Unless people were alive when it was still up, it may be difficult for some to apreciate the symbolism of the Berlin Wall. I visited Berlin while it was still up- on both sides. Berlin was about two thirds of the way into East Germany- not along the border. To get there you either drove along roads with walls and security and no turnoffs until you were in the city or you took a train which is what I did. When the train reaches the East German border, the crew all gets off except the conductor who takes it across the border. He gets off and an entire East German crew gets on and all tickets and papers are checked again. The process is repeated once more upon arriving in Berlin.
The city itself was an island of capitalism and free markets in the midst of the Communist command controlled goverment and economy. On the west side of the city, glittering shops and restaraunts and shiny buildings of a modern city abounded (except for the remains of the old Kaiser Willheim Gedechkness Kirche next to the new one). In the east you have the Brandenburg Gate where they turned around the statue on top to face the East instead of the west. There are a few well stocked stores like Kaufahlle des Westens but they only take western currency there so the locals rarely go there. Just a couple of blocks away a line forms outside a small grocery store. There was a rumour that they actually had some bananas today. The buildings are all gray and most are pock marked with bullet holes from WWII. For westerners visiting, things in East Berlin were pretty cheap. For the East Germans, they were expensive on their incomes or pensions.
One day I was walking along the wall on the Western side and there was a place they were making some repairs. Three men were working on a section and for each person there were two men with guns keeping a close eye on them. On the other side, a small group stood waiting and watching- perhaps to try to help anybody who tried to escape. You could visit the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie in the American sector and see some of the ways people tried to use to get out of the East. Some made it, but most did not.
Being there in person you could feel the tension and contrasts between the two parts of the same city as well as between the two different forms of government. People criticize ours (and they are free to do so) but do not realize how much worse things were (and in most places still are relatively so) in the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain.
Just my experience with the wall. I now have a set of the last coins of East Germany which includes a small piece of the wall and a bit of barbed wire as well as a momento. It makes me sad to see the walls being built in Israel and Palestine where once again people are being artificially and arbitrarily divided. It was incredible just how quickly things changed throughout Europe once the wall was breached.
Video- Moments in History- gives a quick summary of the events.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2qq5J5A1s