“The Berlin Wall (German: Berliner Mauer) was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin. The barrier included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area (later known as the “death strip”) that contained anti-vehicle trenches, “fakir beds” and other defenses. The Soviet-dominated Eastern Bloc officially claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the “will of the people” in building a socialist state in East Germany. However, in practice, the Wall served to prevent the massive emigration and defection that marked Germany and the communist Eastern Bloc during the post-World War II period”. – Wikipedia

Photo: West Berlin policemen and East German Volkspolizei face each other across the border in Berlin, circa 1955. (Photo by Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

A bear that wandered into a University of Colorado Boulder dorm complex falls from a tree after being tranquilized by Colorado wildlife officials on April 26, 2012. Colorado wildlife official Jennifer Churchill said that the 200-pound male bear was tagged and relocated to a remote Rocky Mountain area. The bear was hit by two cars on May 3 and died. (Photo by Andy Duann)

Maltese singer Emma Muscat attends the turquoise carpet of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest at Reggia di Venaria Reale on May 08, 2022 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Stefania D'Alessandro/Getty Images)

A woman smokes a mask bong on the final day of Hempfest, Seattle's annual gathering to promote the legalization of marijuana, on August 17, 2014. (Photo by Jordan Stead/Seattlepi.com)

Russia's Maria Stavitskaia performs during the ladies short program at the Rostelecom Cup ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Moscow November 14, 2014. (Photo by Grigory Dukor/Reuters)

A Chinese woman stands along a road with her dog at a residential community in Beijing on March 11, 2013. Regulations in Beijing and other major Chinese cities ban residents from keeping large dogs in downtown areas, but rules are sometimes flouted. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

Jean-François Leroy launched Visa Pour l’Image, the international photojournalism festival, in Perpignan in 1989. Before heading up the festival, Leroy was shooting reportage for the agency Sipa Press and also working for Photo-Reporter, Le Photographe, Photo-Revue and Photo Magazine. He is the chairman of the company Images Evidence. Photo: 2008 Visa d'or Feature: Brent Stirton. Conservation Rangers from an Anti-Poaching unit work with locals to evacuate the bodies of four Mountain Gorrillas killed in mysterious circumstances in the park, July 24, 2007, Virunga National Park, Eastern Congo. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Exclusive by Getty Images)

A large balloon of a face of “ojisan”, a middle aged man, floats in the sky above the grounds of Nishiki elementary school in Utsunomiya in Tochigi prefecture, 100km north of Tokyo on December 21, 2014. Members of art group “Me”, meaning “eye” in Japanese and the Utsunomiya Museum of Art launched an art installation “The Day an Ojisan's Face Floated in the Sky”, a 15-meter by 10-meter face balloon of the depicted man, who was auditioned in the city, looking down on his home town from the sky. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)