THE HISTORY OF BERLIN

 West Germany and the GDR, free travel was still possible within the four sectors of Berlin, until the evening of August 12th 1961, when the people of Berlin went to sleep and woke up in the morning within a divided city. The GDR had erected a Wall around West Berlin and cut off the people of East Berlin from any access to the western sectors. For the next 28 years, this easy way of escaping East Berlin would be cut off, and anyone trying to flee to the west would be arrested or shot. Between 1961 and 1989 around 5,000 people attempted to escape over the Wall with an estimated death toll of over 600.

After the 2nd World War in 1945, Germany was divided by the Russians, British, American and French Allied Forces into four occupation zones. The Russian sector became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The same division was applied to the former German capital Berlin. Although borders were then put up between