The Berlin Wall served as a physical and ideological barrier during the Cold War, separating East and West Berlin from 1961 until its fall in 1989. Constructed by the East German government, the wall aimed to prevent the mass emigration of East Germans to the West, which was seen as a crisis for the communist regime. It symbolized the broader division between the capitalist West and the communist East, embodying the tensions and struggles of the Cold War era. The wall's eventual fall represented not only the decline of communism in Eastern Europe but also a momentous shift toward reunification and democracy.