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East German soldiers put up the Wall while most Berliners were asleep 1961: Berliners wake to divided city England have Troops in East Germany have sealed the border between East and West Berlin, shutting off the escape route for thousands of refugees from the East. Barbed wire fences up to six feet (1.83 metres) high were put up during the night, and Berliners woke this morning to find themselves living in a divided city. Train services between the two sectors of the city have been cut, and all road traffic across the border has been stopped. Thousands of angry demonstrators quickly gathered on the West Berlin side of the divide. At one crossing point, protesters tried to trample down the barbed wire, only to be driven back by guards with bayonets . The West German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, appealed for calm, saying in a broadcast to the nation this evening: Now, as always, we are closely bound to the Germans of the Russian zone and East Berlin. They are and remain our German brothers and sisters. The Federal Government remains firmly committed to the goal of German unity. There has been outrage from the international community at the abrupt decision to cut off one side of the city from the other. A Foreign Office spokesman in London said the restrictions were contrary to the four-power status of Berlin, and therefore illegal. | 
