Berlin Wall Construction Begins (1961)
In the early hours of August 13, 1961, East German soldiers began stringing barbed wire along the border between East and West Berlin, beginning the construction of the Berlin Wall. The barrier would grow over the next decade into a fortified death strip nearly 100 miles long, dividing a city, a country, and a continent for 28 years.
The Hemorrhage
Since the end of World War II, approximately 3.5 million East Germans — roughly 20% of the population — had fled to the West. The rate was accelerating: more than 2,000 people were crossing from East to West Berlin each day in the summer of 1961, many of them young, educated professionals that East Germany could not afford to lose. The East German economy was faltering while West Germany boomed. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and East German leader Walter Ulbricht had been pressing to close the border for years. The open border in Berlin was the one major gap in the Iron Curtain — elsewhere, the borders between East and West were already sealed. Ulbricht famously told a press conference in June 1961 that "no one intends to build a wall," which was essentially confirmation that a wall was being planned. Kennedy administration officials, watching the refugee numbers, privately concluded that the East Germans would have to act soon.
Did You Know?
The night before construction began, East German soldier Conrad Schumann was photographed leaping over the brand-new barbed wire into West Berlin — one of the Cold War's most iconic images. He lived in West Germany for the rest of his life but struggled with guilt over abandoning his comrades and his family. He died by suicide in 1998.
Operation Rose
In the early morning hours of August 13 — a Sunday, when border crossings were typically quiet — East German combat engineers began laying barbed wire along the 156-kilometer border around West Berlin, under the protection of armed soldiers. Telephone lines between East and West Berlin were cut. Metro lines were severed. Within days, concrete blocks and then concrete slabs replaced the wire. West Berliners woke to find their city encircled. The Western powers — the United States, Britain, and France — protested vigorously but took no military action. Kennedy reportedly said privately that "a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war." The initial wire fence evolved over the following years into a sophisticated fortification: two parallel concrete walls with a "death strip" between them containing watchtowers, searchlights, tank traps, trip-wire machine guns, and guard dogs.
Twenty-Eight Years and the Fall
At least 140 people were killed attempting to cross the Berlin Wall over its 28-year history — shot by guards, drowned in canals, or killed in escape attempts. Thousands made successful crossings through tunnels, hidden car compartments, and daring jumps. President Kennedy visited West Berlin in June 1963 and declared "Ich bin ein Berliner" before a crowd of hundreds of thousands. President Reagan stood at the Brandenburg Gate in June 1987 and demanded "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." On November 9, 1989, a miscommunicated East German announcement that the borders were being opened brought thousands of Berliners to the wall's checkpoints. Guards, overwhelmed and without orders, stepped aside. The wall was opened. Within days, crowds were taking it apart with hammers. Germany was formally reunified on October 3, 1990.