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Berlin Wall, Berlin

Where the Wall used to pass... - Berlin
Where the Wall used to pass...
by polardabar
Berlin Wall tips and photos posted by real travelers and Berlin locals.
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Berlin Wall: Remains of the wall
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  • Gerrem
  • By Gerrem on August 28, 2005
  • Berlin Page by Gerrem
  • Remains of the wall - Berlin
    Remains of the wall
    by Gerrem
    After the second world war, defeated Germany was divided up into 4 parts: an American, British, French and Soviet occupation zone. Berlin was also divided into 4 sectors. In 1948, the Soviet authorities tried to annex the whole city and started a blockade of the US, British and French sectors. The plans failed due to the Berlin Airlift, and in May 1949 the blockade was lifted. That same year, the Soviet part of Germany became the German Democratic Republic (GDR) with East Berlin as its capital. The other zones became the Federal Republic of Germany with the capital Bonn. The western part of Berlin became a separate enclave surrounded by East Germany. Until 1961, East Germans could move freely between the Western and Eastern parts of Berlin. But many East Berliner were attracted by the more prosperous West, and by 1961 up to 20,000 East Germans a month flocked to West Berlin. On August 12, 1961 the East German authorities decided to close the border around the Western sectors of Berlin in order to prevent people from fleeing. Officially, it was an antifascist protection barrier to defend the East against Western aggression. The next day, early morning August 13, West Berlin was surrounded by barbed wire. Traffic at the border was halted and the underground and S-bahn connecting the different sides of the city were put out of operation. Over time, the barbed wire was replaced by a 3.6m high wall. Along the Wall's east side ran a 'death zone', an area controlled by guards. A total of 293 watch towers and 57 bunkers were built along the 155km long border. The guards were given the order to shoot at escapees. As a result 192 people were killed in an attempt to cross the border. .. Finally on November 9, 1989, travel restrictions were lifted. Shortly after, border gates opened and people flooded into West Berlin.

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    Berlin Wall: A new Wall for the Wall in Niederkirchnerstraße
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  • Kakapo2
  • By Kakapo2 on January 4, 2008
  • Berlin Page by Kakapo2
  • A fence protects the Wall near Martin-Gropius-Bau - Berlin
    A fence protects the Wall near
    Martin-Gropius-Bau
    by Kakapo2, 1 more photos
    When you walk between Checkpoint Charlie and Martin-Gropius-Bau along the “Topographie des Terrors” you will notice that the former Wall that separated East and West Berlin has got a kind of new wall – a massive metal fence. This separates the Wall from souvenir hunters who have broken big chunks out of the historic concrete slabs, leaving gaping holes. Before this piece of history would have been totally destroyed and carried into all parts of the world, this protection measure was put in order.

    The most-liked parts of the Wall were the parts with graffiti. The western side of the Wall was said to be the world’s longest gallery. Many artists painted their works onto the four metre high concrete slabs.

    You see some great examples of Wall art some metres further in front of the world’s largest helium balloon, and a souvenir shop.

    (On photo 2 you can see a gaping hole in the Wall, damaged by souvenir hunters.)

  • Address: Niederkirchnerstraße, Berlin-Kreuzberg
  • Directions: At walking distance from Potsdamer Platz and Checkpoint Charlie U-Bahn U2, stations Potsdamer Platz and Mohrenstraße S-Bahn S 1, 2 and 25, stations Potsdamer Platz and Anhalter Bahnhof
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    Berlin Wall: Berlin Wall - along Bernauer Strasse
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  • yooperprof
  • By yooperprof on December 6, 2004
  • Berlin Page by yooperprof
  • Cold War Divide - Berlin
    Cold War Divide
    by yooperprof
    This was one of the most notorious stretches of the Wall. Originally, there was a line of apartment blocks on the eastern side of Bernauer Strasse, but after the wall went up these buildings were used as conduits for escape, so the East German authorities had them dismantled and replaced with a lethal "death zone" of guard towers and machine gun emplacements.

    If you are fortunate, you'll visit this section of the Wall on a gray and dismal day in November. (I did.) I hadn't planned upon the weather, but it was certainly appropriate for the milieu.

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    Berlin Wall: The Berlin Wall
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  • Mariajoy
  • By Mariajoy on June 5, 2007
  • Berlin Page by Mariajoy
  • Remnant of the Wall - Berlin
    Remnant of the Wall
    by Mariajoy, 1 more photos
    Aug 1961 - Oct 1989.

    In between years the city was divided - East and West Berliners were cut off from their jobs, friends, and family overnight (unless they were of retirement age when they were able to travel freely.)

    There now are a few remaining sections left as a kind of memorial. But only a very few, ie around 40 meters or so. If you look in the road on 17 Juni Strasse around the Brandenburg gate you will see a line of red brick embedded in the tarmac - this red line represents where the wall stood for 28 years.

    During the four years I lived in Berlin in the early 70's, I was frequently taken on school trips and family trips to see The Wall - and will always remember the sad little memorials placed alongside it, for the East Berliners who had been shot whilst attempting to escape.

    Check the website for an indepth history.

