THE BARLIN WALL WAS ERECTED IN 1961, A YOUNG EAST GERMAN SOLDIER DEFIED ORDERS FROM HIS GOVERNMENT, WHICH PROHIBITED ANYONE FROM PASSING INTO EAST BERLIN.

 the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, a young East German soldier defied orders from his government, which prohibited anyone from passing into East Berlin.

His act of compassion came as a little boy had been left behind in the chaos of people desperately trying to reunite with their families on both sides of the wall.

Despite the strict orders, the soldier helped the boy navigate the barbed wire barriers. However, his act did not go unnoticed. 

His superior officer discovered the soldier's actions and subsequently removed him from his unit. The fate of the soldier beyond this disciplinary action remains unknown.

An East German couple is turned away from the border, blocked by East German soldiers and barbed wire, after trying to cross into West Berlin on Aug. 13, 1961. | Edwin Reichert/AP Photo

At midnight on this day in 1961, units of the East German army began to close the border between East and West Berlin. 

Troops and workers tore up streets running alongside the border to make them impassable to most vehicles while installing barbed wire entanglements and fences along the 97 miles around the three western sectors — American, British and French — and the 27 miles that divided West and East Berlin. The date became widely referred to as “Barbed Wire Sunday” in Germany.

The chief purpose of the wall was to keep East Germans from fleeing to the West. It was guarded by soldiers under orders to shoot anyone trying to escape. 

During the 28 years that the wall stood, some 5,000 people attempted to escape, of whom an estimated 600 were killed.