What was the Berlin Wall?

The Berlin Wall was a heavily fortified barrier built in 1961 by communist East Germany to encircle West Berlin and stop East Germans from fleeing to the West. Construction began on the night of August 12 to August 13, 1961, when East German troops and workers began stringing barbed wire and erecting concrete posts along the 96-mile boundary that separated West Berlin from East Berlin and the rest of East Germany. Within days, all road, rail, and pedestrian crossings were closed except for a few official checkpoints, including the famous Checkpoint Charlie on Friedrichstrasse.

The wall was the result of a steady drain of population from East to West. Between 1949 and 1961, about 3.5 million East Germans, roughly one-fifth of the country's population, had fled to the West, mostly through Berlin. Many were skilled workers and professionals, and the loss threatened the economic and political viability of the German Democratic Republic. East German leader Walter Ulbricht, with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's approval, ordered the closing of the border.

Over the following years the wall was strengthened into a sophisticated barrier system, sometimes called the death strip. By the 1980s the wall consisted of two concrete walls separated by a no-man's land that included anti-vehicle ditches, watchtowers manned by armed guards, dog runs, raked sand to detect footprints, electrified signal fences, floodlights, and tripwires. Roughly 140 people were killed trying to cross the wall, the first being 24-year-old Gunter Litfin on August 24, 1961, and the last being Chris Gueffroy on February 6, 1989.

President John F. Kennedy visited West Berlin on June 26, 1963 and delivered his famous Ich bin ein Berliner speech in front of the Schoneberg city hall, declaring solidarity with the trapped citizens. President Ronald Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987 and called on Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down this wall. Pressure from peaceful protests across East Germany combined with Gorbachev's reforms led to a confused East German press conference on November 9, 1989 in which spokesman Gunter Schabowski mistakenly announced that border crossings would open immediately. East Berliners poured to the wall, and guards stood aside. Within hours, the wall was effectively open.