Berlin Wall - Cold War - HISTORY.com Berlin Wall A+E Networks Introduction On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

Google The Berlin Wall: The Partitioning of Berlin As World War II came to an end in 1945, a pair of Allied peace conferences at Yalta and Potsdam determined the fate of Germany’s territories. They split the defeated nation into four “allied occupation zones”: The eastern part of the country went to the Soviet Union, while the western part went to the United States, Great Britain and (eventually) France. Did You Know? On October 22, 1961, a quarrel between an East German border guard and an American official on his way to the opera in East Berlin very nearly led to what one observer called "a nuclear-age equivalent of the Wild West Showdown at the O.K. Corral." That day, American and Soviet tanks faced off at Checkpoint Charlie for 16 hours. Photographs of the confrontation are some of the most familiar and memorable images of the Cold War. Even though Berlin was located entirely within the Soviet part of the country (it sat about 100 miles from the border between the eastern and western occupation zones), the Yalta and Potsdam agreements split the city into similar sectors. The Soviets took the eastern half, while the other Allies took the western.

This four-way occupation of Berlin began in June 1945. The Berlin Wall: Blockade and Crisis The existence of West Berlin, a conspicuously capitalist city deep within communist East Germany, “stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat,” as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev put it. The Russians began maneuvering to drive the United States, Britain and France out of the city for good. In 1948, a Soviet blockade of West Berlin aimed to starve the western Allies out of the city. Instead of retreating, however, the United States and its allies supplied their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the Berlin Airlift , lasted for more than a year and delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and other goods to West Berlin. The Soviets called off the blockade in 1949. After a decade of relative calm, tensions flared again in 1958.

For the next three years, the Soviets–emboldened by the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite the year before and embarrassed by the seemingly endless flow of refugees from east to west (nearly 3 million since the end of the blockade, many of them young skilled workers such as doctors, teachers and engineers)–blustered and made threats, while the Allies resisted. Summits, conferences and other negotiations came and went without resolution. Meanwhile, the flood of refugees continued. In June 1961, some 19,000 people left the GDR through Berlin. The following month, 30,000 fled. In the first 11 days of August, 16,000 East Germans crossed the border into West Berlin, and on August 12 some 2,400 followed—the largest number of defectors ever to leave East Germany in a single day. The Berlin Wall: Building the Wall That night, Premier Khrushchev gave the East German government permission to stop the flow of emigrants by closing its border for good.

In just two weeks, the East German army, police force and volunteer construction workers had completed a makeshift barbed wire and concrete block wall–the Berlin Wall–that divided one side of the city from the other. Before the wall was built, Berliners on both sides of the city could move around fairly freely: They crossed the East-West border to work, to shop, to go to the theater and the movies. Trains and subway lines carried passengers back and forth. After the wall was built, it became impossible to get from East to West Berlin except through one of three checkpoints: at Helmstedt (“Checkpoint Alpha” in American military parlance), at Dreilinden (“Checkpoint Bravo”) and in the center of Berlin at Friedrichstrasse (“Checkpoint Charlie”). (Eventually, the GDR built 12 checkpoints along the wall.) At each of the checkpoints, East German soldiers screened diplomats and other officials before they were allowed to enter or leave. Except under special circumstances, travelers from East and West Berlin were rarely allowed across the border. The Berlin Wall: 1961-1989 The construction of the Berlin Wall did stop the flood of refugees from East to West, and it did defuse the crisis over Berlin.

(Though he was not happy about it, President Kennedy conceded that “a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”) Over time, East German officials replaced the makeshift wall with one that was sturdier and more difficult to scale. A 12-foot-tall, 4-foot-wide mass of reinforced concrete was topped with an enormous pipe that made climbing over nearly impossible. Behind the wall on the East German side was a so-called “Death Strip”: a gauntlet of soft sand (to show footprints), floodlights, vicious dogs, trip-wire machine guns and patrolling soldiers with orders to shoot escapees on sight. In all, at least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or around the Berlin Wall. Escape from East Germany was not impossible, however: From 1961 until the wall came down in 1989, more than 5,000 East Germans (including some 600 border guards) managed to cross the border by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, climbing over the barbed wire, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through the sewers and driving through unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds.

The Berlin Wall: The Fall of the Wall On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall, drinking beer and champagne and chanting “Tor auf!” (“Open the gate!”). At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints. More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to participate in a celebration that was, one journalist wrote, “the greatest street party in the history of the world.” People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall–they became known as “mauerspechte,” or “wall woodpeckers”—while cranes and bulldozers pulled down section after section. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945.

“Only today,” one Berliner spray-painted on a piece of the wall, “is the war really over.” The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Tags The Berlin Wall - Symbol of the Cold War Updated February 15, 2016. What Was the Berlin Wall? Erected in the dead of night on August 13, 1961, the Berlin Wall (known as Berliner Mauer in German) was a physical division between West Berlin and East Germany in order to keep East Germans from feeling to the West. When the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, its destruction was nearly as instantaneous as its creation. For 28 years, the Berlin Wall had been a symbol of the Cold War and thus when it fell it was celebrated around the world. A Divided Berlin At the end of World War II , the Allied powers divided conquered Germany into four zones, each occupied by either the United States, Great Britain, France, or the Soviet Union (as agreed at the Potsdam Conference ). The same was done with Germany's capital city, Berlin.

As the relationship between the Soviet Union and the other three Allied powers quickly disintegrated, the cooperative atmosphere of the occupation of Germany turned competitive and aggressive. Although an eventual reunification of Germany had been intended, the new relationship between the Allied powers turned Germany into West versus East, democracy versus Communism . continue reading below our video Overview: The Berlin Wall In 1949, this new organization of Germany became official when the three zones occupied by the United States, Great Britain, and France combined to form West Germany (the Federal Republic of Germany). The zone occupied by the Soviet Union quickly followed by forming East Germany (the German Democratic Republic). This same division into West and East occurred in Berlin. Since the city of Berlin had been situated entirely within the Soviet zone of occupation, West Berlin became an island of democracy within Communist East Germany. Mass Emigration Within a short period of time after the war, living conditions in West Germany and East Germany became distinctly different.

