The Berlin Wall

The date on which the Wall fell is considered to have been 9 November 1989 but the Wall in its entirety was not torn down immediately. Starting that evening and in the days and weeks that followed, people came to the wall with sledgehammers or otherwise hammers and chisels to chip off souvenirs, demolishing lengthy parts of it in the process and creating several unofficial border crossings. These people were nicknamed "Mauerspechte" (wall woodpeckers).

Photos:
• View from the West Berlin side of graffiti art on the wall in 1986. This image was taken in 1986 by Thierry Noir at Bethaniendamm in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
• East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall. Nov 20, 1961, National Archives.
• Germans standing on top of the wall in the days before it was torn down.  The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989. The photo shows a part of a public photo documentation wall at Former Check Point Charlie, Berlin.
• Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 1989. An Eastern guard speaks to a Westerner through a broken seam in the wall. Both were smiling, representing the jubilant spirit of the day. Nov 1989 by Sharon Emerson.
• Man Pecking a piece of the Berlin Wall, Nov 1989 by Skäpperöda

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