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Berlin Wall

The Iron Curtain

After the Second World War, East Germany built a 167-kilometer-long Berlin Wall on the border between the two German states, which was not opened until 1989. The East Side Gallery, the Berlin Wall Memorial Park and the Topography of Terror are three of the major remnants of the Berlin Wall.

At the end of the Second World War, when Germany split into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), the GDR built a 167.8-kilometer-long Berlin Wall along the border between the two countries to prevent people from fleeing to West Germany.

Since its construction in August 1961, the Berlin Wall has been an unbridgeable barrier between East and West Germany. There are land and water checkpoints at important junctions, the most famous one of which is Checkpoint Charlie. It is estimated that between its construction in 1961 and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, at least 136 People Were Killed Trying to Cross the Berlin Wall.

Checkpoint Charlie

Best-known Berlin Wall Crossing Point

Checkpoint Charlie began in 1961 as a border post between East and West Germany during the Cold War and was dismantled after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990. The rebuilt Checkpoint Charlie is a popular tourist attraction in Berlin, where visitors can pay to have their picture taken with actors dressed in American military uniform.

There are three well-preserved sections of the Berlin Wall in Berlin: the East Side Gallery, the Berlin Wall Memorial Park, and the Topography of Terror Documentation Center, which vary in length from 200 meters to more than 1 kilometer.

East Side Gallery is located between the Oberbaum Bridge and Berlin’s East Railway Station, the 1.3-kilometer-long section of Berlin Wall is covered with over a hundred politics related graffiti artworks. The most impressive one is The Fraternal Kiss based on a photo of Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker.

East Side Gallery

When Graffiti Arts Meet Berlin Wall

The East Side Gallery, 1.3 kilometer long, is the best-preserved section of Berlin Wall. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1990, artists from different countries have created more than 100 works on this section of the wall, which is now the most popular art exhibition area in Berlin.

In the Berlin Wall Memorial Park on Berlin’s Bernauer Straße, a watchtower, as well as searchlights and lampposts, have been preserved intact. Visitors here can experience the famous Death Strip of the Berlin Wall.

Berlin Wall Memorial

High Walls, Barbed Wires and Watchtowers

A 200-meter-long section of the Berlin Wall remains in Berlin's Bernauer Straße, along with watchtowers, lampposts and ruins, which are collectively known as the Berlin Wall Memorial Park, together with the nearby Berlin Wall Memorial, Documentation Center, Chapel of Reconciliation and others.

Topography of Terror Documentation Center is a museum built on the site of the former Nazi Gestapo and SS headquarters, with detailed photographic and audio records, plus a nearby 200 Meters Long Berlin Wall , making it a great place to learn about Berlin’s history.

Topography Of Terror Documentation Center

Gestapo and SS Headquarters

The Topography of Terror is a Berlin museum of Nazi crimes committed during the Third Reich, built on the site of the former headquarters of the Nazi Gestapo and SS. Including a 200-meter-long section of the Berlin Wall and the remains of buildings.

In addition to the above three major protected areas of the Berlin Wall, there are also a number of scattered remnants of ruins in the streets of Berlin, such as The Berlin Wall Covered by Chewed Gums at Potsdamer Platz. For those who are interested in the Cold War and the history of Germany, you may want to explore more of the Berlin Wall ruins, and be pleasantly surprised.