B Reactor History Room: Fall of the Berlin Wall

The Fall of the Berlin Wall exhibit panel in the History Room.

See exhibit panel for specific image credits.

Main Text
Text reads: “Joyous East Berliners climb and dismantle parts of the Berlin Wall in November 1989.”

Text at the bottom right continues: “Fall of the Berlin Wall - For 28 years, the Berlin Wall divided West Berlin from surrounding East Germany. It also served as the physical manifestation of the Iron Curtain—a term used to describe the ideological divide between western democratic countries and the communist Soviet Union. On November 9, 1989, after months of protests and East German refugees leaving the country, the German Democratic Republic announced that East Germans were free to visit West Germany. The Berlin Wall was no longer a functional barrier between East and West Berlin. The fall of the Berlin Wall changed the dynamics of the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Essentially, the Cold War was over.”

Exhibit Panel Description
The poster displays a Time magazine cover from November 20, 1989, showing a group of young men standing and sitting atop the Berlin Wall. A yellow banner headline declares, “Freedom!”

Visit This Exhibit Panel
In-person visitation of the B Reactor is only authorized on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.