Berlin Wall Timeline

By Jin & Celin

AUG 13, 1961 | Trying to stop the growing numbers of people leaving, Walter Ulbricht orders the construction of the Berlin Wall. Early August 13, East German troops and workers begin stringing barbed wire and setting up barriers that will eventually become the Berlin Wall. 2 days later concrete appears. The wall surrounding Berlin will extend 165 km (100 miles). Berlin is now a divided city and East Berlin is a prison from which its citizens can not escape.

Aug. 15 1961 Conrad Schumann, a 19-year-old East German border guard, was the first person photographed escaping to West Germany. About 10,000 people attempted escapes, and 5,000 succeeded.

Aug. 24 1961 Gunter Litfin, a 24-year-old tailor's apprentice, was the first person shot dead trying to escape.

Aug. 17 1961 Peter Fechter, 18, was shot while trying to escape. He became an icon of the brutality of the wall because he fell on the border strip on the east side in view of West German authorities, but neither they nor bystanders were allowed to assist him. He died where he fell

June 26, US president John F. Kennedy makes his now famous Berlin speech in front of the Schöneberg City Hall in the western half of the city: “All free men, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.’”

1966: East German authorities order stricter border controls with additional wall segments and barbed wire to foil escapes after negotiations for freer crossings break down.

1974-1976: A second wall is built behind the original wall deeper inside East German territory, including touch sensitive fencing with weapons mounted at anyone who touched the fence.

May 2nd, 1989: Hungary disables the electric alarm system and cuts through barbed wire on its border with Austria.

September 10th 1989: Hungary reopens its border with East Germany, allowing 13,000 East Germans to escape through Austria.

November 9th, 1989:during an evening news conference, an East German government spokesman mistakenly announces that citizens of the German Democratic Republic will now be permitted to travel without restrictions — effective immediately. (The announcement was supposed to be held until the next day.) Unaware of this sudden change in policy, border guards are overwhelmed by crowds of East Berliners who want to cross into West Berlin. The Berlin Wall finally falls.