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Thousands of young East Berliners crowd atop the Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate as East German border guards watch them 10 November 1989. The same day, Gunter Schabowski, the East Berlin Communist party boss, declared that starting from midnight, East Germans would be free to leave the country, without permission, at any point along the border, including the crossing-points through the Wall in Berlin. The Berlin concrete wall was built by the East German government 13 August 1961 to seal off East Berlin from the part of the city occupied by the three main Western powers to prevent mass illegal immigration to the West. According to the "August 13 Association" which specialises in the history of the Berlin Wall, at least 938 people - 255 in Berlin alone - died, shot by East German border guards, attempting to flee to West Berlin or West Germany. The wall was opened 09 November 1989 and has been demolished since then. (KEYSTONE/-/AFP/ANDREAS VON LINTEL)