At dawn on 13 August 1961, East German forces began sealing the border around West Berlin with barbed wire. Walls followed within days. The barrier stood until the night of 9 November 1989, when crowds pushed through the crossings. This article explains why the Berlin Wall was built, how it fell, and where you can still see it.
Why the Berlin Wall was built
After the Second World War, Berlin was divided into four sectors run by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The whole city lay inside the Soviet occupation zone. West Berlin was a pocket of Western control deep in East German territory.
East Germany closed its border with West Germany in 1952. The sector boundary inside Berlin, however, stayed open. That gap turned the city into one of the main escape routes to the West. The East German leadership wanted to end this mass flight and secure the rule of the Socialist Unity Party. That was the Wall’s core purpose.
The government called the barrier an ‘Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart’ against threats from outside. Opponents pointed to what the Wall actually did. It stopped East Germans from leaving.
Berlin Wall history: how the barrier grew
The first barrier was barbed wire, strung on 13 August 1961. Construction of actual walls began a few days later. Over the years the East German state expanded the single wall into a multi-layered border system. It added a second wall, lighting, a patrol road and watchtowers.
The Berlin Wall Foundation gives the total length of the border system around West Berlin as about 155 kilometres. The official tourism guide of Berlin’s Reinickendorf district breaks that figure down. Some 43.1 kilometres divided East Berlin from West Berlin. Another 111.9 kilometres separated West Berlin from the East German land around it.
Think about your own route to work or school. Now imagine a wall built across it overnight, with no warning and no way around. That is what Berliners faced in August 1961. Streets and families were cut in two.
The people who died at the Wall
The Berlin Wall Foundation’s research counts at least 140 people who died at the Wall or in connection with the East German border regime between 1961 and 1989. Of these, 101 were trying to escape. Another 31 were not attempting to flee. Eight were East German border soldiers killed on duty.
Berlin Wall fall: the road to 9 November 1989
The end began in the streets of Leipzig. On 9 October 1989, about 70,000 people joined a peaceful demonstration there. It became one of the turning points for a mass opposition demanding democracy and freedom to travel.
Through autumn 1989 the protests grew, and a wave of emigration to the West drained the country. The pressure forced the East German leadership to make concessions on its citizens’ right to travel.
Berlin Wall fall date: the night the Wall came down
On the evening of 9 November 1989, Günter Schabowski held a press conference to present the new travel regulation. A journalist asked when it would take effect. Schabowski answered: ‘immediately, without delay.’
The statement went out on television. Thousands of East Berliners walked to the border crossings. The guards were unprepared. Under the pressure of the crowds they opened the gates. At Bornholmer Straße the crossing opened to free passage into West Berlin at 23:29.
That is why 9 November 1989 is remembered as the day the Berlin Wall fell. Strictly speaking, the concrete stayed standing that night. What fell was the closed border. The crossings opened to mass passage.
After the Wall came down
Organised demolition started in June 1990 at Ackerstraße. By the end of 1990 most of the border installations had been removed. Germany was formally reunified on 3 October 1990, about 11 months after the Wall opened.
Timeline
- After the Second World War: Berlin is divided into the occupation sectors of the four Allied powers.
- 1952: East Germany closes its border with West Germany, but the sector boundary in Berlin stays open.
- 13 August 1961: Sealing of the border around West Berlin with barbed wire begins.
- 1 July 1988: More than 180 squatters from the Lenné Triangle climb over the Wall into East Berlin.
- 9 October 1989: About 70,000 people join a peaceful demonstration in Leipzig.
- 9 November 1989: After Schabowski’s statement, the border crossings open to the crowds.
- June 1990: Systematic demolition of the Wall begins at Ackerstraße.
- 1990: Dmitri Vrubel paints the famous kiss at the East Side Gallery.
- 3 October 1990: Germany is formally reunified.
- 2015: Schabowski’s original handwritten note enters the Haus der Geschichte collection.
Berlin Wall map: where the Wall ran
Today you cannot trace the Wall by looking for concrete. Most of it was removed by the end of 1990. Two tools help. The Berlin Wall Foundation’s Mauerspuren map shows the 1989 route together with the wall fragments and border traces that survive. The Berliner Mauerweg, a walking and cycling trail, follows the former border strip for about 160 kilometres through Berlin and Brandenburg. It is divided into 14 stages.
