Berlin Wall Memorials

This exhibition at Potsdamer Platz is made up of displays hung between original segments of the Berlin Wall. Created in 2005 as a temporary exhibition, it was made permanent due to very positive public response.

A simple cross and information panel mark the spot at the Britzer Zweigkanal where 20-year-old Chris Gueffroy was shot on 5 February 1989 – the last person killed by gunfire while trying to cross the Berlin Wall. His death, just nine months before the wall fell, provoked international outrage and became a symbol of the […]

The “Berlin Wall Memorial”, was built in 1998 to commemorate the division the wall created, and the deaths that occurred because of it. It includes a Chapel of Reconciliation, a visitor center and a 60m section of the border and wall.

A bridge spanning the Havel river, connecting Wannsee with the Brandenburg capital, Potsdam. Spies captured during the Cold War were often exchanged here, earning it the moniker “Bridge of Spies”. The East German authorities closed the bridge to West Berliners on 27 May 1952, and was closed to East Berliners after construction of the Berlin […]

One of Berlin’s oldest military cemeteries, the Invalidenfriedhof was bisected by the Berlin Wall. Border guards demolished graves to create clear firing lines across the death strip.

The Lichtenrade-Mahlow Grenzweg follows the former border along Berlin’s southern boundary, where a preserved Kolonnenweg patrol road with original GDR lamp posts traces the path of the Wall through what is now a peaceful residential area.

Now famous for its flea market and bearpit karaoke every Sunday, Mauerpark was once home to part of the death strip and Berlin Wall. A 30m stretch of the Berlin Wall still exists and is used by graffiti artists to practice their skills.

At the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, the Parliament of Trees against War and Violence is a memorial commemorating the 258 people who died at the wall. Begun in 1990 by the artist Ben Wagin, it is made up of trees, memorial stones, and original parts of the wall. The names of the 258 dead are inscribed on stones. […]

A memorial cross marks the spot where 18-year-old Peter Fechter was shot by border guards on 17 August 1962 while trying to escape to the West. He fell back into the death strip and lay bleeding for nearly an hour in full view of Western observers before being carried away by East German guards. He […]

A small enclave of around 200 inhabitants, Steinstücken is the southern most territory of Berlin, in Wannsee. For a time its border was made up of only barbed wire, and was the point of many escape attempts. A permanent border wall was erected here after 20 East German border guards escaped to the West. Nearby: […]

This memorial for those who died at the wall consists of seven white crosses, each inscribed with the name of one of the wall’s victims that was shot or died trying to escape. Nearby: Berlin Wall History Mile, Reichstag