The Berlin Wall played a critical role in the context of the Cold War as a physical barrier separating East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989. Built by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), it was intended to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West, which was seen as a tactic to stem the tide of emigration and preserve the socialist state. The Wall became a powerful symbol of the ideological divide between the communist East and the capitalist West. Its eventual fall in 1989 marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War, symbolizing the triumph of democracy over oppression.