Page 3- The Reality of the Wall
The Wall went through many stages as time passed. It was gradually perfected
and became more and more impenetrable. It was eventually revamped four times.
Initially, it was made up of 12 km of concrete slabs and 137 km of barbed wire,
surveyed by 116 watch towers. They also bricked up the windows of some buildings
that were close to the wall, like those on Bernauer Strasse. It eventually became
two walls: the one covered with graffiti seen from the West and a parallel wall
that was seen from the East. In between the two walls was 30-100 yards of carefully
Section of the wall showing the elaborate techniques, like metal spikes and
extensive lighting, used to keep people from crossing it
tended earth (so footprints could be easily seen), a small paved road for soldiers,
and watchtowers. This space was known as no-man’s land. The top of the
wall was covered in a rounded tube to prevent people and grappling hooks from
catching hold of it. As a further precaution, the eastern side of the wall was
painted white so that anyone trying to scale the wall could easily be spotted.
In the final phase of the wall, there were anti-tank ditches, anti-vehicle ditches,
600 dogs on sliding cables, and 14, 000 border guards.
