For 28 years, the Berlin Wall was a symbol of communist oppression and tyranny. The barricade was built in August 1961 to keep East German citizens from defecting to West Germany. Those who defied the authorities and attempted to defect paid with their lives in at least 140 cases. Nevertheless, more than 5,000 East Germans successfully defected to the West — a testament to the desperation they felt. They were willing to risk their lives for freedom, and they often did so in innovative ways, using such means as tunnels, aerial lines, and homemade hot air balloons.

This book tells the story of the context in which the Berlin Wall was erected as shared Allied governance of Germany post-World War II quickly became divided between the two political ideologies of communism and capitalism. Those divisions would spark the Cold War when Soviet forces sought to restrict Western access to East Berlin. However, the Soviets didn’t count on the perseverance of the Allied support for West Germany and West Berlin, and they didn’t count on the desire for freedom within the East. This is the story of an oppressive symbol — a wall erected to form a prison for those within its border — but it is also the story of triumph over tyranny when finally, 28 years after it was first built, the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in 1989.