With the help and support of its occupying powers, West Germany set up a capitalist society and experienced such a rapid growth of their economy that it became known as the "economic miracle." With hard work, individuals living in West Germany were able to live well, buy gadgets and appliances, and to travel as they wished. Nearly the opposite was true in East Germany. Since the Soviet Union had viewed their zone as a spoil of war, the Soviets pilfered factory equipment and other valuable assets from their zone and shipped them back to the Soviet Union. When East Germany became its own country, it was under the direct influence of the Soviet Union and thus a Communist society was established. In East Germany, the economy dragged and individual freedoms were severely restricted. By the late 1950s, many people living in East Germany wanted out. No longer able to stand the repressive living conditions of East Germany, they would pack up their bags and head to West Berlin. Although some of them would be stopped on their way, hundreds of thousands of others made it across the border. Once across, these refugees were housed in warehouses and then flown to West Germany. Many of those who escaped were young, trained professionals.

By the early 1960s, East Germany was rapidly losing both its labor force and its population. Having already lost 2.5 million people by 1961, East Germany desperately needed to stop this mass exodus. The obvious leak was the easy access East Germans had to West Berlin. With the support of the Soviet Union, there had been several attempts to simply take over West Berlin in order to eliminate this exit point. Although the Soviet Union even threatened the United States with the use of nuclear weapons over this issue, the United States and other Western countries were committed to defending West Berlin. Desperate to keep its citizens, East Germany decided to build a wall to prevent them from crossing the border. The Berlin Wall Goes Up There had been rumors that something might happen to tighten the border of East and West Berlin, but no one was expecting the speed nor the absoluteness of the Berlin Wall. Just past midnight on the night of August 12-13, 1961, trucks with soldiers and construction workers rumbled through East Berlin.

While most Berliners were sleeping, these crews began tearing up streets that entered into West Berlin, dug holes to put up concrete posts, and strung barbed wire all across the border between East and West Berlin. Telephone wires between East and West Berlin were also cut. Berliners were shocked when they woke up that morning. What had once been a very fluid border was now rigid. No longer could East Berliners cross the border for operas, plays, soccer games, etc. No longer could the approximately 60,000 commuters head to West Berlin for well-paying jobs. No longer could families, friends, and lovers cross the border to meet their loved ones. Whichever side of the border one went to sleep on during the night of August 12, they were stuck on that side for decades. The Size and Scope of the Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall stretched over a hundred miles. It ran not only through the center of Berlin, but also wrapped around West Berlin, entirely cutting West Berlin off from the rest of East Germany. The wall itself went through four major transformations during its 28-year history.

The Berlin Wall started out as a barbed-wire fence with concrete posts, but just a few days after the first fence was placed, it was quickly replaced with a sturdier, more permanent structure made out of concrete blocks, topped with barbed wire. The first two versions of the wall (barbed wire and concrete blocks) were replaced by the third version of the Berlin Wall in 1965. This version consisted of a concrete wall, supported by steel girders. The fourth version of the Berlin Wall, constructed from 1975 to 1980, was the most complicated and thorough. It consisted of concrete slabs reaching nearly 12-feet high (3.6 m) and 4-feet wide (1.2 m), plus it had a smooth pipe running across the top to hinder people from scaling the Wall. By the time the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, there was a 300-foot No Man's Land, an additional inner wall, soldiers patrolling with dogs, a raked ground that showed footprints, anti-vehicle trenches, electric fences, massive light systems, watchtowers, bunkers, and minefields.

Checkpoints Although most of the border between East and West consisted of layers of preventative measures, there were little more than a handful of official openings along the Berlin Wall. These openings, called checkpoints, were for the infrequent use of officials and others with special permission to cross the border. The most famous of these was Checkpoint Charlie , located on the border between East and West Berlin at Friedrichstrasse. Checkpoint Charlie was the main access point for Allied personnel and Westerners to cross the border. (Soon after the Berlin Wall was built, Checkpoint Charlie became an icon of the Cold War and was frequently featured in movies and books set during this time period.) Escape Attempts The Berlin Wall did prevent the majority of East Germans from emigrating to the West, but it did not prevent them all. During the history of the Berlin Wall, it is estimated that about 5,000 people made it safely across. Some early successful attempts were simple, like throwing a rope over the Berlin Wall and climbing up. Others were brash, like ramming a truck or bus into the Berlin Wall and making a run for it. Still others were suicidal, like jumping from the not-yet-boarded-up, upper-story windows of apartment buildings that bordered the Berlin Wall.

As the Berlin Wall became stronger and larger, the escape attempts became more planned and more complex. Some people dug tunnels from the basements of buildings in East Berlin, under the Berlin Wall, and into West Berlin. Another group saved scraps of cloth and built a hot air balloon and flew over the Wall. Unfortunately, not all escape attempts were successful. Since the East German guards were allowed to shoot anyone nearing the eastern side of the Berlin Wall without warning, there was always a chance of death in any and all escape plots. It is estimated that somewhere between 100 and 200 East Germans died while attempting to cross the Berlin Wall. One of the most infamous cases of a failed attempt occurred on August 17, 1962. In the early afternoon, two 18-year-old young men ran toward the Wall with the intention on scaling it. The first of the young men to reach the Berlin Wall successfully scaled it. The second one, Peter Fechter , was not so lucky. As he was about to scale the Wall, a border guard opened fire. Peter continued to climb the Wall, but ran out of energy just as he reached the top. He then tumbled back onto the East German side of the Berlin Wall.

