The Berlin Wall was a tangible symbol of the suppression of human rights by the East German bloc during the Cold War. The population of Berlin was divided by a wall due to problems between the free world and the communist world. In 1945 Germany divided Berlin into four zones. The Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain and France all had a zone. From 1945 to 1961 Germans were free to move from East Berlin to West Berlin. On August 13, 1961, stunned citizens watched as workers began digging holes and pounding sidewalks, making way for the barbed wire that would eventually divide the East from the West. Armed troops stood guard at crossing points between the two sides. On the morning of August 14, Soviet troops surrounded the city, and by the end of the night the freedom to move freely between the two parts of Berlin ended. But even before the wall was built, East Berlin had tried to push back West Berlin by cutting off all their food and supplies. On June 27, 1948, the Berlin Airlift took place. The United States and Great Britain merged their areas and united as or...