The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 so that to divide West Berlin from East Berlin, thus dividing West Germany from East Germany. The demolition of the wall started in 1990 and ended in 1992. The idea which the German Democratic Republic officials had in mind when building the wall was to protect the citizens as well as to build the so-called ‘democratic state’ in East Germany. In practice, the Berlin Wall prevented massive emigration.
The Berlin Wall symbolizes the division of east from West that was created during the Cold War. Thus, it was a physical symbol of the emotional and political divisions of Germany. The wall ran through public areas, parks and even buildings. Tons of families were separated and could not see each other for years. Yet, it is vital to highlight that the Wall could not stop people from trying to have freedom. To specify, a lot of people were trying to get to the other part of the barrier and approximately eight hundred people died while doing so. Some the attempts to escape were really dramatic as people tried to crawl through mud, used sewers to get to the other side, leaped from windows or swam through the icy waters of the city’s river.
Taking everything into account, the period of having the Berlin wall is one of the most dramatic ones in the history of the country. Families were divided. The Wall created international crises, to say nothing of the fact that tons of gangsters and criminals emerged. Yet, the Berlin Wall also helped to produce heroes who found ways to reunite families back together as well as elude communism.