The Berlin Wall was placed in Berlin, Germany at
the end of World War II. It was put there to separate East Germany from West
Germany. West Germany had a Democratic government with two parties (similar
to our Democrats and Republicans). The East German side had only one political
party, called the Communist party, in which the people had no voice. The
Berlin Wall was put up in August of 1961. It was made with concrete, barbed
wire, plasterboard walls and many other things. During the years 1953 to
1989, people on the Eastern side who lived in houses near the wall spent
their nights digging tunnels under the wall from their basements trying to
escape to freedom in the West. They also climbed over the wall, sometimes
during the day. When the Eastern side found this out, they put guards on
the wall, and if they saw an escapee, that person would be shot. Friends
and even family were separated. People would peer over the wall to see their
friends. Even soldiers would cross over the wall. In 1987, president Ronald Reagan went to the Berlin Wall, Pointed at it and said,î Mr. Gorbocev, tear down this wall.î the president of the Soviet Union ( Mr. Gorbocev) knew that the Eastern sides Communist Party was about to end, and when it did, the wall came down in 1989. Communism no longer exists in Germany and the country has been reunited into one free country again.
Whenever the army found out about an escape tunnel they would dig
it up, then fill it in to stop people from using it to escape.