The history of the wall that became the symbol of one of Berlin’s darkest periods has been captured in this sombre museum.
The Berlin Wall Memorial, commemorating the 30-year division of the city, can be found in a green space on the site of an old churchyard in Mitte, in central Berlin.
When the Berlin Wall was built along Sernauer Strasse in 1961, families, friends and neighbours were separated overnight. The church, where the museum now stands, was left stranded in a no man’s land, a symbol of the divided city. Four years before the wall fell in 1989, the church was pulled down by the East Germans, and today a replacement stands in its place, the Chapel of Reconciliation. The new church represents a city that is no longer separated and contains the remnants of the old building in its pressed-clay walls.
Follow the story of the wall by reading the plaques around the memorial site, which tell of the political and social history of the divide. By renting an audio guide you can hear the voices of the people who lived around this section of the wall, or take an inexpensive guided tour to hear about the separated lives of the Berliners and some of the daring escape attempts. Tours run every Sunday from the visitor centre, where the audio guides are also available in English or German.
Most of the wall is now gone, and a series of metal poles along Bernaurer Strasse show where it once stood. Visitors can also see where some brave tunnel diggers attempted an escape through what is now known as the Stasi Tunnel – this is marked by a long set of stones. Murals line the walls of the surrounding buildings, including the renowned photo depiction of a defecting soldier jumping over a barbed wire fence, taken by Peter Leibing.
The Berlin Wall Memorial also includes an original watchtower, where visitors can visit the observation deck, and the no man’s land known hauntingly as the “death zone”.
The memorial is centrally located and is easy to reach by public transport. It is open from Tuesday to Sunday all year round.
