The Berlin Wall began construction on August 13, 1961. This wall was built by the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) to prevent East Germans from fleeing to West Berlin and, by extension, to West Germany, which was viewed as a gateway to the West. The construction of the wall symbolized the Cold War divide between the communist East and the democratic West. Its emergence marked the intensification of tensions during this period, and for nearly three decades, it stood as a stark symbol of the ideological and physical division of Europe. The wall was eventually dismantled in 1989, marking the end of the Cold War.