Berlin Wall at 65: Commemorations and What’s On, 13-16 August 2026

On 13 August 2026, Berlin marks 65 years since construction of the Berlin Wall began. In the early hours of 13 August 1961, East German troops and police rolled out barbed wire and posted guards along the boundary with West Berlin, sealing a border that would divide the city for 28 years. What went up overnight as a wire fence hardened, over the following months and years, into the concrete barrier the world came to know.

To mark the 65th anniversary, the Berlin Wall Foundation (Stiftung Berliner Mauer) and Kulturprojekte Berlin, together with Berlin’s Commissioner for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, are staging a citywide program from 13 to 16 August 2026 under the banner “65 Jahre Mauerbau”.

What’s on for the 65th anniversary

The central act of remembrance is held on 13 August at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, the site that preserves the last stretch of the border strip in its original depth. Around it, the program threads together landmarks across the former divide:

• At the Brandenburg Gate, an open-air exhibition, “Mauerblicke. Berlin 1961-1990”, sets historical photographs against the place where the Wall once ran, alongside an installation, “vi|ew”, by the artist Hubertus Hamm.
• A thematic route links the Brandenburg Gate to the Memorial by way of the S-Bahn ghost stations and the Friedrichstrasse border station, tracing how the Wall cut through the everyday city.
• At the Memorial, the special exhibition Where Hummingbirds Swim (24 June to 20 September 2026) tells the story of escapes across the Baltic Sea, pairing the art of Marie Jeschke with objects from the Foundation’s collection. Special guided tours and workshops run through the anniversary weekend.
• The central commemoration, at the Memorial’s Chapel of Reconciliation on 13 August, includes a prayer service, discussions with eyewitnesses and a wreath-laying, alongside the reading “140 People, 140 Names” recalling everyone who died at the Wall.
• Across the city, four days of guided tours, concerts, film screenings and eyewitness talks fill out the program. Highlights include Berliner Unterwelten’s “Underground to Freedom” walk through an original escape tunnel, led by the people who dug it (13-15 August, from 3pm), the reading “Mauerpogo: Aufbruch, Punk und Widerstand” on East German punk (14 August), and concerts at the Brandenburg Gate by Masha Qrella and hackedepicciotto (13 August).
• Partner venues add further threads: the Stasi Museum hosts a talk on a fatal escape attempt (12 August), an open-air “Ghost Stations” tour circles Nordbahnhof (15 August), and Yadegar Asisi’s panorama of the divided city runs short guided tours daily.

On 13 August the citywide program runs from 10:00 to 22:00. The open-air exhibition at the Brandenburg Gate and the outdoor memorial on Bernauer Strasse can be seen at any hour (though the Brandenburg Gate installation is closed on 15 August for the Rave the Planet parade), and the Memorial’s Visitor and Documentation Centres are open 10:00 to 18:00. The central commemoration is held at the Memorial that day; the organisers confirm its exact start time closer to the anniversary, and we will add it here as soon as it is announced.

The full programme, day by day

The city-wide program runs mainly from 13 to 16 August 2026, with a few events before and after. Times shown are start times. (The Brandenburg Gate installation is closed on 15 August for the Rave the Planet parade.)

Ongoing exhibitions

• Where Hummingbirds Swim – escapes across the Baltic Sea (24 June to 20 September), Berlin Wall Memorial
• Views of the Wall. Berlin 1961-1990 – open-air exhibition with the “Installation” spatial intervention, Brandenburg Gate Read more about the Brandenburg Gate →
• The Fall of the Berlin Wall and the Berlin S-Bahn, S-Bahn Museum

Friday 7 August

• 4:00pm Stories from the Border in the World Documentary Heritage Film Collection of the Berlin State Archive (Landesarchiv Berlin)

Wednesday 12 August

• 8:15am A sensory journey through the Parliament of Trees (Parliament of Trees against War and Violence)
• 5:00pm The Limits of Socialism: Witnesses to a Fatal Escape (Stasi Museum) Read more about the Stasi →

