The construction of the Wall began on 13 August 1961 with the goal of preventing the mass exodus of people from the GDR to West Berlin and West Germany.

Approximately 155km long, the Wall separated the city in two for over 28 years.

On the 13th of August 2024, a memorial service at Bernauer Strasse commemorated the 63rd anniversary since the building of the Wall and paid tribute to all who lost their life in an attempt to flee to the West.

 At least 140 people died at the Wall or in connection with the GDR border regime, according to data from the Berlin Wall Foundation.

"Today we remember those who died trying to reach freedom. But we also remember the countless unknown fates and the many whose dreams and lives were destroyed by the Wall.", said Frank Ebert, the Berlin Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, at the commemoration.

Members of all parliamentary groups in the House of Representatives as well as Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner attended.

The new higher representative of the US to Germany, Chargé Meltzer, also attended the ceremony to pay his respect.

"The U.S. stands with our German partners in the important task of ensuring that the memory of those lost as a result of this wall is never forgotten. My sincere thanks to Stiftung Berliner Mauer for their commitment to educating current and future generations about the history of the Berlin Wall.”, he wrote in the guest book at the memorial.

• - https://www.berlin.de/en/news/9094422-5559700-berlin-commemorates-the-building-of-the-.en.html
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