Claim: The Berlin Wall symbolized the border between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc after World War II.

The Berlin Wall -LRB- Berliner Mauer -RRB- was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989 . Constructed by the German Democratic Republic -LRB- GDR , East Germany -RRB- , starting on 13 August 1961 , the Wall completely cut off -LRB- by land -RRB- West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until government officials opened it 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 -LRB- later known as the `` death strip '' -RRB- that contained anti-vehicle trenches , `` fakir beds '' and other defenses . The Eastern Bloc claimed that the Wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the `` will of the people '' in building a socialist state in East Germany . In practice , the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that had marked East Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period .   The Berlin Wall was officially referred to as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart -LRB- Antifaschistischer Schutzwall -RRB- by GDR authorities , implying that the NATO countries and West Germany in particular were considered equal to fascists . The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the `` Wall of Shame '' , a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt in reference to the Wall 's restriction on freedom of movement . Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border -LRB- IGB -RRB- , which demarcated the border between East and West Germany , it came to symbolize a physical marker of the `` Iron Curtain '' that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War .   Before the Wall 's erection , 3.5 million East Germans circumvented Eastern Bloc emigration restrictions and defected from the GDR , many by crossing over the border from East Berlin into West Berlin ; from which they could then travel to West Germany and other Western European countries . Between 1961 and 1989 , the Wall prevented almost all such emigration . During this period , around 5,000 people attempted to escape over the Wall , with an estimated death toll ranging from 136 to more than 200 in and around Berlin .   In 1989 , a series of revolutions in nearby Eastern Bloc countries -- Poland and Hungary in particular -- caused a chain reaction in East Germany that ultimately resulted in the demise of the Wall . After several weeks of civil unrest , the East German government announced on 9 November 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin . Crowds of East Germans crossed and climbed onto the Wall , joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere . Over the next few weeks , euphoric people and souvenir hunters chipped away parts of the Wall ; the governments later used industrial equipment to remove most of what was left . Contrary to popular belief the Wall 's actual demolition did not begin until the summer of 1990 and was not completed until 1992 . The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification , which was formally concluded on 3 October 1990 .