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  • Address: Berlin
  • Directions: Central
  • Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
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    Berlin Wall: Looking for the wall
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  • Luchonda
  • Updated By Luchonda on September 2, 2006
  • Berlin Page by Luchonda
  • Parts of the wall - Berlin
    Parts of the wall
    by Luchonda,
    3 more photos
    Berlin – a City I always will remember as THE divided city in Europe and
    witness/ result of the second world war tragedy.
    I once visited Berlin when I was a student ( so a long time ago) and never will forget the Wall – separating East and West - keeping the western Germans out of the “Democratic” Republic, and keeping the eastern Germans far away from Liberty.

    But – now that I revisited Berlin and maybe strange to say – you will find hardly
    a piece of stone from this previous divider. Except on touristic places – but even there .. i have my serious doubts if it is a real touristic trap or not
    Maybe it is better this way ...

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  • Address: Check Point Charly
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    Berlin Wall: Berlin Wall Documentation Centre
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  • alancollins
  • Updated By alancollins on August 3, 2008
  • Berlin Page by alancollins
  • Museum - Berlin
    Museum
    by alancollins, 4 more photos
    Some guides tell you this museum is not as popular as some of the others like Checkpoint Charlie because it is not as central; do not be fooled. The museum which is free, documents the history of the wall with photographs and films. It is extremely moving as you watch the film and the desperate attempts of escape. There is a tower attached to the museum where you can look down on the wall and no mans land. You can walk by the wall and touch it. There is information across the road on a piece of waste land regarding the competition held to create an extension to the museum in a new building. The winning entry should be completed in the next few years.

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  • Address: Bernauer Strasse 111, 13355 Berlin
  • Phone: ++49 (0) 30 / 464 10 30
  • Directions: Sign posted from the railway station.
  • Website: http://www.berliner-mauer-dokumentationszentrum.de/index_e.html
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    Berlin Wall: Berliner Wall
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  • Kuznetsov_Sergey
  • By Kuznetsov_Sergey on February 3, 2006
  • Berlin Page by Kuznetsov_Sergey
  • Berliner Wall - Berlin
    Berliner Wall
    by Kuznetsov_Sergey, 3 more photos
    We passed along the kept site of the Berlin wall on Mulhenstrasse. It was constructed during one night on August, 13th, 1961 to prevent flights of east Germans to Western Germany. Till this moment about two hundred thousand people run away . The length of a wall was 161 kilometer. 45 kilometers divided east and western zones of Berlin. The wall was double. Nearby two hundred persons were lost, trying to get over through it to the Western Berlin. On November, 9th, 1989 the wall has fallen. After association of Germany in 1990 the wall was almost completely destroyed, except for that site by which we pass . In 1991 artists from 28 countries of the world ornamented it and transformed into a wall-gallery. Its fragments are interesting to former Soviet citizens with the kissing Brezhnev's and Honecker images, Gorbachev's and Saharov's portraits.

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    Berlin Wall: Mauer Park, easy and free, see the Wall
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  • dlandt
  • By dlandt on December 6, 2006
  • Berlin Page by dlandt
  • The divided graveyard - Berlin
    The divided graveyard
    by dlandt, 4 more photos
    Mauer Park is a preserved section of the Berlin wall with a museum and viewing platform across the street. Inside the museum you can see historical videos and read or buy books and pamphlets in just about any language. Me, I had enough of that in school, but it was interesting to see the park itself. The last time I'd been to Berlin sections of the wall still stood but had a very mundane character. This was a little different in that when they chose to make the park, they chose one of the most histoircal and best viewed sections. For instance, in the picture you will see the famous graveyard which was cut in two by the wall. You can also enter the park and see what the wall looked like from the eastern side, no graffiti or anything fun like that. The platform gives you an idea what the wall might have looked like from a sentry's point of view.

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  • Directions: Bernauerstr.
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    Berlin Wall: Berlin Wall - view of the "death zone"
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  • yooperprof
  • By yooperprof on December 8, 2004
  • Berlin Page by yooperprof
  • urban blight? - Berlin
    urban blight?
    by yooperprof
    The East German authorities removed all buildings along the Bernauer Strasse stretch of the wall: apartment blocks, shops, and even a nineteenth century church, which was solemnly demolished in the middle of the 1980s. On the site of the church, which is smack dab In the middle of the "death zone," a contemporary "Chapel of Reconcilation" has been constructed - a simple but profound gesture of healing for the spiritual as well as physical wounds which the wall brought about.

    The picture was taken from the observation tower at the Wall Documentation Center.

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    Berlin Wall: Berlin Wall trace
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  • der_geograf
  • By der_geograf on December 29, 2003
  • Berlin Page by der_geograf
  • Trace of the former Berlin Wall - Berlin
    Trace of the former Berlin
    Wall
    by der_geograf
    Although the Wall came down in 1989, you can still see the trace of the former boundary along its former route.

    The trace is characterized by either different-colored concrete, or a dual line of bricks placed in the ground, with plaques that read "Berliner Mauer 1961-1989" placed periodically along it.

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  • Directions: Anywhere along the former Wall boundary (Behind the Reichstag, in front of the Brandenburger Tor, and along Friedrichstrasse are all good places to see it.)
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