The Berlin Wall fell in 1989, beginning the end of Germany’s division.
East Germany built the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961 to stop people from leaving East Berlin and the country’s socialist system. The barrier divided streets, neighborhoods, transport routes, and families. It became the most visible symbol of the Cold War confrontation between the Soviet-aligned East and the Western powers.
On 9 November 1989, an East German official, Günter Schabowski, announced new travel rules and mistakenly suggested that they took effect immediately. Crowds gathered at border crossings, and guards eventually opened the gates. Berliners then climbed onto the wall and began dismantling sections of it.
The wall’s opening did not instantly reunite Germany. Formal reunification followed on 3 October 1990, after negotiations involving East and West Germany and the four Allied powers that had occupied Germany after World War II. Small sections of the wall remain as memorials and open-air galleries.