Germany to mark 60th anniversary of hated Berlin Wall

Germany is set to mark the 60th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, which formally split the nation into two rival political systems and led to the deaths of about 140 people trying to flee to the west from the east's communist regime.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Berlin's Mayor Michael Mueller are set to attend a Berlin ceremony on Friday marking the anniversary and to lay wreaths at the Berlin Wall Memorial for those who died at the hands of East German border guards.

The building of the concrete barrier rapidly turned into a major symbol of the Cold War and Europe's post-Second World War divide.

East German soldiers began the moves to build what the communist authorities described as the Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier when they laid out more than 48 kilometres of barbed wire through central Berlin in the night to August 13, 1961.

Guard towers quickly sprung up in the east along the hated wall to oversee the so-called death strip between Germany's western and eastern parts, with East German citizens essentially forbidden from travelling to the west. About 5,000 succeeded in escaping.

The Berlin Wall's construction also came after a steady flow of East German citizens headed to the west during the first 12 years of the pro-Moscow state, which was founded in 1949.

The wall was finally swept away in a popular revolution in the east in November 1989, paving the way for Germany's historic unification.