Embassy of the United States, Berlin not be considered a capital until Berlin was unified. Relations with the East German state were hampered because of this policy, and by the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The wall made the site of the former U.S. Embassy, still owned by the U.S. government, an inaccessible vacant lot that was part of the security zone separating east and west Berliners. The site became accessible after the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, but remained a vacant lot until the 2004 groundbreaking for construction of a brand new U.S. Embassy. In the early 1970s the U.S., along
Berlin Wall near Potsdamer Platz where the stretch of both walls is marked, giving visitors an impression of the dimension of the barrier system. After the fall of Berlin Wall, there were initiatives that they want to preserve the death strip walkways and redevelop it into a hiking and cycling area, known as Berliner Mauerweg. It is part of the initiative by Berlin Senate since 2005. For many years after reunification, people in Germany talked about cultural differences between East and West Germans (colloquially "Ossis" and "Wessis"), sometimes described as "Mauer im Kopf" (The wall in the head). A September 2004 poll