At the time, no one knew that the rolls of barbed wire would become the ultimate symbol of the Cold War. But when the people of Berlin woke up on August 13, 1961, police and soldiers in the city's Soviet sector had already started blocking streets and barricading alleyways with trucks, tanks, bricks and wire. Bemused citizens watched helplessly as the city was cut in two
The reaction was more confusion than outrage. No one knew how long this new obstacle would last: Berliners had lived through a lot in the decade and a half since the war ended. They had no way of knowing how this latest surprise would come to dominate the city -- and the world's attention -- for the next 40 years. The Berlin Wall was born not with a bang but with a frustrated sigh.
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