Thursday 13 August

• 8:00am Central commemoration (State & Federal Government) (Chapel of Reconciliation)
• 10:00am, 12:00pm, 12:30pm Guided tours at the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburg Gate)
• 10:00am Live Speaking at Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburg Gate)
• 10:00am A shared moment of reflection at the East Side Gallery (The Wall Museum Berlin)
• 10:30am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm Essener Gitarrenduo (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 11:00am The Berlin Wall on Bernauer Straße (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 11:00am, 4:00pm 140 People – 140 Names (Chapel of Reconciliation)
• 12:00pm Everyday Life with the Berlin Wall (asisi Panorama Berlin)
• 12:00pm Who was Günter Litfin? (Günter Litfin Memorial) Read more about Günter Litfin →
• 1:00pm Tränenpalast. Everyday Life in Divided Germany (Tränenpalast) Read more about the Friedrichstraße crossing →
• 1:00pm Central memorial event of the state of Brandenburg (Skypoint Schönefeld)
• 3:00pm Der Mond, durchschnitten (rainStein Publishing)
• 3:00pm Underground to Freedom (Berliner Unterwelten)
• 3:00pm From Life with the Wall to Imprisonment by the Stasi (Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial) Read more about Hohenschönhausen prison →
• 3:30pm Photographic views on the Wall (Brandenburg Gate)
• 4:30pm Masha Qrella (Brandenburg Gate)
• 4:30pm Entenschnabel. On living with the Wall as a garden fence (Museum Reinickendorf)
• 5:30pm Memories of 13 August 1961 (Brandenburg Gate)
• 5:30pm Open-Air-cinema at Stasi-Zentrale: “Tunnel of Freedom” (Stasi Records Archive)
• 6:30pm hackedepicciotto (Brandenburg Gate)
• 6:30pm Wall of Sound: The Berlin Wall in Music Videos (Lichtblick-Kino) Read more about the Wall in music →

Friday 14 August

• 7:00am, 4:30pm 140 People – 140 Names (Chapel of Reconciliation)
• 10:00am, 12:00pm, 12:30pm, 3:30pm Guided tours at the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburg Gate)
• 10:00am Live Speaking at Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburg Gate)
• 10:00am Language Café (Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum)
• 12:00pm Everyday Life with the Berlin Wall (asisi Panorama Berlin)
• 1:00pm Tränenpalast. Everyday Life in Divided Germany (Tränenpalast)
• 1:30pm Iron Curtain – Nylon Curtain (Charité)
• 3:00pm Underground to Freedom (Berliner Unterwelten)
• 3:30pm Charité at the Berlin Wall (Charité)
• 4:00pm Tunnel escapes from the Berlin Wall (Brandenburg Gate)
• 4:00pm Steinstücken and the wall in south-west Berlin (S-Bahn Station Griebnitzsee)
• 4:30pm Borders? Borderless? Perspectives of the Third and Fourth Generations East (Humboldt Forum)
• 5:00pm, 6:00pm Jo Ambros Revolution Trio (Brandenburg Gate)
• 5:30pm Escapes and escape attempts in 1989 (Brandenburg Gate)
• 5:30pm Mauerpogo. Aufbruch, Punk und Widerstand (Sonntags-Club)

Saturday 15 August

• 8:00am Underground to Freedom (Berliner Unterwelten)
• 9:30am Who was Günter Litfin? (Günter Litfin Memorial)
• 11:00am The Berlin Wall on Bernauer Straße (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 11:30am, 1:30pm Essener Gitarrenduo (Parliament of Trees against War and Violence)
• 12:00pm Ghost stations in divided Berlin (Berlin Wall Memorial) Read more about the ghost stations →
• 12:00pm From Wollankstraße S-Bahn station to Köppchensee (S-Bahn Station Wollankstraße)
• 12:00pm Imprisoned at Alexanderplatz (Education Centre Keibelstraße)
• 12:00pm Everyday Life with the Berlin Wall (asisi Panorama Berlin)
• 12:00pm A sensory journey through the Parliament of Trees (Parliament of Trees against War and Violence)
• 12:00pm Discover the East Side Gallery (East Side Gallery) Read more about the East Side Gallery →
• 12:00pm When the Wall divided Berlin (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 1:00pm Tränenpalast. Everyday Life in Divided Germany (Tränenpalast)
• 1:00pm Spot on: Where Exactly Was the Border? (East Side Gallery)
• 2:00pm The Wall in the Parliament of Trees (Parliament of Trees against War and Violence)
• 4:00pm Biermann ohne Biermann (Chapel of Reconciliation)

