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Berlin Wall

  • East German (Soviet) soldiers began building the Berlin Wall
    • Started construction at 13th August 1961 2pm
  • Barbed wire then concrete wall
  • Lasted 1961-1989
  • Spanned through East and West Berlin for 27 miles
  • The only checkpoints avaliable for everyone to enter East Berlin was Checkpoint Charlie

  • The Berlin wall was constructed to:
    • Prevent Germans fleeing to the West
    • Stop crossing between the East and West
    • Prevent voting with their feet (literally), therefore bulit 3.6m high

  • This left families divided
  • Berliners unable to go to work, chaos and confusion insued
  • Border control used violence
  • Peter Fechter first killed trying to cross the wall
  • Roughly 140 people killed for trying to cross the wall