The Berlin Wall has officially been gone for as long as it stood - here's how the 27-mile blockade looks today compared to 1989
Although Berlin had been divided between East and West Germany since the end of World War II, the wall wasn't constructed until 1961, to keep people from fleeing the communist East for the capitalist West.
The Berlin Wall was actually two parallel walls, with a zone between them that was dominated by watchtowers, guards, and barbed wire. This are was called "the death strip."
Source: History Channel
The wall famously ran in front of Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of post-unification Germany. The gate was actually part of a city wall constructed in the 1700s.
Source: History Channel
Today, a busy avenue runs where the wall once stood, and buildings populate the once-barren "death strip."
The wall once bisected many places that today are some of the busiest parts of the city. Here, the Berlin Wall can be seen next to the Potsdamer Platz traffic circle in 1962.
Today, Potsdamer Platz is a major business district.
Despite its notoriety, the wall was relatively small in height. In most places, it was only about 11 feet tall, so people could clearly see buildings on the other side, as this 1981 picture of the Kreuzberg district shows.
Source: CNN
Here is the same area today. You can see the ornate orange buildings in the picture from 1981 on the right-hand side of this modern image.
While the wall dividing East and West Berlin was only 27 miles long, an additional 100 miles of wall encircled West Berlin, which was totally surrounded by East Germany. Here, the wall can be seen along Bernauer Strasse in 1973.
Source: History Channel
Another image of the rather nondescript wall along Bernauer Strasse shows fortifications and defensive equipment in the zone between the two parallel walls.
Today, Bernauer Strasse is a bustling street with trams running down its length.
With a busy thoroughfare like Bernauer Strasse running along the Berlin Wall, many people tried to cross over the wall. While more than 100 people were killed trying to cross over the wall, miraculously, over 5,000 made it over or under to freedom.
Source: History Channel
Today, a corner where the wall once stood could not appear more peaceful.
Several US presidents visited the wall, the last of whom was former President Ronald Reagan. Here, Nixon looks over the wall next to near Checkpoint Heinrich-Heine-Strasse.
Today, the same area is a residential neighborhood.
The wall along another part of Heinrich-Heine-Strasse was quite short, only a little taller than the children in this picture from 1968.
Today, the same area is almost unrecognizable, save for the buildings on the left in this picture.
The first US president to visit the wall was former President John F. Kennedy. Here, he can be seen near the famous Checkpoint Charlie in central Berlin in 1963.
Today, Checkpoint Charlie still stands, but is a major tourist attraction. The former military checkpoint dividing the communist and capitalist worlds is flanked by a McDonald's and department stores.
When the wall finally fell in 1989, it actually happened by mistake. An East German Politburo officer prematurely lifted restrictions on travel between the two parts of Berlin, but once the floodgates were opened, they could not be closed.
Source: History Channel
Today, the Berlin Wall still stands as a monument in some parts of the city. 10,316 days after its fall, the wall serves as an ever-present reminder of Berlin's turbulent past, but also its triumphant recovery.
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