BERLIN, Nov 1 (AFP) - The Berlin Wall, for which construction began early on August 13, 1961, was constantly modified and reinforced until it fell 28 years later, having cost the lives of at least 250 people who tried to cross it.
Another 5,000 people succeeded in escaping over or under it into West Berlin, according to figures produced by the "August 13 Working Group" which has devoted itself to researching the despised Wall's legacy.
The total length of the Berlin Wall was 155 kilometres (96 miles), of which 43 kilometres ran roughly north-south, cleaving the city in two, while another 112 kilometres isolated the enclave of West Berlin from the surrounding East German state.
A "no-man's land" ran the length of the Wall, varying from the width of a street to about 300 metres (yards), effectively blighting the immediate terrain around for normal human use.
For more than 106 kilometres of its length, the Wall was composed of panels of reinforced concrete to a height of 3.60 metres, with a rounded top providing no toe- or hand-hold for any would-be climber. The rest was composed of metallic grill fencing.
A total of 302 watchtowers and 20 bunkers were manned by seven units of 1,000 to 1,200 soldiers each. The Wall was also protected by 124 kilometres of patrol routes, 127 detector and alarm devices, 259 paths for watchdogs and 105 kilometres of ditches dug to trap vehicles in.
The watchtowers, some 250-200 metres apart in the city centre, were connected by paths for the guards on patrol. With lampposts every 30 metres, the Wall was also the best-illuminated part of all Berlin. By contrast, East Berlin was quite dark at night.
The land adjoining the Wall was under constant examination to detect any footprints, but devices which automatically fired shots at those who ventured onto the Wall were dismantled in later years. Instead, a second, inner wall was built along it on the eastern side.
The number of people who died trying to cross is uncertain. Official estimates vary from 239 to 270.
Demolition began rapidly after the East German authorities gave the order to allow people free passage through the Bernauerstrasse crossing point on the evening of November 9 1989. Souvenir hunters carried away much of the structure but some of it has been preserved in place.
In parallel with the Berlin Wall, the 1,400-kilometre-long inter-German border was also marked by barbed wire, metal grill fences equipped with electronic detection equipment, and landmines.
An estimated 1,065 people in all died trying to cross from the communist east to the West from the end of World War II in 1945 to 1989, according to the August 13 Working Group.
11/01/2004 13:11 GMT - AFP