The wall must come down !
For over twenty years the street maps of Berlin showed nothing more of the West than a small band cross hatched in pink bisecting the city. On the map of East Berlin the world used to end at the wall. A thick black line marked out the "national border"- beyond this line was an empty void. The border between the two halves of Germany, and in particular the border between the two parts of Berlin, was considered as one of the most difficult to cross. A 165 km wall with 260 watch towers encircled West Berlin. Large areas of raked sand hid tracker wires which triggered off flares at the slightest touch. To the East, a second wall protected the border zone with nail studded planks positioned on the ground to prevent any attempts at jumping. The border guards and their dogs patrolled 267 different tracks day and night, on the alert and ready to attack. In the underground tunnels, the border was marked out by electrified grilles which prevented any traffic flow between the two parts of the city.
