The Berlin Wall: Escape to Freedom

August, 1961. The Berlin Wall is built. On the Western side, it’s a symbol of the bitter Cold War. On the East, it’s a blockade to freedom. East German authorities build four versions of the wall, each more impenetrable than the last. Yet over 28 years, thousands attempted to defeat it – running through the barbed wire, jumping from apartment building windows, and driving trucks through the makeshift wall. For every one that succeeded, hundreds died trying. Successful escape methods were bold and ingenious. In 1964, Hubert Hohlbein and Peter Schulenburg join 35 other students to dig a 475-foot long tunnel under the wall from the West. They helped bring 57 refugees out of East Germany before the police discovered them, leading to a dramatic and deadly gun battle. And then, on one extraordinary night in 1989, the wall finally fell.