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• Berlin Wall
  Berlin Wall

  noun

  a guarded concrete wall, 28 miles (45 km), with minefields and controlled checkpoints, erected across Berlin by East Germany in 1961 and dismantled in 1989.
• Berlin wall
  Berlin wall

  A wall that separated West Berlin, Germany, from East Germany, which surrounded it until 1989. At the end of World War II, the victorious Allies divided Berlin, the German capital, into four sectors. The eastern, or Russian, sector became the capital of communist East Germany. The French, British, and American sectors continued as a prosperous Western “island” city surrounded by East Germany. From then until 1961, many East Germans, sometimes two thousand a day, fled to West Berlin, often with nothing more than the clothes they had on their backs. In the summer of 1961, the wall was built, and East Germany forbade its citizens to cross the wall, at the risk of being shot immediately by border guards. In November 1989, the East German government reopened the border and issued visas to East Berliners. The Berliners celebrated by breaking off pieces of the wall at a mass demonstration, which lasted into the next day. The wall has since been demolished.

Berlin Wall

American  

noun

1. a guarded concrete wall, 28 miles (45 km), with minefields and controlled checkpoints, erected across Berlin by East Germany in 1961 and dismantled in 1989.

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Berlin wall ¹ Cultural  

1. A wall that separated West Berlin, Germany, from East Germany, which surrounded it until 1989. At the end of World War II, the victorious Allies divided Berlin, the German capital, into four sectors. The eastern, or Russian, sector became the capital of communist East Germany. The French, British, and American sectors continued as a prosperous Western “island” city surrounded by East Germany. From then until 1961, many East Germans, sometimes two thousand a day, fled to West Berlin, often with nothing more than the clothes they had on their backs. In the summer of 1961, the wall was built, and East Germany forbade its citizens to cross the wall, at the risk of being shot immediately by border guards. In November 1989, the East German government reopened the border and issued visas to East Berliners. The Berliners celebrated by breaking off pieces of the wall at a mass demonstration, which lasted into the next day. The wall has since been demolished.

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Berlin Wall ² Cultural  

1. Fortified concrete and wire barrier that separated East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. It was built by the government of what was then East Germany to keep East Berliners from defecting to the West.

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Discover More

The Berlin wall was one of the most visible signs of the cold war and has become a symbol (see also symbol) of the Iron Curtain and totalitarianism.

The Berlin Wall was a symbol (see also symbol) of the inability of a communist state to keep its citizens from leaving when they have a choice.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Berlin Wall Berlin wall

One Vietnamese shop owner in the Mitte district near the former Berlin Wall rolls down his shutter but leaves his door ajar for locals, who know to sneak in for milk and vegetables.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

In a reminder that hope springs eternal: performing arts promoter Martin Elbourne, who founded the festival, points to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026

At the time, The New York Times memorably called her "the blunt instrument knocking down their own Berlin Wall".

From BBC ● May 5, 2026

It was only after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that wolves began returning to Germany after 150 years of absence.

From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026

It was December 1990, and I was traveling to Berlin with the re- porters covering secretary of state James A. Baker III. The Berlin Wall had been breached a year earlier, on November 9, 1989.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman

"When they did this it reminded me of the time people started taking the Berlin wall down, it's that moment," Ms Alinejad said.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2022

Finland had bought the howitzers in the 90s after the fall of the Berlin wall, and later re-sold them to Estonia.

From Reuters ● Feb. 26, 2022

Everyone I knew who had served had done so in the post–cold war world order, between the fall of the Berlin wall and the attacks of 2001.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 15, 2019

As of yesterday the Berlin wall has been down as long as it was up.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 29, 2018

At the end of the second act, a ‘fake’ Berlin wall falls forward from the back of the stage sending a huge roaring wave of dust and thinly shredded plastic bits into the house.

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2017