Berlin Wall Berlinermauer.jpg View from the West Berlin side of graffiti art on the wall in 1986. The wall's "death strip", on the east side of the wall, here follows the curve of the Luisenstadt Canal (filled in 1932). Berlin-wall-map.png Map of the location of the Berlin Wall, showing checkpoints General information Type Wall Country East Germany Flag of East Berlin (1956-1990).svg East Berlin (Soviet-occupied sector of Berlin) Coordinates 52.516111°N 13.376944°E Construction started 13 August 1961 Dimensions Other dimensions Border length around West Berlin: 155 km (96 mi) Border length between West Berlin and East Germany: 111.9 km (69.5 mi) Border length between West and East Berlin: 43.1 km (26.8 mi) Border length through residential areas in East Berlin: 37 km (23 mi) Concrete segment of wall height: 3.6 m (12 ft) Concrete segment of wall length: 106 km (66 mi) Wire mesh fencing: 66.5 km (41.3 mi) Anti-vehicle trenches length: 105.5 km (65.6 mi) Contact/signal fence length: 127.5 km (79.2 mi) Column track width: 7 m (7.7 yd) Column track length: 124.3 km (77.2 mi) Number of watch towers: 302 Number of bunkers: 20 Technical details Size 155 km (96 mi) Satellite image of Berlin, with the wall's location marked in yellow West and East Berlin borders overlaying a current road map (interactive map) The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin.[1] The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls,[2] which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the "death strip") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, "fakir beds" and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period. The Berlin Wall was officially referred to as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart" (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall) by GDR authorities, implying that neighbouring West Germany had not been fully de-Nazified.[3] The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame"—a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt—while condemning the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to symbolize the "Iron Curtain" that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR, many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin, from where they could then travel to West Germany and other Western European countries. Between 1961 and 1989, the wall prevented almost all such emigration.[4] During this period, around 5,000 people attempted to escape over the wall, with an estimated death toll of over 100[5] in and around Berlin, although that claim is disputed.[6] In 1989, a series of radical political changes occurred in the Eastern Bloc, associated with the liberalization of the Eastern Bloc's authoritarian systems and the erosion of political power in the pro-Soviet governments in nearby Poland and Hungary. After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, euphoric public and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the wall; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of what was left. The physical wall was primarily destroyed in 1990. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on 3 October 1990.

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