13 August: Building of the Berlin Wall

GDR Head of State, Walter Albricht, announces ‘Nobody has the intention to erect a wall.’ Shortly thereafter, the Soviet sector of Berlin is nonetheless separated from the western sectors by the construction of a wall. Building the wall is apparently to prevent further mass exodus of discontented GDR citizens. The ‘Antifascist Protection Wall’ is expanded with guards and automatic guns into an impregnable barrier. The Wall is responsible for 138 deaths up to 1989.