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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

Bridget Eliot, another workshop attendee, grew up in Germany during the Cold War when the Berlin Wall remained intact.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

The Czech brand, bought in stages after the fall of the Berlin Wall, has grown to become Europe’s third-largest car business by offering VW technology at lower prices than the VW brand itself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

The largely rural state has been a chemical industry centre since East German times, but many highly polluting and outdated factories were dismantled in the years after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026

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

But almost immediately, the Berlin Wall began to backfire on Khrushchev.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

"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

"All I can say is that, since the MeToo movement happened, I feel a change in the weather. It's like the Berlin wall coming down or the end of apartheid for us women."

From Reuters ● Sep. 2, 2021

After the fall of the Berlin wall, the Italian Communist party gradually morphed into the centre-left Democrats, but the Cascinese, by and large, stayed loyal.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 1, 2018

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