History of Berlin for a unified Germany. Loshitzky depicts the role of the Berlin Wall as a symbol of the Cold War, détente, and the collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. She divides the history of the Wall into six major stages: the erection of the Wall (1961); the period of the "geography of fear" from the Cold War; the period of détente; the short period of glasnost and perestroika; the fall of the Wall (1989); and after the Wall. On August 13, 1961 the Communist East German government started to build a wall, physically separating West Berlin from East Berlin
The Fall of Berlin (film) released from prison, praised it as an authentic depiction of events. Officials in Artkino, the picture's American distributor, claimed the film was "already witnessed by 1.2 million people" in the United States by 9 June 1952, a day after its release there. Stalin's death in March 1953 signaled a sharp turn in the politics of the Eastern Bloc. After Beria was arrested, Chiaureli was instructed by the new rulers to leave Moscow. "The Fall of Berlin" was withdrawn from circulation. A directive of the Soviet Film Export Bureau to halt its screening reached East Germany in July. During the summer