Dimensions / Weight

Dimensions: 16.54" H x 14.17" W x 2.25" D

General History

The Berlin Wall was erected in the night of 13 August 1961. It was a Sunday and most Berliners slept while the East German government began closing the border between East and West Berlin. The East German troups tore up streets and installed barbed wire and fences through Berlin. Concrete blocks came first and within months a wall of concrete 12 feet high and 103 miles long was finished. For 28 years, East Germans tried to escape to West Berlin. Between 400 and 800 people died trying to flee. In the summer of 1989, Hungary allowed East Germans to travel through their country on their way to Austria and West Germany. On 9 November 1989 news spread that there would no longer be restrictions on travel in either direction. Citizens on both sides of Germany began to demolish the wall. The government did not interfere. In 1990 East Germany reunited with West Germany as one nation, the Federal Republic of Germany.