page_title: Berlin Wall
section_title: Construction begins, 1961
hierarchical_section_title: Berlin Wall / Construction begins, 1961
caption_attribution_description: Title: Berlin, Mauerbau, Kampfgruppen am Brandenburger Tor Additional information: Deutsch: Hinter den bewaffneten Kampfgruppen stehen mehrere Wasserwerfer IFA G5 SK-2 (Sonderkraftfahrzeug 2) bereit. Français&#160;: Derrière les Groupes de combat armés, plusieurs canons à eau IFA G5 SK-2 (Véhicule spécial à moteur 2) se tiennent prêts. Membres des Groupes de combat de la classe ouvrière, 13 août 1961, côté ouest de la porte de Brandebourg, directement sur la ligne de démarcation. Română: Membri ai Grupurilor de Luptă ale Clasei Muncitoare, pe 13&#160;august 1961, pe partea vestică a Porții Brandenburg, direct la linia de demarcație. For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Factual corrections and alternative descriptions are encouraged separately from the original description. Additionally errors can be reported at this page to inform the Bundesarchiv. Alemannisch&#160;| Boarisch&#160;| беларуская&#160;| беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎&#160;| català&#160;| čeština&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| English&#160;| Esperanto&#160;| español&#160;| suomi&#160;| français&#160;| हिन्दी&#160;| hrvatski&#160;| magyar&#160;| italiano&#160;| 한국어&#160;| македонски&#160;| Plattdüütsch&#160;| polski&#160;| português&#160;| română&#160;| русский&#160;| sicilianu&#160;| slovenčina&#160;| slovenščina&#160;| svenska&#160;| українська&#160;| 中文&#160;| 中文（简体）‎&#160;| 中文（繁體）‎&#160;| +/− Original historic description:&#160; ADN-ZB / Junge 14.8.1961 Berlin: Sicherung der Staatsgrenze am 13.8.1961 - Zum Schutz der Grenze eingesetzte Genossen der Kampfgruppen auf der Westseite des Brandenburger Tores.
context_page_description: The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Construction of the wall was commenced by the German Democratic Republic on 13 August 1961. The Wall cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany, including East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails, and other defenses. The Eastern Bloc portrayed the Wall as protecting its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" from building a socialist state in East Germany.
  GDR authorities officially referred to the Berlin Wall as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart. 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, which demarcated the border between East and West Germany, it came to physically symbolize the "Iron Curtain" that separated Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.
context_section_description: On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, "Niemand hat die Absicht, eine Mauer zu errichten!" (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term Mauer (wall) had been used in this context.
  The transcript of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht, on 1 August in the same year, suggests that the initiative for the construction of the Wall came from Khrushchev. However, other sources suggest that Khrushchev had initially been wary about building a wall, fearing negative Western reaction. Nevertheless, Ulbricht had pushed for a border closure for quite some time, arguing that East Germany's very existence was at stake.
  Khrushchev had become emboldened upon seeing US president John F. Kennedy's youth and inexperience, a weakness against Khrushchev's brutal, undiplomatic aggression. In the 1961 Vienna summit, Kennedy made the error of admitting that the US wouldn't actively oppose the building of a barrier. A feeling of miscalculation and failure immediately afterwards was admitted by Kennedy in a candid interview with New York Times columnist James "Scotty" Reston. On Saturday, 12 August 1961, the leaders of the GDR attended a garden party at a government guesthouse in Döllnsee, in a wooded area to the north of East Berlin. There, Ulbricht signed the order to close the border and erect a wall.
  At midnight, the police and units of the East German army began to close the border and, by Sunday morning, 13 August, the border with West Berlin was closed. East German troops and workers had begun to tear up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles and to install barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 156 kilometres (97 mi) around the three western sectors, and the 43 kilometres (27 mi) that divided West and East Berlin. The date of 13 August became commonly referred to as Barbed Wire Sunday in Germany.
  The barrier was built inside East Berlin or East German territory to ensure that it did not encroach on West Berlin at any point. Generally, the Wall was only slightly inside East Berlin, but in a few places it was some distance from the legal border, most notably at Potsdamer Bahnhof and the Lenné Triangle that is now much of the Potsdamer Platz development.
  Later, the initial barrier was built up into the Wall proper, the first concrete elements and large blocks being put in place on 17 August. During the construction of the Wall, National People's Army (NVA) and Combat Groups of the Working Class (KdA) soldiers stood in front of it with orders to shoot anyone who attempted to defect. Additionally, chain fences, walls, minefields and other obstacles were installed along the length of East Germany's western border with West Germany proper. A huge no man's land was cleared to provide a clear line of fire at fleeing refugees.
caption: East German Combat Groups of the Working Class close the border on 13 August 1961 in preparation for the Berlin Wall construction.
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