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For years, West Berlin was an escape route for East Germans seeking to flee communism. But growing Cold War tensions forced the Soviet bloc to erect a deadly blockade across the city -- a Wall that divided Berlin for nearly three decades.
 
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| More than 260 people died trying to cross the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989. Did East Germany have formal shoot-to-kill orders?
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| Robert Lochner, an American raised in Berlin, remembers watching the Wall go up -- and helping JFK say "Ich bin ein Berliner." |
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| Could the United States have been prepared for the creation of the Berlin Wall -- and for its downfall decades later?
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TIME: Wall of Shame
August 31, 1962
Izvestia: Door Slammed on Spying Noses
August 16, 1962
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In his famous 1963 speech, President Kennedy professed solidarity with the people of Berlin by declaring, "Ich bin ein Berliner." Unfortunately he was not only saying "I am a Berliner," he was also saying "I am a jelly doughnut" -- "ein Berliner" being a popular local pastry.
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