Berlin facts

Anti-fascist Protection Rampart. The name implied that West Germany had not been fully de-Nazified. Before the Wall's erection, 3.5 million East Germans defected from the GDR. Between 1961 and 1989, the wall prevented almost all such emigration.

Paris. After the 1806 Prussian defeat, Napoleon was the first to use the Brandenburg Gate for a triumphal procession and took the Quadriga to Paris. It was restored in 1814, after Napoleon's defeat and the Prussian occupation of Paris.

In Berlin. The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is a well known memorial in Berlin to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. It consists of 2,711 concrete blocks. Opened in 2005, this large memorial site (19,000 m², 4.7 acres) is today one of the must-see places in Berlin. It is estimated that some 3.5 million visitors entered the memorial in the first year it was open, or about 10,000 every day.

West Berlin. After the end of World War II, Berlin was divided into four occupational zones: Soviet, American, French and British. Later, the three zones of western allies were joined to form West Berlin. With about two million inhabitants, West Berlin had the highest number of residents of any city in Cold War-era Germany.

At point 2. Since the end of World War II, Berlin is just 50 miles from the Polish border.