Berlin Wall has now been gone for longer than it stood
The Berlin Wall comes down in 1989. Photo: Getty
For 28 years, two months and 27 days the Berlin Wall divided a city.
On Tuesday that wall has been gone one day longer than it stood.
East German guard Conrad Schumann leaps over barbed wire into West Berlin, August 15, 1961. Photo: CIA
The 155 kilometre, 3.6-metre-high concrete and barbed wire divider separated East and Western Berlin from August 1961 to November 1989.
Along its length were more than 300 watchtowers and 20 bunkers, thousands of soldiers, guard dogs, alarms, ditches to trap vehicles, and a no man’s land that varied in width from about 300 metres to the width of a street.
Despite these preventative measures, many attempted to cross the wall. Exact numbers are uncertain but it is understood about 5,000 people crossed the wall successfully and more than 130 died in the attempt.
Parts of the wall remain today. Photo: Getty
While parts of the wall have been dismantled since its fall on November 9, 1989, remaining sections are a tourist attraction.
The former border crossing Checkpoint Charlie has also become an important landmark and museum in Berlin.
-ABC
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