Twelve years after: The Berlin Wall as will and idea

The Berlin Wall at different times in its ignominious history has been demo nized by Western opinion less because of its real paltry role in the Cold V ar tension in Europe than because of the fears and frustrations it generate d within Europe. This is the central theine and claim of this paper. We att empt to show through an excursion of personal and institutional events how the Perceptions of Soviet communist realities were refracted through the ic on of the Wall as a Cold War symbol.