“Tear Down This Wall!”

Time Machine

Posted: January 01, 2025

A boy from West Berlin peers over the wall towards East Berlin in 1961. Later, East Germany made the wall taller. (AP/Werner Kreusch)
West Berliners, on the right, watch East German construction workers erect the wall in August 1961. Built with barbed wire and concrete, the 30-mile Berlin Wall prevented people from leaving East Germany. (AP)
A man attempts to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin by climbing over the Berlin Wall in 1961. (AP)
U.S. President Ronald Reagan gives a speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, Germany, on June 12, 1987. He told Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, “Tear down this wall!” (AP/Ira Schwartz)
In November 1989, the wall finally came down. Here, East Berliners get helping hands from West Berliners as they celebrate the news and climb the Berlin Wall on November 10, 1989. (AP/Jockel Finck)
Visitors view remains of the Berlin Wall at the official memorial site in Berlin, Germany. (AP/Markus Schreiber)

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One long concrete wall. On one side, freedom. On the other side, repression.

Germany lost World War II in 1945. The Allied nations (which won the war) split Germany into two countries. The United States, France, and Great Britain controlled West Germany. The former Soviet Union controlled East Germany. The dividing line fell smack dab across the German city of Berlin.

Then the Cold War began. That was a rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was communist. The countries controlling West Germany were capitalist. (Capitalists believe individuals should be allowed to own their own property and make their own money.) Soviet-controlled East Germany built the wall through Berlin. The big idea: Keep capitalist ideas out. They used thick concrete. They placed guards there with guns.

Many people in East Germany wanted to escape. They wanted to live free lives in West Germany. But the wall stood in their way. More than 5,000 people managed to get across anyway. About 100 people died trying.

Thankfully, parts of the wall now stand only as a reminder—not as a barrier. Tourists visit the wall to remember a sad part of history—and also a happy day. November 2024 marked 35 years since Germany came back together.

In 1987, U.S. President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. He had a message for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. His words? “Tear down this wall!”

The wall came down on November 9, 1989.

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. — 1 Peter 2:16