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→The Berlin Wall
The Wall generated international outrage and became one of the most poignant symbols of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War division of Europe and Germany. The Wall actually existed in three different incarnations, each intended to make breaches of the border more difficult. Nonetheless, escapes through, around, over and under the Berlin Wall occurred throughout its existence. Some ingenious methods were devised for circumventing it, many of which are on display at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin. From the sealing of the border on August 13, 1961, to the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, 192 people were killed in escape attempts, and at least that many were wounded.<ref>http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/index.htm</ref>
The Wall generated international outrage and became one of the most poignant symbols of the Iron Curtain and the Cold War division of Europe and Germany. The Wall actually existed in three different incarnations, each intended to make breaches of the border more difficult. Nonetheless, escapes through, around, over and under the Berlin Wall occurred throughout its existence. Some ingenious methods were devised for circumventing it, many of which are on display at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin. From the sealing of the border on August 13, 1961, to the fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989, 192 people were killed in escape attempts, and at least that many were wounded.<ref>http://www.dailysoft.com/berlinwall/history/index.htm</ref>
After the Berlin Wall cut off escape routes, popular grievances changed from fundamental resistance to opposition aimed mainly at reforms. The apparatus of repression also changed: open terror by the Stasi and the courts was replaced by extensive surveillance and undermining by the secret police. In 1968 the Stasi suppressed support for the "[[Prague Spring]]. The covert repression dictated by the Party became one of the major characteristics of the last twenty years of its rule.
Database: Historical Abstracts
===Religion===
===Religion===