The post-War citizens of Berlin have only just rid themselves of the ruins of the past when the present sets about ridding them of their future. On 13th August 1961 the GDR government lays the headstone for the “ugliest monument in the world”. A 43-kilometre wall is erected through the middle of Berlin. Countless stunned citizens bring their cameras to record the events on film. The filmmakers Claus Oppermann and Gerald Grote have assembled a breath-taking documentary from more than 50 hours of raw material. Images recorded by film amateurs recount the tale of how a city, a whole country, was divided. Their previously unpublished films enable an extraordinary view of a global event and its consequences.