how did the berlin wall work
Nov. 10, 1989: East German border guards try to prevent a crowd climbing onto the Berlin Wall on the morning that the first section was pulled down. Tom Stoddart/ Getty Images. The Berlin Wall stood for nearly 30 years, splitting the city of Berlin into communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin.Born of the splintering of Germany by the Allies at the end of World War II, the wall was a symbol of communist authoritarianism, the most visible element of the Iron Curtain.It separated families, cut people off from their jobs and left East Germans peering into thÂ­e vibrant west from their drab communist apartments.orn of the splintering of Germany by the Allies at the end of World War II, the wall was a symbol of communist authoritarianism, the most visible element of the Iron Curtain. It separated families, cut people off from their jobs and left East Germans peering into thÂ­e vibrant west from their drab communist apartments.