Sunday 16 August

• 10:00am, 12:00pm, 12:30pm Guided tours at the Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburg Gate)
• 10:00am Live Speaking at Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburg Gate)
• 10:00am Discover the East Side Gallery (East Side Gallery)
• 11:00am The Berlin Wall on Bernauer Straße (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 11:00am Parliament of Trees Against War and Violence (Parliament of Trees against War and Violence)
• 11:00am The Berlin Wall with all senses (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 12:00pm From Köppchensee to “Entenschnabel” (At the Alter Dorfkrug Lübars)
• 12:00pm Two chancellors in a divided Germany (Konrad-Adenauer-Forum Berlin)
• 12:00pm Everyday Life with the Berlin Wall (asisi Panorama Berlin)
• 12:00pm Escape across a divided Germany (Marienfelde Refugee Center Museum)
• 12:00pm Who was Günter Litfin? (Günter Litfin Memorial)
• 12:00pm When the Wall divided Berlin (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 1:00pm Bernauer Straße after the Wall was built (Berlin Wall Memorial)
• 3:30pm Childhood memories of living with the Wall (Brandenburg Gate)
• 4:00pm A conversation with and music by Stephan Krawczyk (Brandenburg Gate)
• 4:30pm 140 People – 140 Names (Brandenburg Gate)
• 6:00pm Katharina Kollmann and the KulturMarktHalle choir (Brandenburg Gate)

Monday 17 August

• 12:00pm Everyday Life with the Berlin Wall (asisi Panorama Berlin)
• 5:30pm Open-Air-cinema at Stasi-Zentrale: “Two Lives” (Stasi Records Archive)

Thursday 20 August

• 2:00pm Walls are not accessible! (Berlin State Agency for Civic Education)

Monday 24 August

• 3:00pm 65th Anniversary of the Death of Günter Litfins (Günter Litfin Memorial)

Thursday 27 August

• 4:30pm Desire Under Threat (Berlin Wall Memorial)

Sunday 30 August

• 8:00am Treptow and the Berlin Wall (S-Bahn Station Plänterwald)

How to visit

The Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse 111 is the place to be on 13 August. Admission is free. The open-air memorial can be walked at any hour, while the Visitor Centre and Documentation Centre are open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 18:00. The nearest station is Nordbahnhof, itself a former ghost station on the same street. To plan your route and see the surviving watchtowers, crossings and Wall remnants nearby, use our interactive map.

The history behind the date

The anniversary is a good moment to revisit how quickly the city was cut in two. Our interactive timeline of the Berlin Wall follows the story from the division of Berlin in 1945 through the night of 13 August 1961 and on to the fall in 1989.

Two days after the border was sealed, on 15 August 1961, a 19-year-old East German border guard leapt over the coils of barbed wire on Bernauer Strasse and ran to the West. The photograph of his jump became one of the defining images of the Cold War. You can read his story in our guide to Conrad Schumann, the soldier who jumped to freedom – the leap happened just steps from where the commemorations are now held.

The sealing of the border also froze Berlin’s transport network in place, creating the eerie ghost stations that lay dark and guarded for decades – including Nordbahnhof, on the same Bernauer Strasse the Memorial now occupies, and a stop on the anniversary program’s own route through the divided city.

Sources: Stiftung Berliner Mauer + Kulturprojekte Berlin (mauerbau65.berlin), stiftung-berliner-mauer.de, visitBerlin. Program details are subject to change; confirm with the organisers before travelling.

Event details last checked 19 Jul 2026