"populated Free Zone. The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989, constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and was completed in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the ""death strip"") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, ""fakir beds"" and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc claimed"
"Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by land) West Berlin from virtually all of surrounding East Germany and East Berlin until government officials opened it in November 1989. Its demolition officially began on 13 June 1990 and finished in 1992. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the ""death strip"") that contained anti-vehicle trenches, ""fakir"
"and to pass it on to the coming generations as a reminder to stand up for freedom and democracy to ensure that such injustice may never happen again,"" entreated Mayor Wowereit. ""It has been shown once again: Freedom is invincible at the end. No wall can permanently withstand the desire for freedom"", proclaimed President Wulff."" Notes Bibliography Further reading Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall cut off (by"
"The East German economy suffered accordingly. On August 13, 1961, a barbed-wire barrier that would become the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin was erected by the East Germans. Two days later, police and army engineers began to construct a more permanent concrete wall. Along with the wall, the 830 mile zonal border became 3.5 miles wide on its East German side in some parts of Germany with a tall steel-mesh fence running along a ""death strip"" bordered by mines, as well as channels of ploughed earth, to slow escapees and more easily reveal their footprints. Checkpoint Charlie was"
"of West German, British and US guards and soldiers. Despite the extensiveness of the Inner Border, it was the Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) that would serve as the famous and infamous representation of the ""Iron Curtain"" and the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989, constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989. In practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive"
"On August 13, 1961, East Germany began construction of the Berlin Wall without warning, sealing the border between Mitte and Wedding, effectively separating Segler and her daughter. Residents of Bernauer Straße were placed under constant observation by East German authorities, who deemed it a ""focal point of border breaches"" with buildings along the street being barricaded and their hallways patrolled by watch guards. On September 24, 1961, just over a month later, East German authorities began a forced evacuation of Bernauer Straße residents. People on the West Berlin side expected the residents to make attempts to flee and lined the"
"midnight the army, police, and units of the East German army began to close the border and by morning on Sunday August 13, 1961 the border to West Berlin had been shut. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the barrier to make them impassable to most vehicles, and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the around the three western sectors and the which actually divided West and East Berlin. Approximately 32,000 combat and engineer troops were used in building the Wall. Once their efforts were completed, the Border Police assumed the"
"and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the barrier to make them impassable to most vehicles, and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the around the three western sectors and the which actually divided West and East Berlin. Approximately 32,000 combat and engineer troops were employed for the building of the Wall, after which the Border Police became responsible for manning and improving it. To discourage Western interference and perhaps control potential riots, the Soviet Army was present. On 30 August 1961, in response to moves by the Soviet Union to cut off access to"
"Barbed Wire Sunday Barbed Wire Sunday (""Stacheldrahtsonntag""), is the name given to Sunday morning August 13, 1961, when the military and police of East Germany began the construction of what would become of the Berlin Wall with the intention of preventing citizens of the East Germany migrating to the West. Beginning at midnight, Walter Ulbricht directed the beginning the construction. Under extreme secrecy, East German troops arrived at certain points to unload concrete, barbed wire, shovels, stone blocks and more. Stasi agents were stationed throughout major intersections between the Soviet and Western sectors of Germany. Around 4 a.m., radio reports"
"edges, while near urban areas a high concrete barrier similar to the Berlin Wall was built. The installation of the Wall in 1961 brought an end to a decade during which the divided capital of divided Germany was one of the easiest places to move west across the Iron Curtain. The barrier was always a short distance inside East German territory to avoid any intrusion into Western territory. The actual borderline was marked by posts and signs and was overlooked by numerous watchtowers set behind the barrier. The strip of land on the West German side of the barrier –"
"East German leader Walter Ulbricht to begin construction of what became known as the Berlin Wall, which would surround West Berlin. Construction preparations were made in great secrecy, and the border was sealed off in the early hours of Sunday, 13 August 1961, when most East German workers who earned hard currency by working in West Berlin would be at their homes. The wall was a propaganda disaster, and marked the end of Khrushchev's attempts to conclude a peace treaty among the Four Powers and the two German states. That treaty would not be signed until September 1990, as an"
"the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. Only allied military personnel and foreign diplomats were allowed to access the bridge at any time. Of all the checkpoints between West Berlin and East Berlin, as well as those between West Berlin and East Germany, the Glienicke Bridge had the uniqueness of being the only such checkpoint of not only having a Soviet presence, but also of being under full Soviet control; all other checkpoints were under East German control, and had no Soviet presence. By the 1970s, the bridge had outlived its projected lifespan and needed significant repairs. The"
