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Museum Audio Tour 56: Cold War Gallery: Fall of the Wall

National Museum of the U.S. Air Force

Dec. 31, 1969 | 0:50

From the beginning to the end of the Cold War the city of Berlin was the focal point of tensions between Western democracies and Soviet communism. In 1961, the communists erected a heavily fortified wall, dividing Berlin in two. However, in 1989, communist governments across eastern Europe collapsed, and on Nov. 9, the East German government partially opened the border in Berlin. A flood of East Germans rushed to West Berlin, and following celebrations, the Berlin Wall began to come down. The literal symbol of the figurative “Iron Curtain” was destroyed, signaling the approaching end of the Cold War. In this gallery, the museum displays sections of the Berlin Wall, as well as a Trabant 601 S "Delux," an example of how communism failed to provide the promised worker's paradise.