Update | Three-day party in Berlin marks 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall
Huge party in Germany's reunited capital marks the historic demise of the starkest symbol of Europe's cold war divisions
The fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago, heralding the end to the Cold War between East and West, showed the world “dreams can come true” and should inspire people trapped in tyranny everywhere, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday.
Festivities to mark the anniversary have drawn more than 100,000 Berliners and tourists to the centre of the once-divided city. Many wandered along a 15-km former “death strip” where the Wall once stood, and 7,000 illuminated helium balloons were perched 3.6 metres high on poles - matching the height of the barrier built in 1961 by Communist East Germany.
Merkel, a young scientist in Communist East Berlin when she got her first taste of freedom on Nov. 9, 1989, said in a speech that the Wall’s opening in response to mass popular pressure would be eternally remembered as a triumph of the human spirit.
“The fall of the Berlin Wall showed us that dreams can come true - and that nothing has to stay the way it is, no matter how high the hurdles might seem to be,” said Merkel, who is now 60 and has led united Germany since 2005.
“It showed that we have the power to shape our destiny and make things better,” she said, noting that people in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere around the world should feel heartened by the example of the wall’s sudden demise.
“It was a victory of freedom over bondage and it’s a message of faith for today’s, and future, generations that can tear down the walls - the walls of dictators, violence and ideologies.”
Germans, with few anniversaries to fete after an earlier 20th century record of belligerence and war, have latched onto memories of the peaceful East German revolution that felled the wall as a bright, shining moment in their history.