Fall of the Berlin Wall

Built in 1961 by the East German government to prevent the flight of citizens to the West, the Berlin Wall became a symbol of the separation of Western democracies and Eastern Communist governments. The oppressive regime of Ernst Honecker (1912 - ) with the use of the Stasi (secret police) and a continued economic downturn (which occurred through most of Eastern Europe) provoked popular unrest in East Germany. By 1988 there was once again mass flight from East Germany and by 9 November 1989 the entire border was opened. The Berlin Wall became a site of celebration and its destruction a symbol of the unification of the two German states.

Source:Alexandra Avakian, Woodfin Camp and Associates in William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spelvogel, World History (New York: West Publishing, 1994), p. 1046.