The Berlin Wall divided East and West Berlin between 1961- 1989, it was constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany). It completely cut off West Berlin from the surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The Eastern bloc claimed the wall was built to protect its population from fascist elements which were trying to make East Germany a socialist state, The wall was in referred to as the 'Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart' by the GDR authorities, implying Nato countries and West Germany were fascists.
Just before its construction over 3.5 million East Germans fled to West Berlin, in search of more freedom and a gateway to the rest of Europe, which wouldn't be under the same communist rule. There is a famous photograph taken of Conrad Schumann, which shows this movement from East to West.
Schumann was an East German soldier who famously defected to West Germany during the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. He was 19 years old at the time, when he was sent to guard a section of the wall on its third day of construction, at that time the wall was only barbed wire which lay on the floor. West Germans shouted over to him to "Come Over!" while he was stood guarding, Schumann jumped the fence and was put into a West Berlin police car to be driven away from the scene. Peter Leibing famously photographed his escape, which has now become well remembered as an iconic image from period just after the war.
The wall fell because East Germans had enough of the lack of prosperity and freedom that the West had due to it being a democratic state and close to the rest of Europe. Revolutions against the Soviet Union rose through the 1980's, as people in the GDR started to demand greater personal and political freedoms. The fall of the Berlin Wall is another good example of what could happen when people aren't given such things as freedom of speech and free movement. To this day there is more communism found in East Berlin through the older generations, as well as racism because the East didn't go through the same de-nazification the West did. There is also less religion found in the West as it stayed very secular.
After researching into the Berlin Wall, I'm going to produce some photographs of how it looks now and the area surrounding it.