The reconstruction (in situ) of the Berlin wall at Bernauerstrasse. This is the only place you can see the full geometry of the "frontier defences" erected by the GDR to keep its own population "in" and the fascist running dogs of capitalism "out" between 1961 qnd 1989. The wall was relatively narrow here.

For "design" reasons (!) the wall on the East German side (the far one from us - we're looking from what was West Berlin) has been rebuilt lower than it really would have been, and many visitors wonder why it was such a barrier. That, of course, was the wall that the East Berliners saw (if they were allowed to get close enough). If you did manage to climb the eastern wall, the "death strip" between the two walls contained several fatal obstacles -including the "shoot to kill" orders issued to the guards. The people living in the apartments on the left of frame had to get special permission to leave and return to their homes. Other apartment blocks running along the length of the wall were summarily demolished to remove possible escape opportunities.

The high, brown, metal wall running at right angles to the the "death strip" has nothing to do with the original wall system - it is part of the Berlin Wall Memorial, as, indeed, is the whole reconstruction.