The Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall started out as barbed wire then walls then walls with a "death strip" between them then even bigger walls. Over the years, it was constantly being reinforced. The amounts of money, labor, & brain power that went into preventing East Germans from escaping are absolutely mind-boggling. How do you lock your people in without saying that you're imprisoning them? Tell them you're keeping the facists OUT.

A portion of the Berlin Wall along Bernauer Street has been preserved & turned into the Berlin Wall Memorial. What used to be the death strip, filled with spike mats, tank traps, flood lights, guard towers, and such, is now a grassy park-like area. The visitor center & documentation center are filled with interesting information. I really loved all the first-hand accounts, for example, living within the confines of the wall, successful escapes, and the peaceful liberation of East Berlin on November 9, 1989, the day the wall "fell."

Some subway lines that ran in West Berlin along ran through parts of East Berlin. For almost 30 years, the subway trains would run right through them without stopping. They came to be known as ghost stations. When the wall fell, the stations were reopened for use. This station, Nordbahnhof, is one of them.
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