Berlin is the Capital city of Germany and acts as one of the 16 German States.Current Population 3.45 million.
After WWII, the city became divided into two areas: East Berlin: the capital of East GermanyWest Berlin: A west German exclave surrounded by the Berlin Wall.
The Berlin wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) started in August 1961 (announced at 4pm on August 12). It completely cut of West Berlin from the surrounding East Germany & East Berlin.It was erected to protect the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-WWII period. Prior to 1961, over 2.6 million East Berlinians escaped to West Berlin. Life in West Berlin was much better due to due to help from the USA to European countries combat the Soviet Union to despite Germanys involvement in WW2.
The commencing of the wall took place in about 1961 and 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. In 1989 the first free labor union was founded in the communist Poland. The end of the communist system had begun.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 BornholmerStrasse 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.
The Berlin Wall was a symbol of the Cold War and separation of Germany and Berlin.For more than 30 years tourists also came to Berlin to view the Berlin Wall.Today tourists will be disappointed about the Berlin Wall as a tourist attraction. In Berlin only a few sections of the former Berlin Wall and some watch towers still exist and it's to be expected that even more of these Berlin Wall sections on original places will disappear within the next years.