The Berlin Wall was erected in the night of August 13

THE BERLIN WALL

The Berlin Wall was erected in the night of August 13, 1961. It was a weekend and most Berliners slept while the East German government begun to close the border. In the early morning of that Sunday most of the first work was done: the border to West Berlin was closed. The East German troops had begun to tear up streets and to install barbed wire entanglement and fences through Berlin.

    The first concrete elements and large square blocks were used first on August 15, 1961. Within the next months the first generation of the Berlin Wall was build up: a wall consisting of concrete elements and square blocks.

    A second Wall was built in June 1962 in order to prevent from escaping to the West. The first Wall was improved during the next years and it's difficult to distinguish between the first and the second generation of the Wall.

    These two first generations were removed by the third generation beginning about 1965. The third generation of Wall consisted of concrete slabs between steel girder and concrete posts with a concrete sewage pipe on top of the Wall. From the year 1975 the third generation of Wall was replaced by the fourth generation. New concrete segments were used which were easy to build up and were more resistant to breakthroughs and to environmental pollutions.

Basic Facts (at the time of July 31, 1989)
--Total border length around West Berlin: 96 mi / 155 km
--Border between East and West Berlin: 27 mi / 43.1 km
--Border between West Berlin and East Germany: 69 mi / 111.9 km
--Border through residential areas in Berlin: 23 mi / 37 km
--Concrete segment wall: 3.6m (11.81 ft.) high, 66 mi / 106 km
--Wire mesh fencing: 41 mi / 66.5 km
--Anti-vehicle trenches: 65 mi / 105.5 km
--Contact or signal fence: 79 mi / 127.5 km
--Column track: 6-7 m (7.33 yd) wide, 77 mi / 124.3 km
--Number of watch towers: 302
--Number of bunkers: 20
--Persons killed on the Berlin Wall: 192
--Persons injured by shooting: ca. 200

Berlin Wall system

The system of the Berlin Wall at the end of the 70s
From right to left:

1 - East Berlin
2 - Border area
3 - Backland Wall
4 - Signal fence
5 - Different kind of barriers
6 - Watch towers
7 - Lighting system
8 - Column track
9 - Control track
10 - Anti-vehicle trenches
11 - Last Wall, known as the "Wall"
12 - Border
13 - West Berlin

The whole border area was on the territory of East Berlin/East Germany. The border between East and West Berlin was after the last Wall. This last Wall is known as the Berlin Wall. However, the Berlin Wall was a complex system of walls, fences, watchtowers and barriers The area between the Backland Wall (3) and the Last Wall (11) was the so-called death strip. The document is an original document of the East German border troops.

CHECK POINT CHARLIE
Checkpoint Charlie 1974 Ten days after closing the border on August 13, 1961 tourists from abroad, diplomats and the military personnel of the Western Powers were only allowed to enter East Berlin via the crossing point at Berlin Friedrichstrasse. Soon the US military police opened the third checkpoint at Friedrichstrasse. The other two checkpoints were Helmstedt at the West German-East German border and Dreilinden at the West Berlin and East Germany border. Based on the phonetic alphabet the Helmstedt checkpoint was called Alpha, Dreilinden checkpoint Bravo and checkpoint at Friedrichstrasse got the name Charlie.
The main function of the checkpoint was to register and inform members of the Western Military Forces before entering East Berlin. Foreign tourists were also informed but not checked in the West.The German authorities in West and East Berlin were not allowed to check any members of the Allied Military Forces in Berlin and in Germany.
Checkpoint Charlie was removed on June 22, 1990. The former Allied guardhouses are now located in the Allied Museum.
A copy of the American guardhouse was erected on the original place on August 13, 2000. The East German watch tower at Checkpoint Charlie was demolished by the property owner.

ESCAPE ATTEMPTS

Tunnel Escapes
In an attempt to escape and gain access to West Berlin a large network of tunnels were built. They were dug mostly by college students but many people used them. The first known successful tunnel was dug in a grave yard. People brought flowers to a grave and pretended to mourn. Then they would drop out of sight and would never be seen on that side of the wall again. This tunnel was found after a woman accidentally dropped into the tunnel and left her baby in a carriage on top. The tunnel was then sealed off. The most successful tunnel was in a basement of a house at 60 Westerstrasse. There were 29 people freed from this location alone.

Flying over the Wall
Some people even tried to fly over the wall. The families of Wetzels and Strlzycks bought small amounts of nylon cloth. The buying of the cloth secretly and in small amounts didn't raise any suspicion.

When they had enough cloth they sewed it together to form a hot air balloon. They had just enough fuel to get in the air and just floated over the wall. They reached West Berlin in a few hours. Due to this attempt the purchase of light weight cloth was strictly controlled.

Climbing over the Wall
At first a large number of people were climbing over the wall with little trouble. The government in East Berlin then outlawed the sale of rope and twine. One of the most well know people who tried to get over was Peter Fetcher, age 18, who tried to climb over the wall on August 17, 1962. He was shot and left to bleed to death. This caused a outcry from the press throughout the world. Over 5,000 people tried to escape by climbing over the wall. About 100 died in the process, most were shot. The last person to get killed trying to climb the wall was Chris Gueffroy.

General Berlin city map, 1961
based on a map published in "Unser Berlin", Paul List Verlag, 1961

Berlin City Map with Berlin Wall