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The ‘Berlin Wall’ is probably better known than many of the sites found on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. However, after its fall in November 1989 and subsequent large-scale demolition, people in Germany tried for many years to suppress and forget the division and separation that the structure symbolised.

Where can one still find any remnants and traces of the 155 kilometre stretch of the Berlin Wall that surrounded West Berlin? How did the complex border system work which the GDR had erected to prevent its citizens from escaping to West Berlin?
All the remaining parts of the border installation from between 1961 and 1989/1990 are documented within this interactive Geographic Information System. Based on a detailed survey of 2007/2008, it is supplemented by information on the function of the border elements and by a photo documentation from the years 1988/89, both of which help to demonstrate the extent of the former border installation. Today the surviving border elements still reflect the varying and staggered depth of the border region: the border line, the border strip lying between the border wall facing west and ‘hinterland security wall’ facing east, and the additional perimeter defences installed to prevent any approach to the border strip from its eastern side.
The documentation of the border’s infrastructure, such as the Border Troops’ barracks and training grounds, is still in its infancy. The Geographic Information System will soon be extended to include and show about 120 Berlin Wall memorials erected in many countries around the world.

This internet service is provided by the Department of Architectural Conservation at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus and is the result of the project module ‘A Geographic Information System for the Berlin Wall’ under the project financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) entitled: “The Berlin Wall as a symbol of the Cold War: from an instrument of the SED’s domestic policy to an architectural monument of international significance.” Also involved in this project are the Institut für Zeitgeschichte Institute for Contemporary History Munich – Berlin and the Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt Armed Forces Research Office, Potsdam.