Border graffiti in Berlin, 1962
Published: September 15, 2012
Gus Schuettler ©Stars and Stripes
Berlin, September, 1962: The situation on Bernauerstrasse at the border between Berlin's eastern and western sectors is summed up by a graffiti artist in a single word on a bricked-up building — "murder." Between the time the Berlin Wall was built (just over a year before the photo was taken) and its opening in 1989, at least 125 people were killed trying to flee East Berlin. Early on, many people escaped through the windows of buildings like this one until they were closed off; eventually, the Communist government tore these structures down and created a deadly "no-man's land" in their place.
Advertisement
