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Why Was the Wall Built?

After the Second World War, Germany was carved up into four sectors, each one governed by a different Allied power. As the nation’s capital, Berlin itself was also divided into four, with British, American, French, and Russian zones, effectively giving the Western Allies a foothold in the Soviet Union. Grudgingly, the Russians allowed the Allies into the city, but East and West had very different ideas about what a post-war Germany should look like. Escalating Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies led to increasingly restrictive policies on the movement of people and goods between the city’s two halves.

West Berlin became a place of opportunity, of dance halls, and business. The city was rebuilt, and the buildings were given a new lease of life. In Soviet-controlled East Berlin, the opposite was true. It wasn’t long before defections began—whole families crossed the invisible border into West Berlin and never returned. Soon, it became a problem for the Soviet authorities.

Construction Begins

East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall, 1961

On Sunday, August 13th, 1961, Berliners woke up to a very different city. Snaking through their streets was a rudimentary wall made of concrete posts and barbed wire. Soldiers patrolling the wall were given shoot-to-kill orders for any future defectors.

Although attempting to cross the border now carried a potential death sentence, desperate East Berliners continued to try their luck. Meanwhile, the authorities got to work reinforcing the barrier. In a matter of weeks, the barbed-wire fence was replaced with a very basic wall built out of breeze blocks and cement. As time went on, it was repeatedly rebuilt and strengthened. Each new version was not only harder to cross than the last but also more deadly for those who attempted it.

By the 1970s, the fourth-generation wall was in place. It had an L-shape design that prevented it from collapsing easily when rammed, thanks to a reinforced base. Standing at 3.6 metres high, it was very difficult to scale, especially with its specially designed cylindrical top.

Checkpoint Charlie: Avoiding World War Three

Checkpoint Charlie, one of the main crossing points between East and West Berlin, was the site of a terrifying standoff in October 1961. On his way to the theatre in East Berlin, an American diplomat was stopped by Soviet soldiers. The plates on his car showed he was a US delegate, so this should not have happened. The diplomat refused to show his papers, and the Eastern soldiers refused to let him go. A standoff ensued and only ended when the diplomat was rescued by an entire platoon of military soldiers. Tensions rose over the following days and came to a head when soldiers stopped another US diplomat’s car. In retaliation, the US sent tanks to the border. The Soviets did, too, and the world stood on the brink.

Demonstrators hold a banner at the Berlin Wall which reads "For a Berlin Without a Wall, For a Germany without Tanks, For a Europe without Borders." Credit: Getty Images

Following talks between the two nations, a day and a half later, the first American tank pulled back, followed by one of the Russians’. One by one, the tanks retreated from the border, and the tense standoff came to an end. World War Three had been avoided.

A Symbol of Division

For the world leaders in Washington and Moscow, the Berlin Wall became another front in the increasingly complex and dangerous Cold War. But it represented more than just a physical boundary between East and West—perhaps more significantly, it was an emblem of the two sides’ opposing values: freedom on one side and repression on the other.

For President Kennedy, its very existence provided a valuable opportunity for propaganda. In June 1963, the young US president visited West Berlin, where he was received by rapturous crowds. He famously decreed, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” His speech became one of the most well-known anti-Communist speeches ever made. In June 1987, US President Ronald Reagan followed suit, urging Russian counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall”.

Demolition

The unofficial start of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, 1989

On November 9th, 1989, Berliners flocked to the Wall. Buoyed by an announcement from Soviet authorities that East Berliners’ travel restrictions would ease, tens of thousands stood by the various checkpoints.

At 11.30 p.m., the barrier at the Bornholmer Straße border crossing was raised. In the hour that followed, more than 20,000 people crossed over. Other checkpoints soon followed suit, and all over the city, East Berliners began flooding into the West. After twenty-eight years, residents from both sides of the border began to mingle again.

It didn't take long for the wall itself to start coming down. Almost immediately, civilians began chipping away at it with hammers and chisels, earning themselves the nickname Mauerspechte, or "wallpeckers." It would be another seven months before the official demolition process began, as the once impregnable barrier was reduced to 1.7 million metric tonnes of rubble. Today, only fragments remain, standing as poignant reminders of a divided past and the enduring power of freedom.

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