2. The Berlin Wall was erected in 1961 by the communist government, to make it impossible for East Germans to leave their country.

3. Berlin, 1961. Berlin Wall at Zimmerstrasse. West Berliners watching over the Wall to the East.

4. Berlin Wall being built – separation.

5. Berlin. Bernauer Strasse/Brunnenstrasse View from West to East Berlin.

6. Berlin, Checkpoint Charlie View from West to East Berlin, 1961

7. Standoff between US and Soviet tanks at Checkpoint Charlie, 1961.

8. Berlin, Potsdamer Platz, 60s

10. Brandenburg Gate photographed through the barbed wire there, from the West Berlin, April 1963

11. Checkpoint Charlie Berlin, April 1963

12. Berlin, 1963. John F. Kennedy visiting Berlin on June 26, 1963.

13. JFK gave his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/jfkberliner.html

14. President Kennedy says, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” (I am a Berliner) – I support you. Due to the Allied Air Lift, from a few years prior, and President Kennedy’s support, West Berlin remained a vigorous and healthy city. Berlin, unfortunately, remained divided.

15. In the last phase of the wall's development, the "death strip" between fence and concrete wall.

16. East Germans were killed if they tried to escape.

17. Brandenburg Gate View from West Berlin to East Berlin

18. Berliner Mauer, Berlin 1983.

21. United States President Ronald Reagan delivers his famed "Tear Down This Wall" speech at the Berlin Wall in June of 1987, in which he called for Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the wall. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganbrandenburggate.htm

22. In 1989 the Berlin Wall came DOWN!!

23. People walking under the Brandenburg Gate for the first time since 1961.

25. Potsdamer Platz has been restored. They have kept a section of the Wall.

26. Potsdamer Platz restored.

27. Potsdamer Platz Sony Center 2007

28. Checkpoint Charlie today.

30. Brandenburg Gate, 2007.