"on 13 August 1961 as part of the Berlin Wall to escape from East Germany. The same night the rails were disconnected there by border guards. As a result, transit trains between Berlin and Hamburg were rerouted via the Berlin outer ring and entered and exited West Berlin at Griebnitzsee. The border crossing at Albrechtshof was permanently closed. In the 1960s the journey time between the two cities had increased to more than six hours because of increased border controls, detours and single-track operations. An agreement between DB and DR limited the number of freight trains at the Inner German"
"designed to hold two rows of houses. An order was issued in 1786 to remove all houses from Paris bridges, but the ones on this bridge remained until 1808. The present 62-metre-long bridge dates to 1857, requiring only seven months for construction, from the date the older bridge was closed to traffic, and was designed on three 17.2m arches by Paul-Martin Gallocher de Lagalisserie and Paul Vaudrey. It was the site of many of the killings of protesters by the police, in the Paris massacre of 1961, and a commemoration plaque on the bridge was unveiled by the mayor of"
"a sister, Martha L., who lived only a few blocks away on Lortzingstraße. After World War II, Berlin was divided into four Allied sectors, and while the street and the sidewalk of the Bernauer Straße lay in the French sector of West Berlin, the frontage of the buildings on the southern side lay in the Soviet sector of East Berlin. Siekmann regularly crossed the border between the French and Soviet sectors just by leaving her house. Siekmann's sister at Lortzingstraße was located in the French sector of West Berlin. On 13 August 1961, East Germany began the construction of the"
"15, 1961 Ulbricht called a rare press conference, insisting that ""no one has any intention of building a wall,"" but made clear that ""the outflow has to stop."" He added ""it goes without saying that the so-called refugee camps in West Berlin""—the transit camps at which refugees were processed en route from West Berlin to West Germany—""will be closed down."" On August 13, 1961, a barbed-wire barrier that would become the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin was erected by East Germany. Two days later, police and army engineers began to construct a more permanent concrete wall. The construction"
"of the Wall. On 6 August, a HUMINT source, a functionary in the SED, provided the 513th Military Intelligence Group (Berlin) with the correct date of the start of construction. At a weekly meeting of the Berlin Watch Committee on 9 August 1961, the Chief of the US Military Liaison Mission to the Commander Group of Soviet Forces Germany predicted the construction of a wall. An intercept of SED communications on the same day informed the West that there were plans to begin blocking all foot traffic between East and West Berlin. The interagency intelligence Watch Committee assessment said that"
"established in 1949. Upon completion, the barrier will border Abu Dis from the north, west, and east. The northern segment of the barrier will fragment the northern and southern hemispheres of the West Bank. The eastern portion of the wall is set to separate Abu Dis's core, urban environment from its rural territories, detaching over 6,000 dunums of arable land from the city's total land area of 28,332 dunums. Currently, the western barrier divides Abu Dis and Jerusalem. The United Nations humanitarian affairs office charged that the barrier would severely disrupt access to schools, hospitals, and work throughout the West"
"as part of a bill authorizing initial funding for the bridge. Construction of the bridge began in September 1958, and it opened to traffic on December 28, 1961. Edith Wilson, the widow of President Woodrow Wilson, died that very morning; she was supposed to have been the guest of honor at the bridge's dedication ceremony. As originally built, the bridge had six traffic lanes, and was 5,900 feet (1,798 m) long. The structure was built as a bascule bridge to allow large, ocean-going vessels access to the port facilities of Washington, D.C. Designed to handle 75,000 vehicles a day, the"
"1961, the Berlin S-Bahn had grown to about 335 kilometres. On the 13 August 1961, it was the biggest turning point in the operation and network for the S-Bahn. As relations between East and West began to sour with the coming of the Cold War, it had become the victim of the hostilities. Although services continued operating through all occupation sectors, checkpoints were constructed on the borders with East Berlin and on-board ""customs checks"" were carried out on trains. From 1958 onward, some S-Bahn trains ran non-stop through the western sectors from stations in East Berlin to stations on outlying"
"utilized for the first time, to protect the city from Hurricane Isaac. By June 2013, all major construction had been completed. Using the design-build project delivery method;The main barrier consists of 1,271 concrete piles across and long, weighing 96 tonnes each. Behind those piles, steel piles are driven at an angle of 2 horizontal to 3 vertical. The steel piles are 288 feet long and are installed in two sections with the lower 158-foot section driven and the upper 130-foot section fitted on top and welded in place. A precast concrete pile cap is placed on top of the steel"
"1973 with the UN recognition of both Germanies. Berlin posed an additional problem; it was surrounded by East Germany, but Great Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union all occupied sectors in the city. In the early years, travel between the sectors was unrestricted. At the time Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev announced in June 1961 that the Soviet Union was planning to conclude a peace treaty with the East German government, 3,000 East German refugees flowed daily into Berlin. Suddenly on the night of 12 August 1961, the Soviets closed the border crossing points and began to construct"
"line G was built between Leopoldplatz and Spichernstraße, with the intention of extending it at both ends. It had been planned to open the G line on 2 September 1961, but an earlier opening on 28 August was forced by the announcement of the construction of the Berlin Wall. The next crisis was followed by the Berlin Wall construction on 13 August 1961, which had split the Berlin into east and west. The U2 was split into two sections, and for the north-south lines, trains were not allowed to stop for passengers and become ""Geisterbahnhöfe"" (""ghost stations""), patrolled by armed"
