The Berlin Wall: 28 Years of a Divided City

Berlin, August 13th, 1961. A city wakes up split in two, overnight, by barbed wire and concrete. This walk follows the Wall's trail across the city: from the street where people jumped out of windows to escape, to the crossing point where they invented a thousand tricks to get through. You'll find out how the entire surveillance-and-death system that divided Berlin for 28 years was actually built. And you'll end up at the exact spot where, the night it fell, thousands of people gathered to celebrate, barely able to believe it. It isn't just a wall. It's the story of a city that was split in half and later found a way to paint itself whole again. Approximate audio length: 7 minutes.

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El Muro de Berlín: 28 años de una ciudad partida

Berlín, 13 de agosto de 1961. Una ciudad se despierta partida en dos, de un día para el otro, por alambre de púas y hormigón. Este recorrido sigue el rastro del Muro por toda la ciudad: desde la calle donde la gente saltaba por la ventana para escapar, hasta el punto de cruce donde inventaban mil trucos para cruzar la frontera. Vas a conocer cómo estaba construido, en realidad, el sistema completo de vigilancia y muerte que dividió Berlín durante 28 años. Y vas a terminar en el lugar exacto donde, la noche que cayó, miles de personas se juntaron a festejar sin poder creerlo todavía. No es solo una pared. Es la historia de una ciudad que se partió al medio y, después, encontró la forma de volver a pintarse entera. Duración aproximada de audio: 7 minutos.

Tour stops

5 stops · 15 minutes · 5.50 km on foot

The World's Longest Canvas

Look at this wall. Today it's the longest open-air art gallery in the world: 1.3 kilometers of mural, painted in 1990 by 118 artists from 21 different countries. But this exact concrete, barely a year earlier, was part of something completely different: a system engineered, with military precision, to kill anyone who tried to cross it from the eastern side. Look at this image: two political leaders kissing on the mouth. It's the 'Fraternal Kiss' between Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker, based on a real photo from 1979. Artist Dmitri Vrubel titled it: 'My God, Help Me Survive This Deadly L…

Jumping Toward Freedom

August 13th, 1961. A Sunday. Berliners wake up and the city is no longer the same. Overnight, East German soldiers sealed the border with barbed wire. Within days, they start putting up the first concrete blocks. Here, on Bernauer Strasse, the border runs straight through the middle of the block. The street itself stays in the West. The buildings, their facades, stay in the East. In the first days, people escape by jumping directly from their apartment windows onto the sidewalk across the street. On August 22nd, 1961, Ida Siekmann jumps from a third-floor window. She dies of her injuries.…

Outsmarting the Wall

Checkpoint Charlie. The Wall's most famous crossing point. Diplomats crossed here. Foreign military personnel. And very few authorized Germans. For everyone else, crossing meant improvising. Some people hid another person in a car's trunk. Some rebuilt entire cars: they pulled the engine out of a small Isetta to hide a person in its place. Some dressed up as Allied soldiers, in hand-sewn uniforms, hoping for fewer questions at the checkpoint. Some just floored the accelerator and smashed straight through the barrier. It didn't always work. On August 17th, 1962, an 18-year-old named Peter…

The Anatomy of a Border

What's in front of you is an original stretch of the Wall. One of the few that's still complete. Not just any piece: it's the final version, the 'Grenzmauer 75.' Built starting in 1975. Concrete slabs 3.6 meters tall, topped with a round pipe so nobody could grab on and climb over. But the Wall was never just one wall. It was an entire system. First, an inner wall, on the eastern side. Then, a strip between 30 and 150 meters wide: the 'death strip.' Inside it, there was everything: raked sand to reveal footprints, anti-vehicle trenches, floodlights, guard dogs on running leashes, and watch…

28 Years Trapped in No-Man's Land

Look at this gate. For 28 years, nobody could walk through it. When the Wall went up in 1961, the border ran right in front of the Brandenburg Gate, on the eastern side. It ended up trapped inside the death strip. Neither East nor West Berliners could get close. A symbol of peace, built in 1791, turned into the most photographed symbol of a city cut in half. On June 12th, 1987, US President Ronald Reagan speaks in front of this gate, from the western side. He challenges the Soviet leader: 'Tear down this wall.' Nobody knew yet when it would actually happen. Two years and five months to go…

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Frequently asked questions

Is the The Berlin Wall: 28 Years of a Divided City audio tour free?

Yes, this tour is completely free. Download Trevurs on iOS or Android and access it instantly — no subscription, no ads during the tour.

How long does the The Berlin Wall: 28 Years of a Divided City tour take?

The tour takes approximately 15 minutes and covers 5 stops over 5.50 km on foot.

What languages is this audio guide available in?

This tour is available in Spanish, English, Portuguese, French, Italian. Switch languages anytime from inside the app.

Do I need wifi to listen to this tour?

No. Trevurs works fully offline — download the tour over wifi before you go, then listen without any data connection.

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