All pictures of people chipping away at the wall show people hitting graffiti covered walls. The eastern side of the wall had no graffiti on it. This image of people in West Berlin hitting the wall is often said to be East Berliners breaking out. Many collected souvenirs with chisels and some television stations filmed people hitting the wall with sledge hammers. Millions of East German citizens celebrated the opening of the wall.
A mistake by the press officer meant the border was opened several hours before it should have been. In November, 1989, the Central Committee of East Germany decided to make it easier for East Germans to pass through the wall. Honecker had predicted in January 1989 that the wall would stand for a "hundred more years" if the conditions which had caused its construction did not change. The long-time leader, Erich Honecker, resigned and was replaced by Egon Krenz a few days later. In October 1989 mass demonstrations against the government in East Germany began. Hungary opened its border and people from East Germany began moving to the west through Hungary. After he said that, several countries began to change the way they governed their people. In the late 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev said that the Soviet Union would not use the Red Army to stop the people of Eastern and Middle Europe from changing their government. They used many methods to get around the guards and barbed wire on the Berlin Wall. People still tried to escape even though the Berlin Wall was there. They said that West Germany refused to recognize East Germany as an independent country because they wanted to take over North-East Germany just like Hitler took over Poland. But the Soviets and East German government said it was to keep capitalism out. The wall was built to keep the country's people in. To stop this, on August 13, 1961, the Communist government of East Germany built a wall separating East and West Berlin. In Berlin alone, 3.6 million people fled to the west. What led to the building of the wall Īfter Germany split into West and East Germany on May 8, 1949, 2.6 million East Germans left to go to West Germany. Europe, Germany and Berlin were divided by an iron curtain.
East Germany ( German Democratic Republic, Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) was founded on October 7, 1949. The Soviet zones were made into East Germany and East Berlin. On May 8, 1949, the French, United Kingdom and US zones were made into West Germany ( Federal Republic of Germany, Bundesrepublik Deutschland, BRD) and West Berlin. Its capital Berlin was also divided into four zones, so that it was an enclave, like an island inside the Soviet zone. Zones of Occupied Germany after the Second World WarĪfter World War II ended, Germany was divided into four zones, one zone for each of the main Allied countries: France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union. It was built to prevent people from escaping from the eastern half of Berlin. The Berlin Wall was about 168 kilometres (104 miles) long. The Berlin Wall was taken down on November 9, 1989. Many people believed it was a symbol of the Cold War. It separated the eastern half from the western half. The Berlin Wall ( German: Berliner Mauer) was a wall that separated the city of Berlin in Germany from 1961 to 1989. Anti-vehicle trenches length: 105.5 km (65.6 mi).Concrete segment of wall length: 106 km (66 mi).
Concrete segment of wall height: 3.6 m (11.8 ft).Border length through residential areas in East Berlin: 37 km (23 mi).Border length between West and East Berlin: 43.1 km (26.8 mi).Border length between West Berlin and East Germany: 111.9 km (69.5 mi).Border length around West Berlin: 155 km (96 mi).