Over the next three and a half years US battalions were rotated in West Berlin to promote Allied rights. This occurred every three months. The East German government maintained that the wall constituted a barrier against western fascist influences, while in West German the view that the wall only functioned to prevent East Germans from migrating was widely shared. This notion was supported by the people of East Germany as well.
The border between west and east was closed with minefields, fences and other installations. It had become an impervious stronghold.
By June 1962 the wall had extended to a full 155 km and beyond. Work on a second fence commenced that year. It was parallel to the first one, and the area in between was a purgatory of sorts, eventually acquiring the nickname 'death strip'. It was paved with gravel so footprints left by refugees could be seen easily. Additionally, it was mined and wired.
The second fence was completed in 1965. Work on it continued, and over the next decade a concrete wall was erected. Construction of the fourth generation border wall commenced in 1975. This was the most sophisticated version of the wall. Its construction cost a total of 16,155,000 East German marks. It consisted of 45 000 sections of concrete, each 1.5 m wide and 3.6 m high. Reinforcements included signal fencing, barbed wire, mesh fences, thirty trenches and over 300 observation towers. This version of the wall remains the most memorable. The parts of the wall that survive today are remnants of it.
In 1971 the travel regime was alleviated, and 12 crossing points were opened on the wall. Most were reserved for Germans.
The wall passed through 4 subway lines, 3 highways, 192 streets, and many lakes and rivers. This monstrous construction affected millions of lives and world views. It became part of the outlook of West Berliners. Cut off from its natural surroundings, West Berlin lost hundreds of thousands of inhabitants from 1961 to 1989 and had to draw immigrants from Poland, Yugoslavia and Turkey to make up for labour shortages.
During the wall years the number of successful escapes fell short of 5000. Around 200 refugees were killed while trying to cross the wall, and 200 more were wounded. A number of widely publicized events mark this period of German history. People escaped by digging tunnels under the wall, jumping out of windows along the line and even driving cars under barricades at the crosspoints. Disastrous attempts occurred too. In 1962 Peter Fechter was shot brutally while trying to cross and died in full view of international media. The event was highly publicized.
The true motives of what Walter Ulbricht termed the Wall of China project remain more or less unclear, but the implications of the wall's creation are of immense magnitude. By keeping people in, the East German government reacquired control over the country, but it was relatively short lived. By the 1980s the western world saw the wall as a classic example of communist tyranny, complete with brutal killings and propaganda. In a speech in 1987 US president Ronald Reagan brazenly summoned the Soviet government to tear down the wall.
Hungary opened its border with Austria on August 23, 1989, and over 13 000 East Germans fled through Hungary the very next month. Mass protests against the East German government broke out that year. In response East German leader Erich Honecker deposited his resignation. His successor decided to allow East Berliners to travel to the western part of the country with visas. This decision was to be made effective quicker than anyone anticipated, and almost a hundred thousand people converged on the wall, demanding to be let into West Berlin. The guards had no choice but to let most people through with minimal ID checks at best.
Officially, the wall fell on November 9, 1989. Soon thereafter people started physically destroying the wall section by section and meter by meter. Leonard Bernstein performed the 9th symphony of Beethoven, Ode to Joy, on Christmas Day in 1989, changing joy to freedom. Berlin celebrated the fall with another great concert on July 21, 1990, featuring performances by Bryan Adams, Van Morrison and the Scorpions. The Scorpions' all-time hit Winds of Change is largely attributed to the wall and its fortunate demise. A relatively unfitting decision was to let David Hasselhoff of Baywatch fame sing a song while standing on the wall. He probably believes he has helped unite Germany to this day.
Sadly, it is not that simple. 28 years is a long time, and it will take at least that long for the wall to disappear in people's minds. A recent study has shown that 12% of East Germans and 25% of West Germans want the wall to be erected again. It is barely visible today, with very few remnants. Its former location is marked by red lines or cobblestones. The wall has driven a chasm in the territory of the country and in the hearts of Germans, which remains to this day.