No wall is so high that you can't be broken

30. Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall in Berlin, called on Chancellor Angela Merkel to defend the 1989-won freedom against the new hostility. "Of the 9. November, in the in a special way for both the terrible as well as the happy moments of our history, reminds us that we must hate, racism and anti-Semitism occur decided," Merkel said in Berlin on Saturday at the Central memorial ceremony.

Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to the Europeans to continue to work committed to the unity of the continent. Not all of the hopes and goals of the Tearing of the Iron curtain had been achieved. "Freedom and democracy, prosperity and cohesion in Europe remain big and ambitious goals."

Celebration on the former "death strip"

The tips of the state commemorated on Saturday in Berlin at the Central Celebration on the former death strip at Bernauer Strasse of the fall of the wall exactly 30 years ago. The Federal President had invited the heads of state of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary - Zuzana Caputova, Milos Zeman, Andrzej Duda, and Janos Ader in Berlin.

"Without the courage and the desire for Freedom of Poland and Hungary, the Czechs and the Slovaks, the peaceful revolutions in Eastern Europe and German unity would not have been possible," said Steinmeier at the monument to the contribution of the four Visegrad countries to the fall of the Berlin wall. The freedom movements in these countries had made it possible in the first place.

9. November was a fateful day in German history, Merkel said. She recalled the pogrom of the Nazis in 1938. The fact humanity had followed the crime and the Holocaust. The low crack of the wall in 1989, shows from the point of view of the Chancellor: "No wall, the people segregated and freedom is limited, is so high or so wide that it can not be broken."

the Director of The memorial Foundation Axel Klaus Meier, said at the ceremony, at the time, took witnesses, and students: "The peaceful Revolution means first of all to take responsibility, to live tolerance, to respect democracy and human rights, and to defend and to fill the dream of a United Europe with life."

roses for the wall-victims

At the commemoration were, Steinmeier, Merkel and other senior politicians such as the President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble and Berlin's governing mayor Michael Müller for the wall-victims of yellow and orange roses in the wall. To the memory of the courage of the GDR Opposition in the autumn of 1989, the candles were lit. On demonstrations supported candles were the Symbol of non-violent resistance.

During a meeting for worship in the also on the former death strip nearby chapel of reconciliation, the Evangelical Bishop of Berlin and Brandenburg, Markus Dröge said, the memory of the peaceful Revolution from the event this year, more thoughtful than five years ago. The attack on the synagogue in Halle have to let all of the stress. In addition, the public discussion had become sharper. I'm also going to make it clear to the radical upheavals in the East German in everyday life and at work have experienced after 1989.

"A day that admonishes"

The CDU Chairman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer reminded of the courage of the East Germans, and wrote on Twitter: "today is about courage and Confidence." With views of the pogrom night in 1938, she also explained: "it all Started with verrohter language, hatred and baiting, exclusion, and defamation. 9. November is also a day that calls for today and the future."

The Bernauer Strasse is seen as a Symbol of German division. When the wall was pulled in 1961, highly, was the houses front the street, in the East, the pavement in the West. With the 9. November 1989, the German division went after some 40 years, the Berlin wall had stood for more than 28 years. According to scientific findings, at least 140 people by the GDR border regime, died at the approximately 160-Kilometer-long wall in the capital. (sda/red)

Created: 09.11.2019, 14:10 PM