We stayed on the bus and drove along the former site of The Berlin Wall. This guarded concrete barrier physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. During this period over 100,000 people tried to escape, with more than 5,000 succeeding. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area later known as the "death strip". It's estimated as many as 200 were killed trying to escape to the west. It was reopened in November 1989.