This 1962 newsreel from Hearst Metrotone News showed the situation before the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961 and the changes in the year following. Scenes showed families attempting to communicate across the wall and many successful and unsuccessful escape attempts, including 18-year-old Peter Fechter, who was shot and left to die beside the wall on August 17, 1962. Scenes were also shown of the August 13, 1962, commemoration in West Berlin of the first anniversary of the wall.