Death at the Berlin Wall

For 28 years, East and West Berlin were separated by a wall, and this November marks 30 years since its world-changing and now iconic fall. As this infographic shows, 140 people were killed at the Berlin Wall during this period. The number reflects the situation as determined by a joint project of the Berlin Wall Memorial and the Center for Contemporary Historical Research Potsdam and is based on official and published death lists. Additional research by historians and interviews with contemporary witnesses have also been included in the survey. Between 1962 and 1986, research by political scientist and journalist Dr. Peter Joachim Lapp revealed 4,909 people to have escaped across the Berlin Wall.