On August 13 1961, work began on the Berlin Wall. On 23 August, no citizens could pass between East and West Berlin.
Before the wall, movement was simpler. The wall had started out as a line.
East German border guard Conrad Schumann leaps into the French Sector of West Berlin over barbed wire on August 15, 1961, by Peter Leibing
German painters mark British-Russian border line at Potsdamerplatz in Berlin, Aug. 21, 1948. British military police watch from background. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.8635890
Date: 21/08/1948
There two walls made of paving stons, bricks, glass, concete blocks and a row of terraced houses in Bernauer Strass. These walls were on either side of a corridor and a trench, a ‘no man’s land’ that bwcame known as the ‘death zone’. trench was also dug to prevent escape by vehicle. The walls were constructed not only of purpose-built concrete blocks topped with barbed wire or glass but also paving stones from the streets.
West Germans look over the fence between West and East Germany, near Vacha on Jan. 2, 1958, at three members of the East German Communist Peoples Police. A visitor found the zonal border much harder to cross than it was 10 years ago. Millions of Germans cross in both directions legally every year, often to visit friends and relatives on the other side. (AP Photo) PA-9301491
West Berliners at right watch East German construction workers erect a wall across Wildenbruchstrasse and Heidelbergerstrasse in West Berlin in August 1961. Built with barbed wire and concrete, The Berlin Wall, stretching for about 30 miles, was a Cold War symbol which separated East and West Berlin, preventing people from leaving East Germany. It stood for 28 years as a division between the Soviets and the Allies. The wall was torn down after Communism collapsed in 1989. (AP Photo) PA-3389209
In November 1958, Nikita Khrushchev issued an ultimatum to the Western powers to make West Berlin a ‘demilitarised free’ city. Although Khrushchev gave them six months to reach an agreement on how this was to be done, the deadline lapsed. The Western powers met in Geneva, Paris (May 1960) and Vienna (June 1961) to solve the looming crisis.
Evacuees were moving from East Germany to the West. Khrushchev decided to shut the East-West Berlin border for good.
Still people tried to esc ape to the West. People jumped from buildings to be caught by waiting crowds, others dug tunnels or swam across the River Spree. A couple (with their baby) drove a lorry through Checkpoint Charlie. One smashed a stolen army lorry through the wall itself.
The border guards would make a run for it.
The post and barbed wire fence separate East and West Germany near Fulda on July 28, 1959. A sign reading Halt, Zone Border warns the unwary that this is the end of freedom. The U.S. 7th Army, guarding a part of the Iron Curtain against possible Communist aggression, is operated like a front line outfit during a lull in the fighting. It maintains a constant alert and no more than 15 per cent of its men are permitted on leave at any one time. (AP Photo) PA-9301521
In this Aug. 1961 file photo, an East German worker lays some of the first stone blocks of the Berlin Wall, shortly after the border between East and West Berlin was sealed. Berlin begins remembrance celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. (AP Photo, File) PA-10965091
The Brandenburg Gate from West Berlin on August 13, 1961. (AP Photo) PA-15245359
East German soldiers, left, set up barbed wire barricades August , 13, 1961 at the border seperating Berlin, Germany, to restrict the travel between the eastern and western part of the German city. West Berlin citizens, right, watch the work. (AP Photo) PA-2512728
An East German couple is turned away from the border, blocked by East German soldiers and barbed wire, after trying to cross into West Berlin, Aug. 13, 1961. To stem the flow of refugees to the West, East Germany closed the border to all citizens and residents, except those with a special police permit. (AP Photo/Edwin Reichert) PA-7614174
East German tanks are lined up at Warschauer Bridge in Berlin, Germany on August 13, 1961. Crossing points between East and West Berlin were heavily guarded after Communists prevented East Germans from crossing into the West sector in an effort to stop heavy flow of refugees. (AP Photo)PA-9301523
This Aug. 1961 file photo shows the Brandenburg Gate from the West Berlin side of the Berlin Wall. Berlin begins remembrance celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. (AP Photo, File) PA-10965095
In this Aug 13, 1961 b/w file picture members of the East German military remove paving blocks on Friedrich Strasse in East Berlin August 13, 1961 as East Germany tightened the border crossing, between East and West Berlin. AP Photographer Peter Hillebrecht was on assignment in Berlin as the construction of the Berlin Wall starts on Aug. 13, 1961 and he was one of the first photographers to cover this historic event. When the wall was first built, nobody knew what was going to happen next. Many people were afraid that the wall would serve as a provocation and turn to the Cold War into a hot one.(AP Photo) PA-11383560
