Germans mark Berlin Wall anniversary

BERLIN, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- German officials marked the 45th anniversary Sunday of the beginning of construction on the Berlin Wall.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble and Berlin's governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit attended the ceremony in the Bernauer Strasse, where the border was first sealed, Deutsche Welle reported. The ceremony honored the 192 people who lost their lives attempting to cross the wall from the communist east into West Germany.

Construction of the wall, which separated West Berlin from the rest of West Germany, began on the night of Aug. 13, 1961. The wall ran for 155 kilometers, or more than 93 miles. It was breached in November 1989 and torn down in 1990 as the Cold War ended and communism collapsed.