The Berlin Wall: A Timeline

The Two Dates

• 13 August 1961 — the border is closed overnight. Berliners wake to barbed wire across their streets.
• 9 November 1989 — the crossings open, after a press conference in which the new travel rules were announced with the words “immediately, without delay”.

Twenty-eight years and three months between them.

What the Border Actually Was

Not a wall. A strip, in places a hundred metres deep, running about 155 kilometres in total with roughly 43 kilometres cutting through the built-up city and the rest encircling West Berlin.

From east to west it typically ran: an inner wall, then a lit death strip with a raked-sand control area, anti-vehicle obstacles, a patrol road, watchtowers, and finally the outer wall — the one the West could see and paint.

Understanding that is what makes Bernauer Strasse land, since it is the only place the layers survive together.

The Arc in Brief

• 1945–1961 — Berlin is divided into four sectors but movement continues, and hundreds of thousands leave the East through the city
• 1961 — the border closes; the first version is wire, replaced quickly by concrete
• 1960s–70s — the barrier is rebuilt and refined through several generations, each more difficult to cross
• 1970s–80s — agreements ease some travel; the border remains lethal
• 1989 — Hungary opens its border, mass demonstrations follow across the GDR, and on 9 November the crossings open
• 1990–91 — the Wall comes down fast, mostly by public demolition; the East Side Gallery is painted

The Human Number

The count of those who died at the Berlin border varies by definition and source — different studies count escape attempts, border guards and deaths from all causes differently, and the figures are genuinely contested rather than merely uncertain. The Berlin Wall Foundation publishes the careful version, and the memorial at Bernauer Strasse names them.

We are not going to pick a number to sound authoritative. If it matters to you, take it from the Foundation.

Anniversaries

Both dates bring commemorations and temporary exhibitions, with the largest around 9 November. Bernauer Strasse is the focus and is correspondingly busy.

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