Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was constructed on 13 August 1961 in order to prevent the outflow of East German workers. Its appearance divided Germany and the entire European continent and broke families and friendships for almost three decades. During that time, more than 200 people died during escape attempts. This hated symbol of tyranny finally came down on the night of 9 November 1989. As the regime of East Germany came crumbling down, Berliners from both parts of the no longer divided city gathered on top of the wall to celebrate the event. Within months, the greater part of the wall was levelled to the ground; the land that it occupied was auctioned off.
Not much of the original Berlin Wall survives today; only several sections were saved as a souvenir of a bygone era. The longest stretch is situated at the East Side Gallery; another one, covered with graffiti and chiselled can be seen along Niederkirchner Strasse, south of
Potsdamer Platz. On Bernauer Strasse, there’s an interesting Wall Memorial, and on Ebertstraße behind the
Reichstag, there’s a line of white crosses, commemorating those who lost their lives trying to cross the Berlin Wall. Visitors to the contemporary German capital find it hard to believe that this bustling, cosmopolitan city only a few decades ago was shaken by an internal conflict, seemingly to be forever divided by a wall of concrete and barbed wire.
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