Germany is marking the 47th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Speaking at a memorial ceremony in Berlin, Parliament President Norbert Lammert urged that the memory of Germany's division and its victims be kept alive. Lammert and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit laid wreaths at a memorial at one of the few sections left standing of the Wall. Communist East Germany started building the barrier on August 13, 1961. The Berlin Wall was one of the most notorious symbols of the Cold War and separated the city until November 9, 1989.