In this Aug 13, 1961 b/w file picture members of the East German military remove paving blocks on Friedrich Strasse in East Berlin August 13, 1961 as East Germany tightened the border crossing, between East and West Berlin. AP Photographer Peter Hillebrecht was on assignment in Berlin as the construction of the Berlin Wall starts on Aug. 13, 1961 and he was one of the first photographers to cover this historic event. When the wall was first built, nobody knew what was going to happen next. Many people were afraid that the wall would serve as a provocation and turn to the Cold War into a hot one.(AP Photo) PA-11383560
In this Aug. 13, 1961 b/w file picture two men only dress with their swimming trunks are covered with blankets and smoking a cigarette after they manged to flee across the high security border seperating Berlin to the West at a refugee camp in West Berlin Marienfelde swimming across the river Spree. AP Photographer Peter Hillebrecht was on assignment in Berlin as the construction of the Berlin Wall starts on Aug. 13, 1961 and he was one of the first photographers to cover this historic event. When the wall was first built, nobody knew what was going to happen next. Many people were afraid that the wall would serve as a provocation and turn to the Cold War into a hot one. (AP Photo/Peter Hillebrecht) PA-11383567
Workers protected by East German police mix concrete to build walls along the sector dividing East and West Berlin August 18, 1961. (AP Photo)PA-9275511
East German build cinder block wall in East Berlin as the divided city continued in stage of unrest August 18, 1961. (AP Photo)PA-92755201
West Berliners at right gather at barrier between east and West Berlin August 18, 1961, watching movements of East German Police. (AP Photo)
PA-92757441
East German National People’s Army soldiers man an unfinished part of the Berlin Wall on August 18, 1961 at the town’s sector division in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Fritz Reiss) PA-11324430
Blocking the church – Two East German workers working on a huge 15 feet hight Wall put pieces of broken glass on the top to prevent East Berliners from escaping. (AP-Photo/Kreusch) 22.8.1961 PA-2512752
Stone wall doesnt stop curious West Berliners from viewing the Eastern part of the city. Communists put up wall to keep people in the Eastern sector. Wooden boxes, used by the couple at left to overcome height of problem in Berlin August 28, 1961. (AP Photo/Worth)
PA-9275541
The Reichtag Parliament building in West Berlin on Sept. 5, 1961. The building gutted by fire in 1933 is being rebuilt. Barbed wire in front belongs to fence around Soviet War Memorial which was surrounded with the wire by British troops after the closing of the sector border to prevent possible demonstrations by West Berliners. (AP Photo) PA-127441181
The East Berlin authorities have put their emblems on small flags on the concrete wall at the Invalidenstrasse crossing point between the British and Russian sector border in Berlin on Sept. 9, 1961. On the brick wall flying a flag of the East German FDJ (Free German Youth). Soviet Sone flag is ment to symbolize the state border of the GDR in Berlin right. (AP Photo/E.Reichert)
West Berliners, at right, talk with East Berlin policemen through the barbed wire fence at the border in Germany in Sept. 1961. Other Communist officers bring new posts to reinforce the barrier in East Berlin’s Wildenbruchstrasse. A cement block wall and additional barbed wire fence mark the border in the background, cutting a tragic dividing line through the heart of the city. (AP Photo)
Near Wiener Brucke in kreuzberg district East Berliners sitting on a warm summer day on benches and others were waving to friends in West Berlin on Sept. 6, 1961. Foreground two peopleÂs policemen on guard behind barbed wire. Here itÂs the sector border between the American and soviet sector. (AP Photo/E. Reichert)
Ref #: PA.9300254
Date: 06/09/1961
Border situation West Berliners looking and waving to friends living in East Berlin at formerly wiener bridge in Kreuzberg district Sept. 6, 1961. (AP Photo/E. Reichert) PA-9300255
An East Berlin policeman puts bricks in place as the Berlin Wall is heightened to 15 feet, 5 m, separating East and West Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 9, 1961. People watch from their apartment building windows in background above. (AP Photo)
