THE BERLIN WALL
East
West
The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier built by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) that completely enclosed the city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany, including East Berlin.
The Berlin Wall was officially referred to as the "Anti-Fascist Protection Wall" by the communist GDR authorities, implying that neighboring West Germany had not been fully de-Nazified. The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the Wall of Shame – a term coined by Willy Brandt – while condemning the wall's restriction on freedom of movement.
After several weeks of local civil unrest following a radical series of Eastern Bloc political changes associated with the liberalization of the Bloc's authoritarian systems and the erosion of the political power of the pro-Soviet governments in nearby Poland and Hungary, the East German government's Günter Schabowski announced on November 9, 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of East Germans climbed onto and crossed the wall, joined by West Germans on the other side in a celebratory atmosphere. Over the next few weeks, parts of the wall were chipped away by a euphoric public and by souvenir hunters; industrial equipment was later used to remove almost all of the rest. The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.
