Interesting facts about the Berlin Wall

• The physical construction of the Berlin Wall began on August 15, 1961.
• The Berlin Wall stood for 28 years.
• The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a Socialist State in East Germany.
• The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the "Wall of Shame".
• The total length was 155 kilometres (96 miles).
• There were eight border crossings in the Wall. The most famous was "Checkpoint Charlie".
• For more than 106 kilometres of its length, the Wall was composed of panels of reinforced concrete to a height of 3.60 metres.
• Over 5,000 people successfully escaped from East to West Berlin during the lifetime of the Wall. Approximately 200 people were killed trying to escape, and another 200 were shot but not killed. 
• After several weeks of civil unrest, the East German government announced on November 9, 1989 that all GDR citizens could visit West Germany and West Berlin.
• The fall of the Berlin Wall paved the way for German reunification, which was formally concluded on October 3, 1990.