At the end of World War II, the western powers had a dilemma on their hands: deep inside Soviet-controlled eastern Germany, the city of Berlin was split into 4 zones: the British, French, and Americans controlled the western half and the Russians were in charge of the eastern half.

As tensions among the former allies began to surface, the city of Berlin became caught in the middle of a "Cold War" between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1961, Soviet Premier Krushchev decided to blockade the passage of citizens from Communist-held East Berlin into West Berlin. A 26-mile-long "Anti-Fascist" wall of concrete and barbed wire was erected and guarded by alarms, mine fields and military personnel.

The world watched in horror as people attempting to cross over the Berlin Wall faced certain death. The Berlin Wall became a stumbling block in negotiations to end the arms race between the US and Soviet Union, and served as a powerful propaganda piece to remain ever vigilant against communist forces.

With the arrival of Soviet Premier Mikhail S. Gorbachev in the mid-1980's and his programs of "glasnost" (openness) and "perestroika" (reform), the beginning of the end of the Cold War seemed at hand. Eastern European nations soon began to embark on similar reform campaigns. In 1989, Gorbachev eased the restrictions on citizens leaving East Germany for West Germany through other Eastern bloc countries.

On November 9, 1989, East German officials ordered their troops to allow free passage of citizens from East Berlin into West Berlin. On November 10, citizens began to tear down the wall which had divided them for so long.