On 12 August 1961, the authorities of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) block the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin. US soldiers immediately prepare to face the East German National People’s Army.

On 12 August 1961, the East German Government issues a decree condemning the imperialist aims and aggressive policy of the West towards the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and providing for very strict border controls between East and West Berlin.

On 13 August 1961, the Member States of the Warsaw Pact publish a joint statement in which they condemn the imperialist policy of the West and justify blocking the border between East and West Berlin.

On 13 August 1961, Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State, criticises the measures adopted by the East German authorities to restrict freedom of movement to the West for the inhabitants of East Berlin and for the citizens of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Troops and police officers from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) watch the building of the Berlin Wall (13–14 August 1961).

On 15 August 1961, the Commandants of the Western sectors of Berlin send a note to their Soviet counterpart to protest against the construction of the Berlin Wall.

Map showing the successive stages of demarcation between the Soviet Zone and the three Western Zones of Berlin, followed by the building of the wall and the establishment of access points between West Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

On 12 August 1961, in a bid to put a stop to the mass emigration of East German nationals to the Western sectors of Berlin, the authorities in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) decide to build a wall between the Eastern and Western sectors of Berlin.

During the night of 12 to 13 August 1961, some 15 000 members of the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) block the roads and railways leading to the western sectors of Berlin and begin putting up fencing and barbed wire around West Berlin. The building of the Berlin Wall, separating the eastern and western sectors of the city, becomes a symbol of the division of Germany and of Europe.

On 15 August 1961, this soldier in the People's Army of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) deserts and flees to the Western sector of Berlin.

Since 13 August 1961, a wall erected by the authorities of the German Democratic Republic has separated East and West Berlin. This is the Brandenburg Gate.

During the visit to Berlin of US Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson on 16 August 1961, Berliners hold aloft placards criticising the lack of reaction from the Allied forces to the construction of the wall separating the city in two a few days earlier.

‘It's not just Berlin that's at stake!' In August 1961, the cartoonist Fritz Behrendt illustrates the Berlin crisis and warns against Soviet plans to conquer the globe.

On 17 August 1961, the US Ambassador to West Germany expresses his indignation at the closure, by the East German authorities, of the borders between East and West Berlin during the night of 12 to 13 August 1961.

In this note to the Soviet authorities, dated 17 August 1961, the representative of the French Government in West Germany expresses France’s indignation at the closure of the border between East and West Berlin by the East German authorities during the night of 12–13 August 1961.

On 18 August 1961, the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, makes a statement to the Bundestag condemning the closure of the border between West and East Berlin by the authorities in the Soviet occupation zone during the night of 12–13 August 1961.

Starting on 13 August 1961, the Berlin Wall was built in the very centre of the German capital, separating the Soviet sector from the Western sectors. This hermetic seal aimed to prevent thousands of East German citizens from fleeing to the West. This photo, taken on the Harzer Straße, shows workers, closely monitored by soldiers from the German Democratic Republic, busy constructing the wall.

On 18 November 1961, Willy Brandt, Governing Mayor of Berlin, addresses the Bundestag and denounces the building of the Berlin Wall and the violation by the Soviet Union of the city’s four-power status.

On 18 August 1961, the Soviet Commandant in Berlin sends a note to his Western counterparts in which he justifies the construction of the Berlin Wall.

During the night of 12 to 13 August 1961, the authorities of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) erect a wall which separates the eastern and western sectors of Berlin. As a sign of their support for the people of the West German enclave, Lyndon B. Johnson, Vice President of the United States, and General Lucius D. Clay, organiser of the Berlin Airlift during the 1948 blockade, travel to Berlin. However, Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), will not be able to go to West Berlin himself until some days later, as the Americans do not wish to spark further provocation. The reunification of Germany seems to become a little more distant still.

‘Thus far and no further …’ In August 1961, Ernst Maria Lang, German cartoonist, commenting on the construction of the Berlin Wall, describes the American reaction to the territorial appetites of the Soviet ‘ogre’.

On 13 August 1962, to mark the first anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, people living in the Western sectors of the City hold a rally in front of one of the symbols of the Cold War.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, gives a historic address in the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, he declares ‘Ich bin ein Berliner', implying that every inhabitant of the ‘free world' is behind the Berliners in the city's American, British and French zones.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, gives a historic address in the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, he declares ‘Ich bin ein Berliner', making it clear that every inhabitant of the ‘free world' is behind the Berliners in the city's American, British and French zones.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, gives a historic address in the Rudolph Wilde Platz in Berlin. At the height of the Cold War, he declares ‘Ich bin ein Berliner', making it clear that every inhabitant of the ‘free world' is behind the Berliners in the city's American, British and French zones.

On 26 June 1963, the final day of his official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, travels to West Berlin, where he receives a triumphant welcome. The photo shows the US President, accompanied by the current Mayor of West Berlin, Willy Brandt, and the German Federal Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, being greeted by a jubilant crowd.

On 26 June 1963, during his official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), the US President, John F. Kennedy, visits the City of Berlin and the Wall that divides the City into two distinct areas.

On 26 June 1963, the US President, John F. Kennedy, visits West Berlin and contemplates the ‘wall of shame’, accompanied by Willy Brandt, the Mayor of West Berlin.

‘Two worlds in Berlin.’ On 26 June 1963, the German cartoonist, Bensch, illustrates the visit to Berlin, in the middle of the Cold War, of the US President, John F. Kennedy, and emphasises the hope of freedom that this trip imagines in the West German people faced by the oppressive, police state regime of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) led by Walter Ulbricht.

The outer limit of the ‘Iron Curtain’ is symbolised by three former boundary posts which mark the meeting point between the territories of the former Duchies of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Saxe-Meiningen and the former Kingdom of Bavaria.

The ‘Iron Curtain’ divides the East German border town of Hirschberg, on the banks of the River Saale.

Sketch representing the ‘Iron Curtain’ at the edge of the Soviet zone, published in May 1965 by the Federal Ministry for All-German Questions.