English 6

At the end of World War II, the Allied powers divided the now conquered Germany into four zones, each occupied by either the United States, Great Britain, France, or the Soviet Union (as agreed at the Potsdam Conference). The same was done with Germany's capital, Berlin.
As the relationship between the Soviet Union and the other three Allied powers quickly disintegrated, the atmosphere of the occupation of Germany turned competitive and aggressive.
In August 1961, the inhabitants of Berlin woke up to find their city had been divided. 
For the next twenty eight years, the 30 miles of ten foot high concrete and barbed wire, known as the Berlin Wall, became the symbol of Communism's refusal to risk allowing East Berliners to meet freely with family and friends in the Western part of the city.