On August 13, 1961, Berliners awoke to find their city transformed. Overnight, East German troops and police had moved into position, stringing coils of barbed wire across streets, tearing up roads, and blocking rail lines. The open crossings between East and West Berlin were suddenly sealed. The day would become known as Barbed Wire Sunday.
For years, Berlin had been the last escape route from the Eastern Bloc, a place where East Germans could slip into the West with relative ease. By the summer of 1961, more than three million had made that journey, draining the East of skilled workers and professionals. The communist leadership decided it had to stop.
In this episode of Dave Does History, we look at the day the Berlin Wall began, the tense hours that followed, the political decisions that made it possible, and the lasting impact on Berliners and the Cold War itself.