To the shock of the world, Peter was just left there. The East German guards did not shoot him again nor did they go to his aid. Peter shouted in agony for nearly an hour. Once he had bled to death, East German guards carried off his body. He became the 50th person to die at the Berlin Wall and a symbol of the struggle for freedom. The Fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall happened nearly as suddenly as its rise. There had been signs that the Communist bloc was weakening, but the East German Communist leaders insisted that East Germany just needed a moderate change rather than a drastic revolution. East German citizens did not agree. As Communism began to falter in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia in 1988 and 1989, new exodus points were opened to East Germans who wanted to flee to the West.

Then suddenly, on the evening of November 9, 1989, an announcement made by East German government official Günter Schabowski blundered by stating, "Permanent relocations can be done through all border checkpoints between the GDR (East Germany) into the FRG (West Germany) or West Berlin." People were in shock. Were the borders really open? East Germans tentatively approached the border and indeed found that the border guards were letting people cross. Very quickly, the Berlin Wall was inundated with people from both sides. Some began chipping at the Berlin Wall with hammers and chisels. There was an impromptu huge celebration along the Berlin Wall, with people hugging, kissing, singing, cheering, and crying. The Berlin Wall was eventually chipped away, into smaller pieces (some the size of a coin and others in big slabs). The pieces have become collectibles and are stored in both homes and museums. There is also now a Berlin Wall Memorial at the site. The Fall of Berlin Wall - Berlin Wall History The fall of the Berlin Wall had begun with the building of the Wall in 1961. However it took about three decades until the Wall was torn down.

Several times people in the Communist countries rised up against the Communist system but they failed. The victims of the uprisings against the Communist dictatorship in Berlin 1953, Budapest 1956 or Prague 1968 will never been forgotten. In 1989 the first free labor union was founded in the communist Poland. The end of the communist system had begun. The Soviet Union could control their satellites yet but with the new leader Gorbatshov their politics changed in 1984. Gorbatshov's reforms, Perestroika and Glasnost should renew the stalinistic system in the Soviet Union but not replace the communist system. The reforms in the Soviet Union also had its effects on the other communist countries, especially in Poland and Hungary. On August 23, 1989 Hungary opened the iron curtain to Austria. Months before East German tourists used their chance to escape to Austria from Hungary and in September 1989 more than 13 000 East German escaped via Hungary within three days. It was the first mass exodus of East Germans after the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961.

Mass demonstrations against the government and the system in East Germany begun at the end of September and took until November 1989. Erich Honecker, East Germany's head of state, had to resign on October 18, 1989. The new governement prepared a new law to lift the travel restrictions for East German citizen. At 06.53 pm on November 9, 1989 a member of the new East German government was asked at a press conference when the new East German travel law comes into force. He answered: "Well, as far as I can see, ... straightaway, immediately." Thousands of East Berliners went to the border crossings. At Bornholmer Strasse the people demanded to open the border and at 10.30 pm the border was opened there. That moment meant the end of the Berlin Wall. Soon other border crossing points opened the gates to the West In that night the deadly border was opened by East Germans peacefully.

Bibliography: The Cold War by Jeremy Isaacs and Taylor Downing The Berlin Wall by Thomas Fleming Leipziger Demotagebuch by Wolfgang Schneider Nine surprising facts about the fall of the Berlin Wall FacebookEmail Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Pinterest Nine surprising facts about the fall of the Berlin Wall Twenty-five years after the fall of one of the world's most visible symbols of the Cold War, history is revealing some little-known facts about the events of Nov. 9, 1989. Post to Facebook Nine surprising facts about the fall of the Berlin Wall Twenty-five years after the fall of one of the world's most visible symbols of the Cold War, history is revealing some little-known facts about the events of Nov. 9, 1989. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: CancelSend A link has been sent to your friend's email address. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. 16 To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs Nine surprising facts about the fall of the Berlin Wall Melanie Eversley , USA TODAY 6:34 p.m. EST November 9, 2014 Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Germans wave flags during the celebration of the country's reunification at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Oct. 3, 1990. Gilles Leimdorfer, AFP Germans wave flags as they celebrate the country's reunification on Oct. 3, 1990 Gilles Leimdorfer, AFP/Getty Images West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall Nov. 11, 1989, as they watch East German border guards demolish a section to open a crossing point. Gerard Malie, AFP/Getty Images Fullscreen Defecting East German soldier Hans Conrad Schumann leaps over a barbed-wire barricade at the Bernauer Street sector into West Berlin on Aug. 15, 1961. Schumann made his break for freedom to join his family, which had fled earlier to West Berlin. Peter Leibing, AP An East Berlin policeman adds bricks to heighten the Berlin Wall to 15 feet on Oct. 9, 1961. AP The first guardhouse at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin. AP Workers build up a section of the Berlin Wall in Bernauer Strasse as police from West Berlin look on.

AFP The Brandenburg Gate is sealed off in the Soviet-occupied sector of East Berlin in 1961. At the center of the German capital, the gate stands behind part of the Berlin Wall that divides East and West Berlin. AP A dying Peter Fechter is carried away by East German border guards who shot him when he tried to flee to the west Aug 17, 1962. AP President Ronald Reagan acknowledges the crowd after his speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, where he said, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Ira Schwartz, AP Germans from east and west stand on the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 10, 1989. AP People celebrate Nov. 10, 1989, in front of the Brandenburg Gate epa Two young Berliners chisel souvenir pieces of concrete from the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 11, 1989. Lutz Schmidt, AP A man hammers away at the Berlin Wall Nov.

