# Fall of the Berlin Wall

Year: 1989

> On 9 November 1989, East Germany opened the Berlin Wall's border crossings, and crowds climbed and broke the wall that had divided Berlin since 1961.

The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 13 August 1961 to stop its citizens from escaping to West Berlin. It grew into a heavily guarded system of concrete walls, fences and a "death strip" around West Berlin, and at least 140 people were killed at the wall during the 28 years it stood.

In 1989, mass protests in East Germany and the opening of Hungary's border with Austria put the government under growing pressure. On the evening of 9 November, party spokesman Günter Schabowski told a press conference that new rules allowing East Germans to travel abroad took effect immediately. Thousands of East Berliners went to the checkpoints, and late that night border guards at Bornholmer Straße opened the gates, followed by other crossings. People from both sides climbed onto the wall near the Brandenburg Gate and began chipping pieces from it.

The fall of the wall became a symbol of the end of the Cold War in Europe. Official demolition began in June 1990, and Germany was reunified on 3 October 1990.

## Key facts

- Event: Fall of the Berlin Wall
- Date: 1989-11-09
- Location: Berlin, Germany
- Tags: berlin, wall, cold war, freedom, 20th century

## The illustration

At sunset, crowds cheer with raised arms on top of a graffiti-covered wall that has broken open in the middle, one person holding a flag. More people cheer in the foreground, two figures stand in the rubble of the breach, and a TV tower rises on the city skyline beyond.

- Page: https://kuticon.com/illustrations/berlin-wall
- SVG (1024 × 768 viewBox): https://kuticon.com/illustrations/berlin-wall.svg
- PNG: https://kuticon.com/illustrations/berlin-wall.png?w=1024 (w is 512, 1024, or 2048)
- Alt text: At sunset, a crowd of people cheer and climb on a graffiti-covered concrete wall that has broken open, with a city skyline glowing through the breach.

## License

CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/): no rights reserved, no attribution needed, commercial use allowed. Details: https://kuticon.com/license