Berlin Wall Memorial research identified 140 people as having died at the Berlin Wall.
The figure of 140 refers to people who died in connection with the border system while attempting to cross, or in circumstances directly related to it, according to the research project associated with the Berlin Wall Memorial. The total includes people shot by East German border guards, people killed in accidents during escape attempts and some other documented cases.
The number is often confused with larger totals that include different categories. Some counts add East German guards killed in incidents, people who died at the wider inner-German border, or people who died after being intercepted. Other sources use earlier estimates created before archival research was complete.
The documented deaths occurred between the wall’s construction in 1961 and its fall in 1989. The victims included men, women and children, and their stories are commemorated at sites including the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Straße.