Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (German: Die Berliner Mauer) was a long barrier separating West Berlin from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany. The East German authorities called it the ?antifaschistischer Schutzwall? (Anti-Fascist Protection Wall). Its purpose was to restrict access between West Berlin and East Germany. It was built in 1961 and fortified over the years, but was opened to unrestricted transit on November 9, 1989 and subsequently almost entirely demolished.

How the Wall worked

The Wall was over 155 km (96 miles) long. In June 1962 work started on a second parallel fence up to 91 metres (100 yards) further in, with houses in between the fences torn down and their inhabitants relocated. An empty No Man's Land was created between the two barriers, which became widely known as the "death strip". It was paved with raked gravel, making it easy to spot footprints left by escapers; it offered no cover; it was mined and booby-trapped with tripwires; and, most importantly, it offered a clear field of fire to the watching guards.

Related Topics:
1962 - No Man's Land

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Over the years, the Wall went through four distinct phases:

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• Basic wire fence (1961)
• Improved wire fence (1962–1965)
• Concrete wall (1965-1975)
• Grenzmauer 75 (Border Wall 75) (1975)

The "fourth generation wall", known officially as "Stützwandelement UL 12.11", was the final and most sophisticated version of the Wall. Begun in 1975, it was constructed from 45,000 separate sections of reinforced concrete, each 3.6 m high and 1.5 m wide, and cost 16,155,000 East German Marks. The top of the wall was lined with a smooth pipe, intended to make it more difficult for escapers to scale it. It was reinforced by mesh fencing, signal fencing, anti-vehicle trenches, barbed wire, over 300 watchtowers, and thirty bunkers. This version of the Wall is the one most commonly seen in photographs, and surviving fragments of Wall in Berlin and elsewhere around the world are generally pieces of the fourth-generation Wall.

Related Topics:
1975 - East German Marks - Fencing - Barbed wire - Watchtower - Bunker

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Although Allied military personnel, officials and diplomats were still able to pass into East Berlin following the construction of the Wall — free passage of such people was a requirement of the post-war Four Powers Agreements — the West Berliners were initially subject to very severe restrictions. All of the crossing points were closed to West Berliners between August 26, 1961 and December 17, 1963, and it was not until September 1971 that travel restrictions were eased following a Four Powers Agreement on transit issues. Passage in and out of West Berlin was limited to a total of twelve crossing points on the Wall, though all but two of these were reserved for Germans. The only land route into Berlin that was accessible to Westerners was via the Berlin-Helmstedt autobahn, which entered Berlin at Dreilinden in south-western Berlin and crossed East German territory to reach the town of Helmstadt on the West Germany/East Germany border. A crossing at Friedrichstraße in central Berlin gave Westerners their only access between West and East Berlin.

Related Topics:
August 26 - 1961 - December 17 - 1963 - Berlin-Helmstedt - Autobahn - Friedrichstraße

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The three crossing points were named phonetically: Alpha (Helmstedt), Bravo (Dreilinden), and, most famously, Checkpoint Charlie (Friedrichstraße).

Related Topics:
Phonetically - Checkpoint Charlie

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