In which year was construction of the Berlin Wall started?
Berlin Wall the plans were nonetheless changed to deal with the consequences of Kennedy's actions. It was then decided to block the access to West Berlin from the East. That is when the construction of the wall started. On 15 June 1961, First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party and GDR State Council chairman Walter Ulbricht stated in an international press conference, (No one has the intention of erecting a wall!). It was the first time the colloquial term (wall) had been used in this context. The transcript of a telephone call between Nikita Khrushchev and Ulbricht on 1 August in the
Berlin Customs Wall Berlin Customs Wall The Berlin Customs Wall (German: "Berliner Zoll- und Akzisemauer" literally "Berlin customs and excise wall" ) was a ring wall around the historic city of Berlin, between 1737 and 1860; the wall itself had no defence function but was used to facilitate the levying of taxes on the import and export of goods (tariffs) which was the primary income of many cities at the time. The wall was erected after the old Berlin Fortress was demolished in 1734; the walls of the latter had already started to crumble and its military function was questionable. Frederick William I