(AP) Dramatische Flucht aus dem Grenzhaus. – Mit ihrem Gepaeck konnten in der Nacht zum 10 September 1961 zwoelf Ostberliner – eine vierkoepfige Familie mit ihren Angehoerigen – aus dem ersten Stock eines an der Sektorengrenze stehenden Hauses fliehen. Unter dem Vorwand einer Familienfeier hatten sie sich in der Grenzwohnung versammelt, den zum Osten fuehrenden Eingang des Treppenhauses verbarrikadiert und sich dann nacheinander an einem Seil in den Westsektor hinabgelassen. Volkspolizisten mussten ausdem Nachbarhaus untaetig zuschauen, da sich auf dem Buergersteig etwa 60 Westberliner versammelt hatten, und sie daher nicht zu schiessen wagten. Unser AP-Photo zeigt eine Frau, die soeben den Westberliner Boden erreicht, nachdem sie sich aus demFensterdes Ostberliner Hauses heruntergelassen hate. (AP-Photo)10.9.1961
East German soldier carries a big roll of barbed wire along the border separating the British and Soviet sectors of Berlin August 21, 1961. Additional wire and barriers were placed along the two-mile line on August 21 as the British reinforced positions along it on receiving word that the communists had moved in additional men and material. (AP Photo)PA-92757471
An East Berlin policeman puts bricks in place as the Berlin Wall is heightened to 15 feet, 5 m, separating East and West Berlin, Germany, on Sept. 9, 1961. People watch from their apartment building windows in background above. (AP Photo)
West Berliners, at right, talk with East Berlin policemen through the barbed wire fence at the border in Germany in Sept. 1961. Other Communist officers bring new posts to reinforce the barrier in East Berlin’s Wildenbruchstrasse. A cement block wall and additional barbed wire fence mark the border in the background, cutting a tragic dividing line through the heart of the city. (AP Photo) PA-8683445
West Berliners, with their backs to camera, watch East Berliners unload prefabricated concrete plates to reinforce the Berlin Wall at Wilhelm St. in Berlin, Germany on Sept. 12, 1961. The sector border is being reinforced with roadblocks on every street leading into West Berlin in order to prevent further escapes by trucks. (AP Photo/Worth) PA-8642359
East Berlin Police, behind concrete wall, spray water on area where East Germans escape into West Berlin on Sept. 14, 1961. In foreground are West Berlin fireman who aided in the escape of East Berliners. Wall was erected by East Berlins authorities to slow down escape activities. (AP Photo)
PA-9301518
At sector border Sebastian Strasse where the American sector borders the Soviet East Berlin workers erecting strong street lights behind the concrete border wall in Berlin Sept. 19, 1961. This measure was taken to make better lighting conditions for East German police men guarding the border. (AP PhotoE.Reichert) PA-9300251
East German border police, background, watch as repairs are made to the Berlin Wall following a small collapse, Sept. 22, 1962. (AP Photo/Peter Hillebrecht) East German border police, background, watch as repairs are made to the Berlin Wall following a small collapse, Sept. 22, 1962. (AP Photo/Peter Hillebrecht)
Communist police began a mass evacuation of people living in East Berlin apartment houses that border on West Berlin. Scores of East Berliners have escaped to the west from the windows of these houses since the communists built their wall through their city. Behind concrete wall with barbed wire east Berliners removing their furnitures in Berlin Sept. 20, 1961. You are leaving the American sector. (AP Photo/Reichert) PA-9275546
East Berlin workers started to reinforce the concrete walls at sector border in Berlin Sept. 25, 1961. Here is a long wall at sector border Zimmer Strasse with new steel bars connected with barbed wire. In the left the east sector of Berlin. (AP Photo/E.Reichert) PA-9300221
Communist East German police were reinforcing the wire entanglements which for some time have been fencing in the tiny enclave of Steinstuecken, a part of West Berlin in Berlin oOct. 1, 1961. The communists are also clearing a strip some 600 feet running along the fences. East German soldier climbing up tree to place rope around for felling. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9275743
Date: 01/10/1961
In the foreground, French Military Police, left, West Berlin alert police, right, and West Berlin custom officials are on guard in front of the concrete wall on the western side of the Berlin Wall in the French sector near Schoenholz, Germany, on Sept. 27, 1961. In the background behind the concrete wall and barbed wire fence are East Berliners working on cable. Beyond them East German soldiers guard the border. (AP Photo) PA-3389218
East Berliners use a crane to place concrete glass on wall along border between East and West Berlin Sept. 28, 1961. View of Zimmerstrasse near the Friedrichstrasse crossing point in the divided city. (AP Photo) PA-9300217
East Berliners use a crane to place concrete glass on wall along border between East and West Berlin Sept. 28, 1961. View of Zimmerstrasse near the Friedrichstrasse crossing point in the divided city. (AP Photo)
PA-9300216
