Berlin Wall

Photo Essay
 Time Line for Berlin Wall
• May 8, 1945 World War II is over and Berlin is divided into 4 sectors: the
American, British, French in the West and the Soviet in the East.
• June 30, 1946 At the instigation of the Soviet Military administration the
demarcation line between East and West Germany is safeguarded.
• May 24, 1949 Federal Republic of Germany is founded (West Germany)
• October 7, 1949 German Democratic Republic is founded (East Germany)
• May 26, 1952 Border between East and West Germany and between East
Germany and West Berlin is closed. Only the border between East and West Berlin is
still opened.
• December 11, 1957 Leaving East Germany without permission is forbidden and
violations are prosecuted with prison up to three years.
• August 26, 1961 All crossing points are closed for West Berlin citizens
• June 26, 1963 President John F. Kennedy visits Berlin and says: “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
(I am a Berliner)
• June 12, 1987 President Ronald Reagan visits Berlin and urges Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
• November 9, 1989 The wall is breached by citizens on either side.
• October 3, 1990 Germany is reunited.
Berlin Wall

section of the wall

that separated West
Germany (the
Federal Republic of
Germany) from East
Germany (the
Democratic Republic
of Germany) which
was part of the
Soviet Block.
300,000 people
illegally left East
Berlin before the
wall was built in
1961.
East German Guard escapes through the
first barbed wire wall.
Building the Berlin Wall – 90 miles of
reinforced concrete began in 1961
Kennedy at
the Berlin
Wall - 1963
 Checkpoint Charlie

One of the few streets remaining through the Berlin Wall. It was
guarded by East Germans on one side and Americans on the
other.
Monuments to those shot trying to escape to
West Berlin
 Another Wall

In 1976 East German Border Troops begun to

erect a new type of Wall in Berlin, the so-
called 'Border Wall 75'. This concrete Wall was
3.60 meter (11.81 ft) high and painted white.
Although painting was not allowed on the East
Berlin side, many artists begun to paint on the
Western side of the Wall beginning of the
1980s.
The Berlin Wall – East Side – West Side before
the wall is town down.
Keith Haring painted a section of the wall in 1986
 The Wall Falls

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, a euphoric
public and souvenir hunters chipped away parts
of the wall; the governments later used industrial
equipment to remove most of the rest.
The day the wall fell – November 9, 1989
 Painting the Wall
• While the west side of the wall had been covered with
paintings and graffiti, the east side was not accessible to
the population.
• After most of the wall was torn down over 100 artists
from around the world were invited to paint the largest
remaining section of the wall, known as the East Side
Gallery, in 1990.
• In 2009, the artists still alive were invited back to repaint
their art work, which had faded and chipped over the
past 20 years.
• The 1,300 meters (1,500 yards) of concrete are covered
with images related to freedom or the history of the
artificial East/West isolation.
Berlin Wall - East Side Gallery – 1989 & 2009
East Side Gallery
 East Side Gallery

Susanne Kunjappu-Jellinek, West-Berlin

September 1998
Thierry Noir, France, West-Berlin September 1998
 East Side Gallery

Dimitrij Vrubel, Soviet Union, May 1997 Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev kissing his East
German counterpart, Erich Honniger. "God, help me survive this deadly love" reads the
East Side Gallery

Birgit Kinder East Germny, September 1998

20th Anniversary Berlin Wall “Dominos”
20th Anniversary Berlin Wall “Dominos”
Construction in Potzdamer Platz
Potzdamer Platz - after WWII
Potzdamerplatz - the wall and “no man’s land”
Line in the ground showing location of
wall
Potzdamerplatz 2010
END