Left to right: 'Events in Germany between 9 November 1989 and 18 March 1990', 1990 [Library shelfmark: QP4.97.2194], 'The Berlin Wall book, 1990 [Library shelfmark: HP4.90.764].
For most of the 1980s the Berlin Wall stood dividing East and West Berlin. It was intially erected in 1961 by the East German communist government to help prevent the influx of Western capitalism into East Germany. It also served to prevent citizens of East Germany defecting to the West, as had occurred increasingly since the end of World War Two.
On 9 November 1989, following a change of leadership in the German Democratic Republic governing East Germany, it was announced that the border between East and West Berlin could be crossed. The Wall would subsequently fall.
A report in the Library collections entitled: 'Events in Germany between 9 November 1989 and 18 March 1990 : from the day the Berlin wall was opened to the first free elections in the GDR' documents what happened after the wall came down.
Other items are a record of what life in the shadow of the wall was like. 'The Berlin Wall Book' captures some of the graffiti on the concrete sections of the wall as it stood.
To read more about events in the 1980s around the fall of the Berlin Wall, see also:
- 'The traffic jam' essay — a personal recollection of Germany at the fall of the Wall
- Essay about Bruce Springsteen's historic Berlin concert
For more essays and videos about the 1980s, visit our retrospective 'Back to the future: 1979-1989' website.