12, 1989, as the border barrier between East and West Germany was torn down after 28 years, symbolically ending the Cold War. John Gaps III, AP Berliners chisel away the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 15, 1989. GERARD MALIE, AFP/Getty Images Berliners celebrate on top of the Berlin Wall as East Germans flood through the dismantled wall into West Berlin at Potsdamer Platz on Nov. 12, 1989. Lionel Cironneau, AP West Berliners remove a piece of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 16, 1989. Patrick Hertzog, AFP/Getty Images People from East Germany greet citizens of West Germany at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Dec. 22, 1989. PATRICK HERTZOG, AFP/Getty Images The Brandenburg Gate on Dec. 21, 1989. Lutz Schmidt, AP Fullscreen People from East and West Germany gather for the opening of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Dec. 22, 1989. On Nov.

9, Gunter Schabowski, the East Berlin Communist Party boss, declared that starting from midnight, East Germans would be free to leave the country at any point along the border. PATRICK HERTZOG, AFP/Getty Images East German border guards shake hands with West German police at a hole in the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate on Dec. 22, 1989, after East Germany began removing concrete pieces. Arne Dedert, AP West Berliners wave to relatives in East Berlin on Aug. 13, 1962. Werner Kreusch, AP Berlin Mayor Richard von Weizsecker, President Ronald Reagan and German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt visit Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin on June 11, 1982. Dieter Hespe, epa Boards that are 12 feet high hide the work as East German troops erect a concrete wall at the Brandenburg Gate on Nov. 20, 1961. AP From left, John F. Kennedy, West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer ride in a car at the Brandenburg Gate June 26, 1963.

Will McBride, AP President John Kennedy looks into East Berlin across the Berlin Wall on June 26, 1963. AP People, reflected in a puddle, walk along the painted East Side Gallery, a former part of the Berlin Wall, in Berlin on July 8, 2014. Paul Zinken, EPA A woman presses her hands onto a painting of the East Side Gallery on Oct. 30 in Berlin. It is the largest part of the Berlin Wall that still stands. Markus Schreiber, AP Like this topic? You may also like these photo galleries: Replay This image from en on December 22, 1989, shows people from East and West Germany gathering for the opening of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. (Photo: Patrick Hertzog, AFP/Getty Images) 5475 CONNECT TWEET 58 LINKEDIN 16 COMMENTEMAILMORE Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this story misstated what part of Berlin the wall enclosed. Nov.

9 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the iconic barrier that completely enclosed West Berlin from 1961 to 1989 and symbolized the height of Cold War tensions. Around the world, the international German community and others are marking the milestone with celebrations and shared memories. In Germany, artists have recreated the Wall with illuminated white balloons along the path that the structure once traced. The 8,000 balloons stretch more than nine miles across the city, according to the German embassy in London. With the anniversary putting the Cold War fresh in most people's minds, here are nine facts about the Berlin Wall that may be new to you: • A mistake helped lead to the fall of the Wall. The flood of East Germans and West Germans to the Wall, which led to its ultimate collapse, came after East German Politburo member Guenther Schabowski on Nov. 9, 1989, mistakenly announced that East Germans would be allowed to cross into West Germany effective immediately, according to National Public Radio.

• What the world saw as the Berlin Wall was actually two concrete barriers with a 160-yard "death strip" in between that included watchtowers, trenches, runs for guard dogs, flood lights and trip-wire machine guns, according to History.com. • Parts of the Wall are on display or in private safekeeping all over the world. One section of the Wall is in a men's room of the Main Street Casino in Las Vegas, History.com reports. Urinals are mounted on the graffiti-covered segment, which is protected by glass. Another section is in the gardens of the Vatican. If you don't feel like traveling to Italy or Vegas to see a part of the Wall, you can have your own little slice for as little as $10 on eBay. And you can consider that a steal; an 8,000-pound slab went for $23,500 at an Atlanta auction • A mass exodus of East Germans into West Germany began almost 15 years before the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. In fact, so many left that by the time the Wall went up, East Germany lost one-sixth of its population, according to the Berlin Wall Memorial website.

• The Wall and several U.S. presidents shared a relationship. President Kennedy visited in the summer of 1963, not long before his assassination that November. He said in a rousing speech that Berlin could help the world understand the divisions between the Communist and non-Communist world. In 1987, Reagan challenged Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall" during a June 1987 speech near the Wall. When Clinton visited in 1994, he told the crowd of Berliners, "You have proved that no Wall can forever contain the mighty power of freedom." Share Segments of the Berlin wall brought to America are falling into disrepair. During President Obama's June 2013 visit, he noted neither he nor German Chancellor Angela Merkel looked like their predecessors. "The fact that we can stand here today, along the fault line where a city was divided, speaks to an eternal truth: No wall can stand against the yearning of justice, the yearnings for freedom, the yearnings for peace that burns in the human heart," he said. • The formal reunification of East and West Germany did not happen until Oct.

3, 1990, almost a year after the fall of the Wall, according to History.com. • A July 1988 concert by Bruce Springsteen in East Berlin may have led to the growing sense of dissent in the walled city that contributed to the fall of the Wall, according to the CBC. "The Boss" told the crowd in German, "I've come to play rock 'n' roll for you in the hope that one day all the barriers will be torn down." Another in the U.S. music industry, conductor Leonard Bernstein, performed a series of concerts in venues on both sides of the barrier just weeks after the November 1989 fall of the Wall. Bernstein's international orchestra included musicians from the four countries that had occupied Berlin after World War II: the United States, the former Soviet Union, France and England. Bernstein led Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and altered its final movement, "Ode to Joy," to become "Ode to Freedom." • Some parts of the barrier became world famous. Checkpoint Charlie, formally known as Checkpoint C, was the nickname that Western Allies gave the best-known border crossing point between East and West Berlin.

