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CLOSING THE BORDER AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF BUILDING THE WALL 26
On Sunday, August 13, 1961, the systematic sealing of the 160-kilometre-long border around West Berlin began. Members of the People’s and Border Police, as well as members of the Combat Groups of the Working Class were deployed along the border. They had 30 minutes to seal off 81 streets. At 1:30am, the forces also entered numerous train stations and rail traffic between the two halves of the city was permanently blocked. The station at Friedrichstraße was the only exception and remained in service as an interchange station for inter-sector traffic. Passenger trains from the West also stopped at this station.
The streets were sealed off in the following three hours. During this period, pavements were torn up, train track connections were separated, road barriers were erected and barbed wire was lain. When the city began to wake at 6:00am, everything had been closed off. Only 12 road links remained open where people could pass between East and West and they were strictly regulated. The Brandenburg Gate was cordoned off in the following days as well as further streets. Only eight crossings remained and strict controls were carried out at such crossings.