The Fall of the Berlin Wall The sudden and unanticipated opening of the Berlin Wall in 1989 dramatized the spectacular fall of communism throughout east-central Europe. Built on the orders of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1961, the hated barrier had stopped the flow of refugees from East Germany to West Germany. Over the twenty-eight years of its existence, the wall came to symbolize the limits on personal freedom enforced by Communist dictatorships. (© Piels Patrick/Gamma)