Explore our documents for the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall New selection in the discovery area

Looking for inspiration? Each month, our subject specialists highlight a particular topic through a range of documents from the National Library’s collections. In October, discover our selection for the 35^th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall!

The construction of a wall within a city, aimed at preventing its inhabitants from freely crossing from one part of the city to another, remains to this day a unique event in history. Indeed, the East German government ordered the construction of this structure on the night of 12-13 August 1961, in response to the massive emigration of people, weakening the German Democratic Republic (“Deutsche Demokratische Republik,” 1949-1990). Spanning 155 kilometres, the Berlin Wall embodied the political division of a capital that symbolised both the discord and confrontation between former allies of World War II. The fall of the “Wall” in the wake of popular protests that swept through East Germany in October-November 1989 was undoubtedly a major event in the history of 20^th-century international relations: it paved the way for the reunification of the two Germanys in 1990 and, as a ripple effect, triggered the collapse and eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) a year later.

You can browse this compilation in the discovery area on the ground floor of the Reading Room. If you are interested in one of the documents, simply remove it from the shelf: they are all available for on-site consultation and/or home loan. Enjoy your read!