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© East News / akg-images
On November 9, Germany is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall demolition, which had marked the beginning of German reunification and the end of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was erected by the German Democratic Republic as a “Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart” and separated the eastern and western parts of Berlin.
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© AP Photo
The Wall was constructed on August 13, 1961 and then refurbished several times. The 3,6-meter-high barrier was comprised of concrete, metal, signal systems under electric current and watchtowers. Its length totaled 155 kilometers.
Above: A youthful East Berliner erects a concrete wall that was to be topped by barbed wire at a sector border in the divided city, August 18, 1961.
Above: A youthful East Berliner erects a concrete wall that was to be topped by barbed wire at a sector border in the divided city, August 18, 1961.
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© AP Photo / Werner Kreusch, File
The Wall was designed to curb illegal border crossings from the GDR to the FRG. Eastern Germans preferred to study in the GDR, as it was free, but work in the West.
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© East News / imago/Gerhard Leber
The Wall was not successful in inhibiting all GDR citizens from leaving; eastern Germans accomplished 5075 successful flights between 1961 and 1989. However, there was also an opposite inflow of so-called “Wall jumpers” who wanted to leave the West.
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© Fotobank.ru/Getty Images / Keystone/Hulton Archive
Parts of the Berlin Wall went right through civil households so that one window opened to the East and another to the West. In this case, the latter had to be walled up.
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© Fotobank.ru/Getty Images / Three Lions
People eager to leave the East displayed miracles of ingenuity. Two families flew over the border on a self-made aerostat; dozens spent months digging a 140-meter-long tunnel; one family crossed the border by means of a rope drawn by their relatives in the West.
Above: FRG and GDR policemen argue after a girl illegally crosses the border.
Above: FRG and GDR policemen argue after a girl illegally crosses the border.
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© Sputnik / Ulozjavichus
According to official figures, 138 people perished while trying to cross the border. 251 people died of heart attack at checkpoints because of psychological pressure. 3221 were arrested.
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© AP Photo / Kay Nietfeld
While the Eastern face of the Wall was strictly controlled and included a buffer zone, the Western face was relatively lax and became a popular site for graffiti.
Above: Painter Dmitry Vrubel brushing up his graffiti “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love” (1990) depicting a photo of USSR General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev kissing his GDR counterpart Erich Honecker.
Above: Painter Dmitry Vrubel brushing up his graffiti “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love” (1990) depicting a photo of USSR General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev kissing his GDR counterpart Erich Honecker.
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© AP Photo / Boris Yurchenko
On June 12, 1987, delivering a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate, American president Ronald Reagan challenged USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “Tear down this wall!”
Above: Mikhail Gorbachev and Erich Honecker kissing in 1989.
Above: Mikhail Gorbachev and Erich Honecker kissing in 1989.
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© AP Photo / Jockel Finck
On November 9, 1989 at 7:34 p.m. GDR government representative Guenter Schabowski lifted travel restrictions and declared that eastern Germans could immediately obtain visas for to enter the FRG.
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© AP Photo / Lionel Cironneau
Hundreds of thousands of people rushed to the Wall from both sides. They started to demolish the Wall breaking it into souvenirs, and celebrated the beginning of reunification.
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© AP Photo / Thomas Kienzle
A West German policeman, left, gives a helping hand to an East German border guard who climbs through a gap in the Berlin Wall when East Germany opened another passage at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, November 12, 1989.
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© AP Photo / John Gaps III
The official dismantling of the Wall began on June 13, 1990.
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© Sputnik / Igor Zarembo
On October 3, 1990, the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany. The nation was finally reunited.
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© Sputnik / Igor Zarembo
Although the Berlin Wall has been pulled down, parts of it remain intact in remembrance of the Cold War and the nation’s aspiration to live as a single country.
Above: A fragment of the Berlin Wall at Postdamer Platz.
Above: A fragment of the Berlin Wall at Postdamer Platz.
