History

Bau der Mauer

The construction of the Berlin Wall

Around 2.7 million people left the GDR and East Berlin between 1949 and 1961, causing increasing difficulties for the leadership of the East German communist party, the SED. Around half of this steady stream of refugees were young people under the age of 25. The construction of the Berlin Wall

Luftbild Lenne-Dreieck 1989

Exchanges of territory

As a result of the Four-Power Agreement of 3 September 1971, the West Berlin Senate and the government of the GDR agreed to exchange territory in three separate cases. Exchanges of territory

Weiße Kreuze am Spreeufer

Victims of the Wall

Well over 100,000 citizens of the GDR tried to escape across the inner-German border or the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1988. Victims of the Wall

Maueröffnung

The opening and fall of the Wall

At the end of a press conference in the early evening of 9 November 1989, shortly before 7:00 p.m., Central Committee member Günter Schabowski made a more or less casual announcement of a new travel regulation for GDR citizens. The opening and fall of the Wall

Geschichtsmeile Berliner Mauer

Berlin Wall History Mile

The Berlin Wall History Mile is a permanent exhibition in four languages. At 30 different stations along the Wall Trail inside the city, it tells the story of Berlin’s division, the construction of the Wall, and how the Wall fell. Berlin Wall History Mile