Berlin Wall

The German Democratic Republic found in East Germany created a wall on August 13, 1961 in effort to keep the Western Germans out of East Germany. They were afraid that they would come in and destroy the Eastern socialist state.

The wall was constructed of concrete that was twelve feet tall and four feet wide. On top laid a large pipe to make climbing over extremely difficult.

The “Death Strip” was located on the East German side. Here laid floodlights, dogs, machine guns, and soldiers that would attack when they saw an escapee.

Even though it was hard for people to cross the wall, more than 5,000 East Germans succeed. At least 171 people were killed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/07/berlin-wall-escape-stories_n_6090602.html

East Berlin decided on November 9, 1989 that citizens were now able to cross the wall. This came as the Cold War began to stop in Eastern Europe. Over two million people from the East came and visited people in West Berlin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fK1MwhEDjHg