An East Berlin soldier secures a steel bar to hold the barbed wire atop the Berlin Wall on sector border in Berlin near Friedrichstrasse in Germany on Sept. 30, 1961. The Communists are tightening border security as a result of repeated escapes in this area to the West by East Germans. (AP Photo) PA-8635257
East German soldiers work on a second layer of the Berlin Wall at the allied Checkpoint Charlie crossing near the Friedrichstrasse in the year 1964. East Germany’s Communist official built the wall to stop an exodus to West Germany, and it became a symbol of the differences between East and West. (AP Photo) PA-2512704
East Berlin laborers work on Death Strip which communist authorities created on their side of the border in the divided city on Oct. 1, 1961. A double barbed wire fence marks the border, with West Berlin at right. In this view of the area on September 23 laborers level rubble of houses which, just days before, stood on the site close to the border. Buildings along the 25-mile dividing line were evacuated and razed by Berlin reds to eliminate one means of escape used by East Berliners to jump to the west. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9300656
Date: 01/10/1961
Communist East German police were reinforcing the wire entanglements which for some time have been fencing in the tiny enclave of Steinstuecken, a part of West Berlin in Berlin oOct. 1, 1961. The communists are also clearing a strip some 600 feet running along the fences. East German soldier climbing up tree to place rope around for felling. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9275743
Date: 01/10/1961
A West Berlin guard stands in front of the concrete wall dividing East and West Berlin at Bernauer Strasse as East Berlin workmen add blocks to the wall to increase the height of the barrier, Oct. 7, 1961. (AP Photo) PA-3389235
Typical of East Berlin measures to halt the escape of refugees to the West are these bricked-up windows in an apartment house along the citys dividing line in Berlin on Oct. 6, 1961. The house, on the south side of Bernauerstrasse, is in East Berlin. The sidewalk and street in the foreground are in West Berlin . (AP Photo/Eddie Worth) PA-9301512
Typical of East Berlin measures to halt the escape of refugees to the west are these bricked-up windows in an apartment house along the citys dividing line on Oct. 6, 1961. The house, on the South side of Bernauerstrasse, is in East Berlin. The sidewalk and street in the foreground are in West Berlin. (AP Photo) PA-9300614
Nailed together planks are placed into position by East Berlin soldiers as they labor to reinforce trench (foreground) along the East-West border of Berlin at Neukoelln-Baumschulenweg in the southern part of the city on Oct.9, 1961. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch)
PA-9301508
East German soldiers sharpen wooden stakes as they rush work to reinforce trench along Berlins East-West border at Neukoelln-Baumschulenweg in the southern part of the city on Oct. 9, 1961. Barbed wire fence on the border is in the foreground. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch) PA-9301499
This Oct. 16, 1961 file photo shows a refugee from the German Democratic Republic (DDR) during his attempt to escape from the East German part of Berlin to West Berlin by climbing over the Berlin Wall. (AP Photo/File) PA-7923794
West German police wearing British machine guns which they were provided with for the first time stand in front of the Brandenburg Gate, near the sector border in Berlin, Germany on October 23, 1961. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch) PA-11324454
West Berliners watch the incidents at the U.S. Army checkpoint at the Friedrichstrasse where an American car and two sightseeing buses were barred entry by Communist East Berlin police, in Berlin on Oct. 25, 1961. (AP Photo) West Berliners watch the incidents at the U.S. Army checkpoint at the Friedrichstrasse where an American car and two sightseeing buses were barred entry by Communist East Berlin police, in Berlin on Oct. 25, 1961. (AP Photo)
West Berliners watch the incidents at the U.S. Army checkpoint at the Friedrichstrasse where an American car and two sightseeing buses were barred entry by Communist East Berlin police, in Berlin on Oct. 25, 1961. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.9301503
Date: 25/10/1961
US soldiers sitting on a tank eat their lunch at the Friedrich Strasse border checkpoint on October 27, 1961 in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Kurt Strumpf)
Ref #: PA.11324459
Date: 27/10/1961
U.S. Army tanks, foreground, at Checkpoint Charlie, and Soviet Army tanks, opposite, face each other in the most dangerous of several crises at the Friedrichstrasse checkpoint in Berlin during the Cold War, Oct. 28, 1961. The armor remained in position for more than 16 hours at one of the few crossing points in the wall that divided Communist East Berlin and West Berlin. The Russians retreated to a ruined royal palace while the Americans moved to a bombed site. (AP Photo/Kreusch) PA-7608487