Also, the Brandenburg Gate is an 18th-century arch that is built on the site of a former gate that marked the start of a road that led from Berlin to the town of Brandenburg. Because of its location, it was associated with the Berlin Wall for a time. • The physical demolition of the Berlin Wall was not complete until 1992, according to the BBC. Posted! A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. The Brandenburg Gate stands illuminated during celebrations on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Sean Gallup, Getty Images Visitors listen during celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate. Adam Berry, Getty Images Fullscreen The Staatskapelle Berlin under the direction of Daniel Barenboim performs in front of the Brandenburg Gate during celebrations on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, was among the most powerful symbols of the revolutions that swept through the communist countries of Eastern Europe and heralded the end of the Cold War.

Sean Gallup, Getty Images Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attends the celebrations during the citizens' festival at Brandenburg Gate. Bernd Von Jutrczenka, epa Balloons from the installation 'Border of Lights' are released into the sky during the citizens' festival at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Bernd Von Jutrczenka, epa Fullscreen Visitors photograph graffiti by Dmitri Vrubel of Russian Leonid Brezhnev and German Erich Honecker kissing under the words, in Russian, "Pomogi mne vyzhit' sredi etoy smertnoy lyubvi," or "My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love," based on a photograph by Regis Bossu in East Berlin from Oct. 7, 1979. Berlin is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Adam Berry, Getty Images Spectators watch a performance in front of BrandenburgGate during the citizens' festival in Berlin.

Rainer Jensen, European Pressphoto Agency Fullscreen Communist Naydencho Naydenov holds a flag to set a sign against European policy during the commemorations to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial in the Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, on Nov. 9, 2014. Tobias Schwarz, AFP/Getty Images Historical photographs are projected onto Brandenburg Gate during the citizens' festival inBerlin. Rainer Jensen, epa Fullscreen Workers replace the glowing balloons of the 'Border Of Lights 2014' installation with helium-filled balloons, near the landmark Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. About 8,000 illuminated helium balloons, arranged along 15-kilometres that traced the path of the former Cold War barrier through the center of nation's capital, will be released into the night sky over Berlin. Kay Nietfeld, epa Pictures of people who died as they tried to escape East Berlin are displayed during a street party organized by the German government to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Odd Andersen, AFP/Getty Images People pass by balloons of the art project "Lichtgrenze 2014" in Berlin.

The light installation featuring 8,000 luminous white balloons commemorates the end of the division of Berlin. Steffi Loos, AP Crowds gather in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin for celebrations on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Sean Gallup, Getty Images Fullscreen The first Trabant car (Trabi), which crossed the border 25 years ago, drives across the former border crossing-point Ullitz from Saxony into Bavaria, Germany. A caravan of around 100 historical cars drove from Plauen (Saxony) to Hof (Bavaria) to commemorate the border opening. Igor Pastierovic, epa Flowers are placed in a joint of concrete segments of a remaining part of the Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial Bernauer Strasse during an official ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Kay Nietfeld, epa Visitors gather on the boulevard in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Michael Sohn, AP German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Director of the Berlin Wall Foundation Axel Klausmeier visit the new permanent exhibition in the Berlin Wall memorial at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin.

Bernd von Jutrczenka, dpa via AP A couple shares a tender moment during a street party during celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall in front of Brandenburger gate in Berlin on Nov. 9, 2014. Odd Andersen, AFP/Getty Images Fullscreen A man wearing a chapka with the emblem of the Soviet Union takes a picture during the commemorations to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial in the Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, on November 9, 2014. Tobias Schwarz, AFP/Getty Images Fullscreen A visitor looks through a preserved segment of the Berlin Wall during the commemorations to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial in the Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, on November 9, 2014. Tobias Schwarz, AFP/Getty Images A man poses at the "light border" installation along remains of the Berlin wall at East Side Gallery in Berlin. Odd Andersen, AFP/Getty Images Visitors peek into the former "death strip" between layers of the former Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial in Berlin, Germany.

Sean Gallup, Getty Images A boy plays on a swing next a graffiti-covered, still-standing portion of the original Berlin Wall the day before the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin, Germany. Sean Gallup, Getty Images Fullscreen The city of Berlin is commemorating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall from November 7-9 with an installation of 6,800 lamps coupled with illuminated balloons along a 15km route where the Wall once ran and divided the city into capitalist West and communist East. Tobias Schwarz, AFP/Getty Images People look at the "light border" installation along remains of the Berlin wall. Odd Andersen, AFP/Getty Images Passersby look at commemorative crosses for those who died at the Berlin Wall along the Spree River in Berlin, Germany Kay Nietfeld, epa A young man spray-paints a graffiti-covered portion of the original Berlin Wall the day before the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Sean Gallup, Getty Images Spectators walk between balloons of the art project and remains of the former Berlin Wall at the wall memorial Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, Germany. Markus Schreiber, AP Like this topic?

You may also like these photo galleries: Replay Berlin Wall: Thousands of balloons released to mark fall - BBC News BBC News Berlin Wall: Thousands of balloons released to mark fall 9 November 2014 Close share panel Media captionThe balloons were released into the Berlin night sky, as Jenny Hill reports Some 8,000 helium balloons have been released into the night sky over Germany's capital at the culmination of events to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the fall of the wall had shown the world that dreams could come true. Tens of thousands of people attended events, including a "citizen's party" at the Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing the communist East. Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War. The white balloons - perched on 3.6m poles to match the height of the wall and stretching for 15km (nine miles) - were released one by one to symbolise the breaching of the wall by crowds of protesters.

Media captionChancellor Angela Merkel places a rose in a remaining section of the wall The Berlin State Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim played Beethoven's Ninth Symphony "Ode to Joy" in front of the Brandenburg Gate. "We're the happiest people in the world and we're thrilled that you brought the Berlin Wall down 25 years ago," said the Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, as the first balloons were sent aloft. "Nothing and no-one can stand in the way of freedom." The release came amid a massive open-air party at the Brandenburg Gate. Earlier at the party, UK performer Peter Gabriel sang a version of David Bowie's Heroes. At the scene: Damian McGuinness, BBC News For a weekend the balloons had become a part of the city, with Berliners strolling, jogging or cycling along the route. Today not much of the Wall remains, and often you don't even notice when crossing between East and West. That's because, after 1989, Berliners wanted to destroy the much-hated barrier and rebuild their city.

