On the 13 August 1961, a barrier between the German Democratic Republic to the east, and Federal Republic of Germany to the west was built, then Berlin Wall. It was erected by the GDR. It was a 3.6 meters concrete wall, toppers with barbed wire and impunctuated with imposing guard towers, with guards demanded to keep full concentration for anyone that tried crossing. An area on the East German side carved out, known as the death strip, was guarded with defense structures and anti-vehicle trenches. On the other side of the border, the structure was recognized as a means of gathering the populations of the GDR and preventing it from defecting to the west. East German border guards killed two hundred of approximately five hundred people who attempted to cross. To cross would mean to cross the barbed 
wire, pass the guards without having them see you, and to dodge mines planted in the dirt. The Berlin Wall was a powerful symbol of the ideological iron curtain that separated the east and west during the Cold War.
In 1989, an officer allowed the Berliners to cross, and the wall was officially defunct. The wall was completely demolished between 1990 and 1992.