A bazooka squad of U.S. Military Police man a rooftop position on Oct. 29 1961, near the Friedrich Strasse border. The position is atop a hut some 200 yards from East German border guards, seen beyond sign indicating edge of American sector in West Berlin. (AP Photo)
Ref #: PA.8646525
Date: 29/10/1961
East Berlin workers erect a wooden screen atop the concrete Berlin Wall along the border between East and West Berlin near Bernauer Strasse, Germany, on Nov. 3, 1961. (AP Photo)
East German workmen guide crane lowering concrete block into position to make wall in front of Brandenburg Gate in East Berlin on Nov. 19, 1961. At left, armed East German soldiers watch the proceedings. Communists turned out hundreds of workmen all along wall dividing Berlin in what looked like a final effort to complete wall after three months of work. Workmen didnt arrive on scene until after nightfall and worked under floodlights. (AP Photo) PA-9300621
Behind wall at border Stresemann and Kothener Strasse East German soldiers erecting tetrahedrons tank barriers made of streetcar tracks in Berlin Nov. 20, 1961. Background three American soldiers looking over the wall into West Berlin. (AP Photo/ Kreusch) Behind wall at border Stresemann and Kothener Strasse East German soldiers erecting tetrahedrons tank barriers made of streetcar tracks in Berlin Nov. 20, 1961. Background three American soldiers looking over the wall into West Berlin. (AP Photo/ Kreusch)
A tank barrier built from a double row of street car tracks stretches along the East Berlin side of the border Nov. 20, 1961 after an all- night effort by construction gangs under guard of armed red troops. The workers also reinforced the concrete wall dividing east and west sectors of the city. (AP Photo/Kreusch)
PA-9300263
West Berlin police stand guard behind barbed wire along the new 250-yard massive concrete wall at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, Germany, on Nov. 23, 1961. Beyond the wall Communists pull down fibre board screen behind which building of operations took place. The material used for the screen can be seen loaded into the truck on other side of the concrete barrier. (AP Photo)PA-8661390
The Brandenburg Gate is shrouded in fog as a man looks from a watchtower over the Wall to the Eastern part of the divided city on November 25, 1961 in Berlin, Germany. The tower was erected by the West German police to observe the Inner-German border. (AP Photo/Heinrich Sanden Sr.) PA-11324538
U.S. soldiers with automatic weapons stand behind sandbag barricade within few yards of East German soldiers assembled in front of workers adding to the wall at the Friedrich Strasse border crossing point in Berlin on Dec. 4, 1961. Communist authorities sent workers to several points along the wall on the East-West Berlin border, narrowing the gaps at the crossing points to restrict border passage. (AP Photo/Kreusch)
PA-9300202
East Berlin peoples police patrol the Bornholmer Bridge on the French-Soviet sector border Dec. 4, 1961 where a steel tank trip now spreads across part of the East German hammer and compass emblem appears in background as East Germanys communist Government worked to narrow the seven crossing points between East and West Berlin, by concrete walls and other methods, leaving small passages for traffic pass. (AP Photo/E.Worth)
PA-9300620
Behind a shield of Communist troops, East German Laborers add to the wall on the East-West Berlin border at the boundary of the French sector in the divided city Dec. 4, 1961. Sign at right marks the border. A crane is used to help workers place a concrete form on the wall near Chausseestrasse. (AP Photo) Behind a shield of Communist troops, East German Laborers add to the wall on the East-West Berlin border at the boundary of the French sector in the divided city Dec. 4, 1961. Sign at right marks the border. A crane is used to help workers place a concrete form on the wall near Chausseestrasse. (AP Photo)
Formidable concrete walls took shape under the toiling hands of workers from communist East Germany at the seven crossing points between East and West Berlin on Dec. 4, 1961. The new walls were some seven-foot high and five-foot thick. Only small passages for traffic were left open by the communists. These were just wide enough to let a truck through. In center of the Bornholmer Bridge (French/Russian sector border) is behind steel tank traps a big sign showing the East German emblem hammer and compass. (AP Photo/E.Worth) PA-9300654
A West German policeman in the foreground left, watches a long row of East German National People’s Army soldiers guard construction workers in the background, narrowing a border crossing at the sector border wall at Friedrich Strasse on Monday, December 4, 1961 in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo)
PA-11324438
