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From 1959 to 1962 Peter Guba - born in 1940 - was a guard in the People's Police and was stationed at the border in Berlin before and after the Wall went up. He used his nine-millimetre camera to capture intimate glimpses of life at the barracks and at numerous border crossings. He has granted the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse and the German Historical Museum access to his footage.

In 2011, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Wall going up, the rbb interviewed Berliners to find out what the division of the city meant to them. The Wall had a profound impact on the way each person went about their daily lives - no matter what side they found themselves on. Overnight people were cut off from their friends and relatives, from their offices, factories and schools, and from places where they enjoyed spending their leisure time. The division of the city tore families apart, ruptured biographies and claimed many lives.

locations

• Berlin, Brandenburger Tor

  showtime

  1

  latitude

  52.516258

  longitude

  13.377501

• Berlin, Potsdamer Platz

  showtime

  136

  latitude

  52.5093519

  longitude

  13.3757392