Soon after the war, Berlin, as the capital of the defeated country and the defeated regime, was rather chaotically divided between the winning nations. Yet despite having just defeated a strong common enemy, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin had enormous political differences. And with the threat of Nazi Germany gone, their conflicts became at the forefront of the political situation in post-war Berlin. In 1949, Germany was formally split into two separate countries. Those were the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as Western Germany, allied to the UK and the States, and the German Democratic Republic, also known as East Germany, allied to the USSR.
To East Germans, the wall symbolized the lack of freedom, as many of them grew incredibly dissatisfied with the corrupted government. As the trophy territory bearing the foul legacy of the Nazi regime, Germany did not have it easy on both sides of the Wall. Yet GDR residents had significantly lower quality of living and personal freedoms allowed to them. At the same time, the East German government was claiming the Wall to be a protective barrier against fascism, made to protect the peace across Europe. To West Germans, the Wall symbolized shame and, in their eyes, the ugliness of communism. They were supported in this perception by millions of people choosing to leave East Germany for West Germany throughout the 1950-s. As a result, East Germany closed and enforced its borders, preventing further attempts to leave the country.
On November 9th, 1989 political instabilities in East Germany pressured the government to loosen up some of their restrictions on West Germany. Despite some limitations remaining in place, the media interpreted the government statement as an immediate opening of borders. As a result, crowds practically stormed the Berlin Wall, in numbers so great that passport checks were eventually abandoned by the few remaining guards. This was a moment of celebration for people from either side of the border, with their national sovereignty and unity at least symbolically restored.
Despite the Wall being largely dismantled, several of its section remain preserved and serve as popular attractions in the present day. There are approximately eleven fragments left for the common observation and even amusement. Most of these fragments were artistically transformed with graffiti or surrounded by plants. Today these are the objects of historical and artistic value, and their legacy of division and persistent terror feels outdated. Either of these preserved segments of the Wall is too small to separate anyone or anything.