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When The Wall Went Up: Berlin 1961

Updated
Germany is marking the 60th anniversary of the start of construction on the Berlin Wall, which split the nation into two rival political systems and became a symbol of the Cold War that stood for 28 years.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller on August 13 attended a ceremony in Berlin marking the anniversary. Steinmeier called the wall’s construction "the beginning of the end” for the communist government in East Germany.

"August 13, 1961, was a fateful day for us Germans and for the world," Steinmeier said, referring to the day construction began. "And a day that destroyed dreams and hopes, that separated children from parents, grandchildren from grandparents, that intervened painfully and sorrowfully into the lives of countless individual people."

Steinmeier and Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller placed wreaths at the Berlin Wall Memorial for the estimated 140 people who were killed by East German border guards as they tried to flee to the West from communist East Germany.

All of the photographs in this gallery were culled from the RFE/RL archives at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California.

(Gallery originally published on November 6, 2014)
East German troops were prominently deployed following the division of East and West Berlin on August 13, 1961.
1 East German troops were prominently deployed following the division of East and West Berlin on August 13, 1961.
East German police patrol a temporary, prefabricated section of the Berlin Wall. After midnight on August 13, East German troops began erecting what Communist East German leader Walter Ulbricht called an "anti-fascist protection barrier." Two months earlier, on June 15, he had declared: "Nobody intends to build a wall."
2 East German police patrol a temporary, prefabricated section of the Berlin Wall.

After midnight on August 13, East German troops began erecting what Communist East German leader Walter Ulbricht called an "anti-fascist protection barrier." Two months earlier, on June 15, he had declared: "Nobody intends to build a wall."
A section of the temporary wall snaking through Berlin. In the first week of the division of Berlin, East German authorities erected a barbed-wire fence, laid concertina wire, and mounted heavily armed patrols. The construction of the real wall would begin in the next week or so.
3 A section of the temporary wall snaking through Berlin.

In the first week of the division of Berlin, East German authorities erected a barbed-wire fence, laid concertina wire, and mounted heavily armed patrols. The construction of the real wall would begin in the next week or so.
An East German armored car patrols the zonal border between East and West Berlin in mid-August 1961.
4 An East German armored car patrols the zonal border between East and West Berlin in mid-August 1961.
William Marsh, Berlin bureau chief of Radio Free Europe, interviews a police official at Potsdamer Platz. In the background, East German workers are erecting the permanent wall that bisected Potsdamer Platz and rendered the square a desolate wasteland.
5 William Marsh, Berlin bureau chief of Radio Free Europe, interviews a police official at Potsdamer Platz.

In the background, East German workers are erecting the permanent wall that bisected Potsdamer Platz and rendered the square a desolate wasteland.
View of the newly constructed Berlin Wall, looking from West to East. On August 19, 1961, the wall claimed its first life as a man fell to his death trying to climb down from his top-floor apartment in East Berlin's Bernauerstrasse to the pavement below in West Berlin.
6 View of the newly constructed Berlin Wall, looking from West to East.

On August 19, 1961, the wall claimed its first life as a man fell to his death trying to climb down from his top-floor apartment in East Berlin's Bernauerstrasse to the pavement below in West Berlin.
View of the newly constructed Berlin Wall, looking from West to East. On August 24, 1961, 24-year-old Guenter Litfin was shot dead as he swam across the River Spree. The incident is generally accepted as the date of the first killing of a would-be escapee by border guards after the wall went up.
7 View of the newly constructed Berlin Wall, looking from West to East.

On August 24, 1961, 24-year-old Guenter Litfin was shot dead as he swam across the River Spree. The incident is generally accepted as the date of the first killing of a would-be escapee by border guards after the wall went up.
On August 17, 1962, 18-year-old Peter Fechter bled to death in the no-man's land between East and West Berlin after being shot trying to escape. Western cameramen recorded the scene for nearly an hour before guards took away his body.
8 On August 17, 1962, 18-year-old Peter Fechter bled to death in the no-man's land between East and West Berlin after being shot trying to escape. Western cameramen recorded the scene for nearly an hour before guards took away his body.
The wall with the Brandenburg Gate in the background. On June 12, 1987, near this site, U.S. President Ronald Reagan famously demanded of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
9 The wall with the Brandenburg Gate in the background.

On June 12, 1987, near this site, U.S. President Ronald Reagan famously demanded of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."
Looking through the Brandenburg Gate from West to East Berlin in 1961.
10 Looking through the Brandenburg Gate from West to East Berlin in 1961.
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