But suddenly seeing the circuitous and often illogical line which tore through the city's heart was a reminder of the insanity of using concrete to split a city in two, dividing neighbourhoods, friends and families. Now the balloons have floated off into the sky, each one accompanied by cheers from the crowd - a shining and delicate symbol of peace and light, in stark contrast to the brutality of the heavy slabs of grey concrete. And a powerful reminder of how 25 years ago, under pressure from ordinary Berliners, this deadly barrier suddenly lost its threat. Image copyright EPA Image caption The word "peace" was projected on to the Brandenburg Gate Image copyright Reuters Image caption Fireworks over Brandenburg Gate followed the release of the balloons 'We can change things' The day's events began with a brass band playing, evoking the trumpets which brought down the walls of the biblical city of Jericho. Chancellor Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, and other officials laid roses in one of the remaining sections of the wall.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Chancellor Merkel said it was easy to forget what had happened in Berlin Image copyright Reuters Image caption Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attends a ceremony in Berlin Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Tens of thousands joined the festivities in the German capital Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Peter Gabriel performs at the Brandenburg Gate party Speaking at the opening of a new information centre about the Wall, Ms Merkel said it was easy to forget what had happened and it was important to remember it. "We can change things for the better," she said. "This is the message for... Ukraine, Iraq and other places where human rights are threatened. "The fall of the Wall showed us that dreams can come true. Nothing has to stay as it is." Recently Ms Merkel has revealed more details about her movements on the day that the Wall opened. She told German TV on Saturday that she joined crowds heading towards West Berlin after a visit to the sauna, describing "an incredible feeling of happiness". The chancellor was joined later at the Brandenburg Gate by former Polish trade union leader and president Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader. The anniversary was also mentioned in an address by Pope Francis in Rome.

He told crowds in St Peter's Square: "Where there is a wall, there is a closing of hearts. We need bridges, not walls." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A guard tower still marks the "death strip" between layers of the former wall that divided Berlin Image copyright EPA Image caption The first Trabant to cross from the East to the West 25 years ago, traverses the border again in commemoration - at the Ullitz crossing from Saxony into Bavaria The wall stretched for 155km (96 miles) through Berlin but today only about three kilometres of it still stands. At least 138 people died trying to flee to West Berlin. Within a year of the wall's collapse, Germany - divided after its defeat in World War Two - was reunited. Striking a sombre note, Mr Gorbachev, 83, warned on Saturday that the world was on the brink of a new Cold War. Media captionThe BBC examines the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, in 60 seconds Tensions between the West and Russia have been raised by the crisis in Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union.

"Bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East against the backdrop of a breakdown in dialogue between the major powers is of enormous concern," he said. "The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it's already begun." Mr Gorbachev, as leader of the USSR in the late 1980s, is credited with rapprochement with the West and creating a more liberal atmosphere which led to the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989. Fall of the Berlin Wall: 1989 Back to The Cold War Chronology To find the cause of the fall of the Berlin Wall, one must look, not in Germany, but in the Soviet Union. The change began when Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1985. He tried to make changes in the state bureaucracy and in the Communist party by restructuring the economys production and distribution system, a plan now known as perestroika. In addition, Gorbachev also allowed for the policy of glasnost, or public criticism of the communist party. Gorbachevs reform contributed to the breakup of the centralized structure of the USSR.

During this time some states such as Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania declared their independence. In 1989, Gorbachev shifted his policies toward the satellite states of the communist block in Eastern Europe, including Germany. [2] In effect, the politics in Germany also began to lead toward the destruction of the wall. In the fall of 1989, there was an antigovernment demonstration in East Germany. In mid-October 1989, the Politburo forced the resignation of Erich Honecker, the leader of the GDR (German Democratic Republic). [5] In this way, Erich Honecker was ousted from office, and others soon followed. By the first week of November, the entire Politburo and all of the members of the East German cabinet resigned. [5] The new Prime minister, Hans Modrow, announced plans to decentralize the economy and an easing of travel restrictions. [4] This allowed the East Germans, from the communist sector, to cross the boarder into the west, the Allied sector. At this point, East Germany began to reform.

Then on November 9, 1989, the leader of the East Berlin communist party, Gunter Schabowski, announced that the boarder with West Berlin would be opened for "private trips abroad." Masses of people started to use hammers and chisels to knock out pieces of the wall. Shortly thereafter, on November 10, 1989 and later on December 22, 1989 checkpoints were opened at Potsdamer Platz and the Brandenberg Gate. On March 18, 1990, free elections in East Germany took place for the first time in 58 years. [5] By July 1, 1990, the wall tumbled down and Germany was completely united. [3] As a result, a massive emigration from East to West began, which has left economic and emotional scars that can only be healed by the hard work and understanding of generations to come. But on the day that the wall fell will stand out in all of history, as a day when friends and family and an entire nation were reunited, while tears of joy were being shed by all.

Brothers and Sisters torn apart Longed for each other with pain in the heart Mothers in tears held their arms toward the sky "Where are my children, who took them and why" A wall stood between them and gave them no rest The wall in Berlin, between East and West. Thousands tried passing, were caught and would fall She claimed her victims, the cursed wall But their longing and pain was stronger than fear As they tried to come home year after year. Their country divided, that's why they tried And their hope for reunion never died. East Germans, West Germans all felt the same Through tunnels and over the Wall they came. Many were captured, suffered torture and shame Still they fought that wall again and again. At Last their pain gave birth to a cry "Free us! Unite us! before we all die" Against their oppressors their outrage they hurled And their plea found an echo all over the world, Then they marched, like in battle, with tools in their hand, And attacked the concrete that divided their land.

