In November 1963, 21-year-old Hubert Holbain swam across the lake and reached West Berlin. Some part of the diving equipment was handmade. After escaping, he helped to build a secret tunnel, which helped 57 people to get out of East Berlin to West Berlin in October 1964. One of the runaway was Holbain's mother.

Germans keep their history with enviable consistency, even if it hurts them.

On 9 November 1989, Berlin reunited. For 28 years, the German capital was divided into two huge, western and eastern parts. It was built by the German Democratic Republic. The wall completely separating West Berlin from East Berlin had a length of 155 kilometers, of which 43 kilometers were passing through Berlin.

The disassembling of the wall started on June 13, 1990 and ended in 1992. The socialist bloc insisted that the wall was built to protect the population from fascist elements, but in practice, the wall served as a ban on mass emigration and desertion from Eastern Germany and the Communist East after the Second World War.

Thousands were fleeing eastern Berlin over 28 years. Overall, 140 people died on the wall, including an 18-year-old Soviet soldier who attempted to escape from East Berlin to West Berlin.

After the demolition of the wall, the Berliners wanted to completely destroy it, and only a small group of activists succeeded in keeping small pieces of it as a historical reminder.

Today, 28 years after the fall of the wall, its traces are still visible on the German capital. On one side of Bernauer Strasse, there are panel buildings of Soviet architecture, and on the other side of the street there is a completely different environment.

East Side Gallery, a part of the wall preserved in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin, is 1316 meters long. In 1990 the images were painted by 118 artists from 21 countries. It is the longest gallery in the world.