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

When the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed, the need for a large standing army seemed like a thing of the past.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

He described watching the fall of the Berlin Wall from a communal television in prison.

From BBC • Nov. 21, 2025

In November 1989, the Berlin Wall came crashing down, and Antoniadi knew that all throughout the Eastern Bloc, business as usual was no longer a viable option.

From Slate • Nov. 13, 2025

As the Berlin Wall fell and the Cold War cooled, Cheney was charged with overseeing a Pentagon that was more fractious than usual.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 4, 2025

The construction of the Berlin Wall might well have been a crushing defeat for Bill Harvey and his fellow spies.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau