The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 held significant geopolitical importance as it symbolized the height of the Cold War and the division between East and West. It physically separated East Berlin, a communist state, from West Berlin, a democratic enclave surrounded by a communist regime in East Germany. The wall became a powerful symbol of repression and the Iron Curtain, representing a broader division not just in Germany, but across Europe. Its creation was an attempt by the Soviet Union to stop the mass exodus of East Germans to the West, and it stood until its fall in 1989, marking a pivotal moment in history.