Each chip that fell, fell toward victories crown And they never stopped till the wall was down Through blood and through tears, through sorrow and strife East Germany kept her dream alive And today, 1990, October three There's no East, there's no West, they are one, they are "Free!" by Ruth Carlson 1 The Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall The mounting tensions between the Allies and Soviets culminated in the Berlin Crisis and the construction of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall During the early years of the Cold War, West Berlin was a geographical loophole through which thousands of East Germans fled to the democratic West. In response, the Communist East German authorities built a wall that totally encircled West Berlin. It was thrown up overnight, on 13 August 1961. For the next three decades, the city became the hot end of the Cold War as the world's nuclear superpowers faced off across the Wall. Half a century later, we look back on the Wall and its impact through a BBC archive collection. Photo: West Berliners gather at the Wall whilst an East German soldier patrols the other side, in August 1961.

(Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images) More information about: The Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany), starting on 13 August 1961, the Wall completely cut off (by land) 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 (later known as the "death strip") 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 Protective Wall" (German: Antifaschistischer Schutzwall) by GDR authorities, implying that the NATO countries and West Germany in particular were considered equal to "fascists" by GDR propaganda. The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame"—a term coined by mayor Willy Brandt—while condemning the Wall's restriction on freedom of movement. Along with the separate and much longer Inner German border (IGB), 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 radical political changes occurred in the Eastern Bloc, associated with the liberalization of the Eastern Bloc's authoritarian systems and the erosion of political power in the pro-Soviet governments in nearby Poland and Hungary. 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.

How the Fall of the Berlin Wall Radicalized Putin - The Daily Beast Rules Of Power How the Fall of the Berlin Wall Radicalized Putin In 1989, as East Germany collapsed around him, a KGB spy in Dresden named Vladimir Putin came to some hard conclusions about power and its paralysis—lessons that would later inform his bellicose geopolitics. Masha Gessen 11.09.14 10:45 AM ET Just when the Putins left the Soviet Union, that country began to change drastically and irrevocably. Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in March 1985. Two years later, he had released all Soviet dissidents from prison and was beginning to loosen the reins on Soviet bloc countries. The KGB leadership as well as its rank and ﬁle perceived Gorbachev’s actions as disastrous. Over the next few years, a chasm would open up between the Party and the KGB, culminating with the failed coup in August 1991. Watching the changes from afar, surrounded by other secret police ofﬁcers—and no one else—Putin must have felt a hopeless, helpless fury.

Back home, KGB leadership was pledging loyalty to the secretary general and his planned reforms. In June 1989, the head of the KGB in Leningrad issued a public statement condemning secret-police crimes committed under Stalin. In East Germany, as in the Soviet Union, people were beginning to come out into the streets to protest, and the unthinkable was quickly beginning to look probable: the two Germanys might be reunited—the land Vladimir Putin had been sent here to guard would just be handed over to the enemy. Everything Putin had worked for was now in doubt; everything he had believed was being mocked. This is the sort of insult that would have prompted the agile little boy and young man that Putin had been to jump the offender and pound him until his fury had subsided. Middle-aged, out-of-shape Putin sat idle and silent as his dreams and hopes for the future were destroyed. In the late spring and early summer of 1989, Dresden faced its ﬁrst unsanctioned gatherings: handfuls of people collecting in public squares, ﬁrst protesting the rigging of local elections in May and then, like the rest of Germany, demanding the right to emigrate to the West.

In August, tens of thousands of East Germans actually traveled east—taking advantage of the lifting of travel restrictions within the Soviet bloc—only to descend on West German embassies in Prague, Budapest, and Warsaw. A series of Monday-night protests began across the cities of East Germany, growing bigger every week. East Germany shut its borders, but it was too late to stem the tide of both emigrants and protesters, and an agreement was ultimately brokered to transport the Germans from east to west. They would travel by train, and the trains would pass through Dresden, the East German city closest to Prague. Indeed, ﬁrst the empty trains would travel through Dresden on their way to pick up the nearly eight thousand East Germans who were occupying the West German embassy in Prague. In the early days of October, thousands of people began to gather at the train station in Dresden—some of them carrying heavy luggage, hoping somehow to hitch a ride to the West, others simply there to witness the most astonishing event in the city’s postwar history. The crowds met with all the law enforcement Dresden could gather: regular police were joined by various auxiliary security forces, and together they threatened, beat, and detained as many people as they could. Unrest continued for several days.

On October 7, Vladimir Putin’s thirty-seventh birthday, East Germany celebrated the ofﬁcial fortieth anniversary of its formation, and riots broke out in Berlin; more than a thousand people were arrested. Two days later, hundreds of thousands came out across the country for another Monday-night demonstration, and their numbers more than doubled two weeks later. On November 9, the Berlin Wall fell, but demonstrations in East Germany continued until the ﬁrst free elections in March. On January 15, 1990, a crowd formed outside the Stasi headquarters in Berlin to protest the reported destruction of documents by the secret police. The protesters managed to overcome the security forces and enter the building. Elsewhere in East Germany, protesters began storming Ministry of State Security buildings even earlier. Putin told his biographers that he had been in the crowd and watched people storm the Stasi building in Dresden. “One of the women was screaming, ‘Look for the entrance to the tunnel under the Elbe River! They have inmates there, standing up to their knees in water.’ What inmates was she talking about? Why did she think they were under the Elbe?

