Germany marks 50 years since Wall

13 August 2011 Last updated at 05:01 ET

The communist East began construction on the morning of 13 August 1961

Germany is marking 50 years since the building of the Berlin Wall when the communist East closed its border, dividing the city for 28 years.

Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit told a ceremony on Bernauer Street: “The Wall is history but we must not forget it.”

President Christian Wulff spoke after him and Chancellor Angela Merkel was also attending.

The city will observe a minute of silence at noon (10:00 GMT) in memory of those who died trying to escape.

Soldiers from the East began construction on the morning of 13 August 1961

• Initially a barbed wire fence, it became a wall which spread for nearly 160km (100 miles)

• More than 300 watchtowers were erected to spot escapees

• Minefields were laid in some sectors

The BBC’s Stephen Evans in Berlin says the East German authorities portrayed the Wall as a barrier to keep the fascist West out – what came to be known as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart.

But he says the accepted view now is that it was to keep East German migrants in.

‘Saddest day’

Germany’s leaders attended the Berlin Wall commemoration

Addressing the ceremony on Bernauer, a street famously divided by the Wall and now of a memorial, Mayor Wowereit said the capital was remembering the “saddest day in its recent history”.

“It is our common responsibility to keep alive the memories and pass them on to the next generation, to maintain freedom and democracy and to do everything so that such injustices may never happen again,” he said.

Earlier, Mr Wulff told Die Welt newspaper that the modern Germany could take pride in “East Germans’ irrepressible desire for freedom and West Germans’ solidarity with them”.

Mrs Merkel was herself raised in the East.

The number of people who died trying to cross the Wall is disputed – at least 136 are known to have been killed but victims’ groups say the true number is more than 700.

The first victim was thought to be Guenter Liftin on 24 August 1961 and the last Chris Gueffroy on 6 February 1989.

A list of names of the victims was read out overnight.

Although the Wall came down in 1989, it remains for some a symbol of continuing economic division between the richer west and poorer east.

Few parts of the Wall remain, though city authorities have laid down an 8km row of cobblestones to mark its path.

Tourists often struggle to find original sections.

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