25 Years of the fall of the Berlin Wall
Berlin has put in place an ambitious art installation consisting of 8,000 illuminated white balloons snaking along the 12 km stretch retracing the path of the wall.
A symbol of the tensions of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, with wave after wave of East Berliners streaming in to the western part of the divided city without a visa, marking the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union-led communist bloc.
To commemorate the event, the city has put in place an ambitious art installation consisting of 8,000 illuminated white balloons snaking along the 12 km stretch retracing the path of the wall. On Sunday night, the balloons will be released into the night sky to the strains of Beethoven's ninth symphony, bringing to end three event-filled days of commemoration of the landmark event. An estimated two to three million people are expected to attend the celebrations at Brandenburg Gate on Sunday night, which will feature performances by the orchestra of the Berlin State Opera and English musician-songwriter Peter Gabriel. The former Polish president, Lech Walesa, Hungary's ex-premier Miklos Nemeth, the last leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and German President Joachim Gauck will be in attendance.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hails from East Berlin, on Saturday spoke of the fall of the wall, in a special podcast. “I think you never forget how you felt that day - at least I will never forget it. I had to wait 35 years for that feeling of liberty. It changed my life.” That day Ms. Merkel, then a 35-year-old physicist, was on her way home from the sauna when she saw crowds moving west towards the Wall, and she joined them. The people had been stirred into action after Gunter Schabowski, the spokesperson for the Socialist Unity Party that ruled East Germany, committed a gaffe at a press conference on new regulations regarding travel to the West by saying that the regulations would be effective immediately.
Not everyone, however, is filled with hope and optimism. On Saturday, speaking at an event here, Mikhail Gorbachev spoke of the advent of a new cold war, referring to the standoff between Ukraine and Russia. He accused the United States of turning complacent after the end of the Cold War and not pursuing the agenda of demilitarising Europe.
Meanwhile, an artist collective, the Centre for Political beauty, created ripples when last week it stole memorial crosses dedicated to people who died while attempting to flee East Germany, and moved the crosses to the fenced borders the European Union shares with Africa in protest against what it called the “new walls around Europe.” According to a study by a consortium of European journalists, more than 23,000 people have lost their lives in the past 14 years while attempting to reach the continent.
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