Berlin
09 November 2009
Fireworks at Brandenburg Gate for celebrations of 20th anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall, 9 Nov 2009 |
Despite the rain, crowds gathered at the Bornholm Bridge, the first checkpoint in the Berlin Wall to open the night of November 9, 1989.
The Wall stood for nearly three decades, dividing the city and Germany into East and West. But in the end, protests and peaceful revolutions, such as in Poland, and changes in Moscow brought it down. That led to the reunification of Germany and the end of the Cold War.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev(L), German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Polish President Lech Walesa in Berlin, 09 Nov 2009 |
Mrs. Merkel said meeting here was especially significant.
She said there is joy in the possibilities that opened up at this very bridge, noting it was the result of a long struggle against oppression. She thanked Lech Walesa and his Solidarity Labor movement in Poland and Mikhail Gorbachev, the reformist leader in Moscow. Both paved the way for what would happen in Germany in 1989.
Fall of Berlin Wall is celebrated with display of giant dominoes falling along wall's route, 9 Nov 2009 |
Organizers of the anniversary events say they want the festivities to connect with ordinary people - to show that it was people power, with the help of reform-minded political leaders, that brought down the Wall and changed the course of history.