On August 13 1961, work began on the Berlin Wall. On 23 August, no citizens could pass between East and West Berlin.

Before the wall, movement was simpler. The wall had started out as a line.

There two walls made of paving stons, bricks, glass, concete blocks and a row of terraced houses in Bernauer Strass. These walls were on either side of a corridor and a trench, a ‘no man’s land’ that bwcame known as the ‘death zone’. trench was also dug to prevent escape by vehicle. The walls were constructed not only of purpose-built concrete blocks topped with barbed wire or glass but also paving stones from the streets.

In November 1958, Nikita Khrushchev issued an ultimatum to the Western powers to make West Berlin a ‘demilitarised free’ city. Although Khrushchev gave them six months to reach an agreement on how this was to be done, the deadline lapsed. The Western powers met in Geneva, Paris (May 1960) and Vienna (June 1961) to solve the looming crisis.

Evacuees were moving from East Germany to the West. Khrushchev decided to shut the East-West Berlin border for good.

Still people tried to esc ape to the West. People jumped from buildings to be caught by waiting crowds, others dug tunnels or swam across the River Spree. A couple (with their baby) drove a lorry through Checkpoint Charlie. One smashed a stolen army lorry through the wall itself.

The border guards would make a run for it.

In this Aug 13, 1961 b/w file picture members of the East German military remove paving blocks on Friedrich Strasse in East Berlin August 13, 1961 as East Germany tightened the border crossing, between East and West Berlin. AP Photographer Peter Hillebrecht was on assignment in Berlin as the construction of the Berlin Wall starts on Aug. 13, 1961 and he was one of the first photographers to cover this historic event. When the wall was first built, nobody knew what was going to happen next. Many people were afraid that the wall would serve as a provocation and turn to the Cold War into a hot one.(AP Photo) PA-11383560