Berlin Wall

Brief information

The Berlin Wall was not a single wall, but a system of two walls with a guarded strip between them. From the outside, people usually saw only the nearest side, so the image of one solid concrete barrier became fixed in memory. In reality, it was a complex of fortifications around West Berlin: fences, a restricted zone, patrol roads, watchtowers, and devices designed to stop escapes.

After 1989, almost the entire complex was demolished, but a separate 1.3-kilometer section was left as a memorial. Even before the fall, the western side of the outer wall had become a surface for graffiti: it was this side that turned a military structure into a recognizable urban symbol. This contrast matters: the bright murals belong to the side that could be approached from the West, while the eastern part remained part of the closed border zone.

What to notice first

It makes sense to look at the wall as a device, not as a flat concrete line. The late-type concrete segments had cylindrical barriers on top: their shape did not decorate the structure, but made it harder to climb over. Behind the inner wall on the East Berlin side there were a metal mesh fence with a silent alarm, anti-tank obstacles or spikes, a patrol road, and a wide strip of sand that was leveled so footprints could be seen.

At the memorial on Bernauer Strasse, the connection to the street itself is important. The border ran in such a way that the houses stood in the eastern sector, while the sidewalk beside them belonged to the western one; as a result, windows facing West Berlin were later bricked up. The “Window of Remembrance,” made of rusted steel with black-and-white photographs of those who died, recalls that here the dangerous element was not only the wall, but also an ordinary house facade.