There were some detention cells there, but, of course, they were not under the Elbe.” Putin generally found the protesters’ rage excessive and bewildering. It was his friends and neighbors under attack, the very people with whom he had lived and socialized—exclusively—for the last four years, and he could not imagine any of them were as evil as the crowd claimed: they were just ordinary paper-pushers, like Putin himself. When the protesters descended on the building where he worked, he was outraged. “I accept the Germans’ crashing their own Ministry of State Security headquarters,” he told his biographers a dozen years later. “That’s their internal affair. But we were not their internal affair. It was a serious threat. And we had documents in our building. And no one seemed to care enough to protect us.” The guards at the KGB building must have ﬁred warning shots—Putin said only that they demonstrated their will to do whatever was necessary to protect the building—and the protesters quieted down for a time. When they grew riotous again, Putin claimed, he himself stepped outside. “I asked them what they wanted. I explained that this was a Soviet organization.

And someone in the crowd asks, ‘Why do you have cars with German license plates? What are you doing here, anyway?’ Like they knew exactly what we were doing there. I said that our contract allowed us to use German license plates. ‘And who are you? Your German is too good,’ they started screaming. I told them I was an interpreter. These people were very aggressive. I phoned our military representatives and told them what was going on. And they said, ‘We cannot do anything until we have orders from Moscow. And Moscow is silent.’ A few hours later, our military did come and the crowd dispersed. But I remembered that: ‘Moscow is silent.’ I realized that the Soviet Union was ill. It was a fatal illness called paralysis. A paralysis of power.” His country, which he had served as well as he could, patiently accepting whatever role it saw ﬁt to assign him, had abandoned Putin. He had been scared and powerless to protect himself, and Moscow had been silent. He spent the several hours before the military arrived inside the besieged building, shoving papers into a wood-burning stove until the stove split from the excessive heat.

He destroyed everything he and his colleagues had worked to collect: all the contacts, personnel ﬁles, surveillance reports, and, probably, endless press clippings. Even before the protesters had chased the Stasi out of their buildings, East Germany began the grueling and painful process of purging the Stasi from its society. All of the Putins’ neighbors not only lost their jobs but were banned from working in law enforcement, the government, or teaching. “My neighbor with whom I had become friends, spent a week crying,” Ludmila Putina told her husband’s biographers. “She cried for the dream she had lost, for the collapse of everything she had ever believed. Everything had been crushed: their lives, their careers. . . . Katya [Ekaterina, the Putins’ younger daughter] had a teacher at her preschool, a wonderful teacher—and she was now banned from working with children. All because she had worked for the Ministry of State Security.” Twelve years later, the incoming ﬁrst lady of post-Soviet Russia still found the logic of lustration incomprehensible and inhumane. The Putins returned to Leningrad.

They carried a twenty-year-old washing machine given to them by their former neighbors—who, even having lost their jobs, enjoyed a higher standard of living than the Putins could hope to attain back in the USSR—and a sum of money in U.S. dollars, sufﬁcient to buy the best Soviet-made car available. This was all they had to show for four and a half years of living abroad—and for Vladimir Putin’s unconsummated spy career. The four of them would be returning to the smaller of the two rooms in the elder Putins’ apartment. Ludmila Putina would be reduced to spending most of her time scouring empty store shelves or standing in line to buy basic necessities: this was how most Soviet women spent their time, but after four and a half years of a relatively comfortable life in Germany, it was not only humiliating but frightening. “I was scared to go into stores,” she told interviewers later. “I would try to spend as little time as possible inside, just enough to get the bare necessities—and then I would run home. It was terrible.” Could there have been a worse way to return to the Soviet Union?

Sergei Roldugin, Putin’s cellist friend, remembered him saying, “They cannot do this. How could they? I see that I can make mistakes, but how can these people, whom we think of as the best professionals, make mistakes?” He said he would leave the KGB. “Once a spy, always a spy,” his friend responded; this was a common Soviet saying. Vladimir Putin felt betrayed by his country and his corporation—the only important afﬁliation he had ever known, outside his judo club—but the corporation was ﬁlled with people who increasingly felt betrayed, misled, and abandoned; it would be fair to say this was the KGB’s corporate spirit in 1990. Reprinted from The Man Without a Face by Masha Gessen by arrangement with Riverhead Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, Copyright © 2012 by Masha Gessen. READ THIS LIST The Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989 The Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989 On the 9th of November, 1989, the Border separating Western from Eastern Germany was effectively opened.

The following days were most unusual for the whole of Germany - considering the usual German ways, one could almost speak of anarchy: Shops stayed open as long as they wanted (the usual, mandatory closing time was 6:30pm in 1989), a GDR passport served as a free ticket for public transport, and in general there were more exceptions than rules in those days. Of course, Berlin was in the focal point of these changes. The Fall of the Berlin Wall, which will always be used as a symbol for the end of the Cold War, made the "West" available in the middle of the "East", resulting in widespread chaos. Later - much later - normality took hold again. Later, the bickering started, and later, there was talk of a "wall in the heads". But during the November of 1989, almost everyone was overwhelmed by happiness - a national and emotional exception. The 9th of November was a Thursday in 1989, and I was still at school. But on Friday, I managed to get a seat on a flight to Berlin, and I stayed there for the weekend.

I didn't get back before Monday noon, and by that time I had missed a test in History - but what History teacher wouldn't accept the excuse I had? I don't have much of a story to tell (others have done that already); I only want to publish the raw material I've collected. There are about 60 photographs (they can be downloaded in resolutions up to 3072x2048) which I shot on that weekend, and in addition there are over 70 articles from German newspapers (November 13 and 14). Most of the articles are available in their original German and in a translated or at least summarized English version, but some still lack translation. If you feel that you can translate something from German to English, just pick one of the articles that doesn't have a translation and do it - I'll gladly put your translation up here on my site, with credits and all. Have fun! Photo tours For a start, I suggest you take my small three-piece Day tour which contains a selection of the best photos and links to some newspaper articles. There's also a list of readers' comments on what I've written. Lists

Question: Fall of the Berlin Wall.
Answer: 1989