"Walls of Jerusalem The Walls of Jerusalem (; ) surround the Old City of Jerusalem (approx. 1 km²). In 1535, when Jerusalem was part of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Suleiman I ordered the ruined city walls to be rebuilt. The work took some four years, between 1537 and 1541. The length of the walls is 4,018 meters (2.4966 mi), their average height is 12 meters (39.37 feet) and the average thickness is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet). The walls contain 34 watchtowers and seven main gates open for traffic, with two minor gates reopened by archaeologists. In 1981, the Jerusalem walls"
"dividing the capitalist countries from the communist one. A great wall was erected almost two decades later to strengthen the division, literally and figuratively. Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall represented one of the great political, economic, and ideological divides of the twentieth century between two major powers: the United States and the Soviet Union. It was 96 miles in length. The conflict between these two powers affected the global community, namely Germany. Even after it was demolished, the wall symbolized divisions in Germany and the rest of the world, ones that arguably still exist today. Cornell sociologist Christine Leuenberger"
"such as Potsdamer Platz, the East Side Gallery, and Bernauer Straße; many segments are now exhibited in other countries; see List of Berlin Wall segments. Berlin Wall graffiti art The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to separate West Berlin and East Berlin during the Cold War. All the differences between the countries made it a perfect place for people to express their opinions, especially on their preferences and dislikes. In the 1980s, the wall was reconstructed and made 14 feet tall. Graffiting on the wall became popular for artists from all over the world and a place where tourists"
"Berlin Wall graffiti art The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to separate West Berlin and East Berlin during the Cold War. All the differences between the countries made it a perfect place for people to express their opinions, especially on their preferences and dislikes. In the 1980s, the wall was reconstructed and made 14 feet tall. Graffiting on the wall became popular for artists from all over the world and a place where tourists would go and admire the artwork. The West Berlin side of the wall had artwork completely covering the wall, while the East Berlin side was"
"Detroit Wall The Detroit Eight Mile Wall, also referred to as Detroit's Wailing Wall, Berlin Wall or The Birwood Wall; is a thick, high wall that stretches about in length. At the time of its construction in 1941, it was intended to serve as a wall of racial separation as a physical barrier between white and black homeowners in northwest Detroit. The neighborhoods on both sides of the wall have been predominantly black since the early 1970s. The wall originates across the street from the northern boundary of Van Antwerp Park, on Pembroke Avenue between Birwood and Mendota Streets. It"
"the West cross-border commuters virtually impossible to continue their employment in West Berlin. However, before these provisions could fully take effect, the SED removed the problem of cross-border commuting in the Berlin area by building the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961. At this time, there were still 12,000 East cross-border commuters employed in East Berlin, including 6,000 at the Deutsche Reichsbahn (East German Railways). The rest were mostly active as artists (70% of the soloistic staff of the Deutsche Staatsoper on Unter den Linden were West Berliners), or as scientists, technicians or doctors. Because of the absence of payments"
"that needed to be demolished, as a result of the construction of access to the bridge. By 22 June 1963, the bridge was concluded and inaugurated. At the time of its completion, the bridge's main span of was the largest of any concrete-arch bridge in the world. In the 1990s, the elevators on the bridge were deactivated. A process to classify the bridge began on 16 February 2011. An announcement was issued on 18 September 2012 (13409/2012) on the project to classify the bridge as a ""Monumento Nacional"" (""National Monument""), establishing its respective Special protection Zone. On 24 June 2016,"
"completing the ring. This was followed by several connecting curves: Nesselgrund east to Wilhelmshorst and Golm to Wildpark (28 September 1957), Genshagener Heide to Birkengrund (north-west curve, 1 June 1958), Werder to Golm (6 February 1959) and finally Glasower Damm - Blankenfelde (south-west curve, 25 May 1961). In 1958, passenger trains began running on the outer ring as part of the Berlin S-Bahn fare scheme. As this followed the launch of the first Soviet satellite, these trains, which ran partly on a circular orbit around West Berlin, were commonly called ""Sputniks”. On 13 August 1961, the Berlin Wall was built"
"Egypt–Gaza barrier The Egypt–Gaza barrier is a steel border barrier along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and splits the city of Rafah. In December 2009, with help from the United States, Egypt started building a steel wall along the Gaza border. If it is finished, the wall will be 10–11 km (6–7 miles) long and extend 18 metres (60 feet) below the surface. The wall was to be completed in 18 months. On 29 October 2014, Egypt began demolishing homes along its border with the Gaza Strip as part of a planned 500 metres (550 yards) buffer"
"between San Diego and Tijuana, a 14-mile long fence was constructed on the border between San Diego and Tijuana as part of Operation Gatekeeper, including one in Friendship Park. Border security was tightened in the 1990s and again after the September 11 terrorism attacks in 2001. During that time, people on opposite sides of the border were still able to touch and pass objects through the barrier. In 2009, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security closed down Friendship Park and a second parallel fence was created which stretches into the Pacific Ocean that includes barbed wires, sensors, and surveillance cameras."