Berlin Wall memorial at Bernauer Straße
The Berlin Wall Memorial stretches about 1.4 kilometres along the former border strip on Bernauer Straße. The visitor centre is at Bernauer Straße 119, 13355 Berlin. The Foundation’s official travel advice names Nordbahnhof and the U8 station Bernauer Straße as the stops to use.
At the centre of the site, a 70-metre section of the border strip is preserved between two tall steel walls. Here you can see the border strip itself, not just a painted slab.
East Side Gallery and the Berlin Wall kiss
The East Side Gallery is a preserved stretch of the Wall about 1.3 kilometres long. It runs along Mühlenstraße between Ostbahnhof and the Oberbaumbrücke. After the Wall opened, 118 artists from 21 countries painted works on the former border wall.
The most famous of them is the kiss. Dmitri Vrubel painted it in 1990. He based it on a photograph by Régis Bossu from October 1979, which shows Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker.
Details you won’t find in guidebooks
- White paint for shadows. Wall surfaces facing the border strip were painted white. The shadows of people trying to escape at night stood out against it.
- Escape through the window. On Bernauer Straße, the fronts of some apartment buildings stood in East Berlin while the pavement in front of them belonged to West Berlin. In 1961 people escaped to the West by climbing out of their windows.
- Crossing the wrong way. On 1 July 1988, when police cleared the Lenné Triangle, more than 180 West Berlin squatters climbed over the Wall into East Berlin. For once, the Wall was crossed from West to East.
- The lost note. Schabowski’s handwritten note from the 9 November press conference was believed lost for years. In 2015 the original entered the Haus der Geschichte collection.
FAQ
When did the Berlin Wall fall?
The border crossings opened to mass passage on the night of 9 November 1989, after Günter Schabowski announced new travel rules would apply ‘immediately, without delay’. Bornholmer Straße opened at 23:29. Systematic demolition began in June 1990, and Germany reunified on 3 October 1990.
Why was the Berlin Wall built?
East Germany had closed its border with West Germany in 1952, but the sector boundary in Berlin stayed open and became a main escape route. The Wall, started on 13 August 1961, was meant to stop that mass flight and secure the rule of the Socialist Unity Party.
How long was the Berlin Wall?
The border system around West Berlin ran about 155 kilometres. According to Berlin’s Reinickendorf district guide, 43.1 kilometres divided East and West Berlin and 111.9 kilometres separated West Berlin from the East German countryside.
Where can you see the Berlin Wall today?
The Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße preserves about 1.4 kilometres of the former border strip, with a visitor centre at Bernauer Straße 119. The East Side Gallery on Mühlenstraße keeps about 1.3 kilometres of painted wall. The Berliner Mauerweg trail follows the old border for about 160 kilometres.
How many people died at the Berlin Wall?
The Berlin Wall Foundation counts at least 140 deaths between 1961 and 1989: 101 people trying to escape, 31 who were not attempting to flee, and eight East German border soldiers killed on duty.
Sources
- Wikipedia — Berlin Wall en.wikipedia.org
- Berlin Wall Foundation (Stiftung Berliner Mauer) — The Berlin Wall stiftung-berliner-mauer.de
- Berlin Wall Foundation — Victims at the Berlin Wall stiftung-berliner-mauer.de
- Berlin Wall Foundation — Berlin Wall Memorial brochure and map (PDF) stiftung-berliner-mauer.de
- Berlin Wall Foundation — Berlin Wall Memorial, visitor information stiftung-berliner-mauer.de
- Berlin Wall Foundation — Berlin Wall Memorial, site map stiftung-berliner-mauer.de
- Berlin Wall Foundation — East Side Gallery, map and information stiftung-berliner-mauer.de
- Berlin Wall Foundation — Berliner Mauer Fotos (Vrubel painting after Bossu photograph) mauer-fotos.de
- Berlin Wall Foundation — Mauerspuren map mauerspuren.de
- Berlin Reinickendorf District Office — Tourism guide (PDF) berlin.de
- Haus der Geschichte (LeMO) — Montagsdemonstrationen hdg.de
- Haus der Geschichte (LeMO) — Original Schabowski-Zettel hdg.de
- German Federal Archives (Stasi-Mediathek) — ADN press release on the transitional travel regulation stasi-mediathek.de
- Berlin.de — Berliner Mauerweg berlin.de
Image: Berlinermauer.jpg — Noir, CC BY-SA 3.0
