• Please share its history in a one page summary including its origins and its dramatic ending.

http://userpage.chemie.fu-berlin.de/BIW/wall.html

This site is a credible site that only provides the facts instead of opinions. It covers information on the background, construction of the wall, measurements, the fall, and a memorial of the wall. The Berlin Wall was created to separate a democratic West Berlin and a communist East Berlin. They did this because Berlin was a focus of Cold War tension. On October 27 1958, the Soviets had delivered their Berlin ultimatum, demanding that the western allies should withdraw their troops from West Berlin and that West Berlin should become a "Free City" within six months. If the people did not get out of West Berlin before they said they could be stuck there forever. Then finally early in the morning of Sunday, August 13, 1961 the GDR started to set up barbed wire and antitank obstacles to blockade the east from the west. Everything connecting east and West Berlin was cut off or stopped.

The border area was strong and reinforced. First, there was a wall which was made up of concrete segments with a height of 4 m, usually with a concrete tube on top of it. Behind it, on the "eastern" side, there was an illuminated control area, also called the death area. Refugees who had reached that area were shot without warning. A trench followed which should prevent vehicles from breaking through. Then there was a patrol track, a corridor with watchdogs, watchtowers and bunkers, and a second wall. It was impossible to get through and that was well known. Sadly, at least 100 people were killed at the Berlin Wall.

In 1989, after many huge events such as big demonstrations in Leipzig the leader of East Berlin's communist party Günter Schabowski, said in somewhat unclear words that the border would be opened for "private trips abroad". Shortly after this many important dates took place. On November 10, demolition works began with the aim of creating new border crossings. On November 12, a checkpoint at the Potsdamer Platz was opened, and on December 22, a checkpoint for pedestrians was opened at the Brandenburg Gate. So-called "wall woodpeckers" hammered pieces out of the wall, many of which were sold as souvenirs. A few larger segments were officially donated or sold.

Eventually the wall was destroyed and a huge celebration took place. On February 1997, because of the huge effect that the Berlin Wall had on the people, a red line was painted on the pavement at the former "Checkpoint Charlie" to mark the course of the former Berlin wall. The on August 13 1998, a wall memorial was inaugurated at the Bernauer Strasse. It consists of a remainder of the Berlin wall with a length of 70 m, provided with slits in the inner wall and steel sheets at the ends. This memorial is so that people will hopefully never forget what happened and never make such a mistake again.