Western observers watch at East Berlin workmen, behind a line of East German troops, push construction of the concrete wall, dividing the Russian-controlled sector of Berlin from the West. Scene is at Chausseestrasse in the French sector Dec. 7, 1961. Sign reads End of French Sector. (AP Photo)
PA-9300657
Wall with barbed wire was set up by the West German refugee organization in front of the railway station in Schwerte, Germany on Dec. 13, 1961. It is to symbolize the situation in the divided city of Berlin. The sign at the wall reads Today in Berlin — Tomorrow here. (AP Photo) PA-9301495
Lighted Christmas trees stand at the Heinrich Heine Strasse checkpoint in Berlin on Dec. 22, 1961. The East German wall, topped with barbed wire, runs up the center of the picture. Behind the wall, at right, in East Berlin, is a barbed wire fence, then a row of anti-tank obstacles. More than 800 Christmas trees have been set up by West Berliners along the wall. They are lighted at dusk everyday. (AP Photo) PA-9300616
The Brandenburg Gate is sealed off in the Soviet-occupied sector of East Berlin. Located at the center of the German capital, the gate stands behind part of the Berlin Wall that divides East and West Berlin. PA-2637687
Backed up by barbed wire and tank barriers, an East German police officer stands guard while a bricklayer repairs damage to the Berlin Wall near Bernauer Strasse, May 26, 1962. The wall was damaged by several explosions overnight. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch)
PA-3389263
A high wall of concrete blocks, topped with barbed wire, divides Sebastian Strasse in the Kreuzberg district of Berlin, Germany. To the left is the American sector and beyond the wall to the right is the Russian sector.
PA-2637686
This is a view of the red brick wall on the border between East and West Berlin in Germany. The Communists have added a wooden fence to impede a clear view into the Communist East Berlin zone. At left, West Berlin police armed with automatic weapons patrol along the wall. PA-2637664
West Berlin police restrain a demonstrator at Berlin’s Bernauer Strasse border point as rioting crowds vent their anger against the Communist-built wall that divides east and west Berlin on the first anniversary of its erection on Aug. 13, 1962. Police reinforcements repeatedly drove the screaming demonstrators back from the wall, which divides Berlin with stone, steel, barbed wire and military fortifications. (AP Photo)
PA-3389217
West Berlin youths carrying a black cross with the slogan “We Accuse” are driven back from the sector border wall by tear gas from grenades fired by East German border guards near Wilhelmstrasse, Berlin, on Aug. 13, 1962. The protest marks the first anniversary of the Berlin Wall. (AP Photo)
PA-3389216
The 13th of August 1962 will be an anniversary which marks the final cementation of the German division into parts. It was on August 13, 1961 when the East German communists started to set up a wall between east and West Berlin, thus closing the last big escape hole in the iron curtain between east and West Germany. Since then the reds were busy in reinforcing this Berlin border replacing the first barbed wire-obstacles by brick walls, later setting building up a second wall, which mainly is made of big concrete blocks. While before August 13, 1961 thousands of refugee shad fled into the free west via Berlin daily, now only a few dozen or less succeed in escaping across this border.
Here, a view into East Berlin from the (West Berlin) Siegessaule (Victory Column) on July 27, 1962. In front is the Brandenburg Gate, followed by the Marx-Engels Platz, Communist East Berlins main parade ground, and the tower of the red city hall. At left is the dome of the old Evange-Lical cathedral (AP Photo/Frye) PA-9275755
Wall anniversary: Thousands of armed men stood guard on both sides of the Berlin wall, Germany, on August 13, 1962, the first anniversary of the day the communists started building it. Both sides were set to prevent an emotional build-up that could lead to dangerous incidents. Here at Bernauer Strasse, West Berliners wave to relatives in East Berlin. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch) Wall anniversary: Thousands of armed men stood guard on both sides of the Berlin wall, Germany, on August 13, 1962, the first anniversary of the day the communists started building it. Both sides were set to prevent an emotional build-up that could lead to dangerous incidents. Here at Bernauer Strasse, West Berliners wave to relatives in East Berlin. (AP Photo/Werner Kreusch)
Would you like to support Flashbak?
Please consider making a donation to our site. We don't want to rely on ads to bring you the best of visual culture. You can also support us by signing up to our Mailing List. And you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For great art and culture delivered to your door, visit our shop.
