Germany marks 30th anniversary of Berlin Wall’s fall

BERLIN: Germany celebrated on Saturday the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany, with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanking Eastern European neighbours for spurring on the peaceful revolution.The toppling of the wall, which separated the Communist-ruled East from the capitalist West in Berlinfor nearly three decades and became a potent symbol of the Cold War, was followed a year later by the reunification of Germany in 1990.“Together with our friends, we remember with deep gratitude the events 30 years ago,” Steinmeier said during a ceremony at the Bernauer Strasse Berlin Wall Memorial, which was also attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel and heads of state from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.“Without the courage and the will to freedom of the Poles and Hungarians, the Czechs and Slovaks, the peaceful revolutions in Eastern Europe and Germany’s reunification would not have been possible,” Steinmeier said.During the ceremony, Steinmeier and the presidents of the four Eastern European nations placed roses in a small gap in the remains of the wall at the memorial.In August 1989, Hungarian border guards for the first time allowed people from East Germany to cross freely into Austria, paving the way for the fall of the Berlin Wall three months later and with it the end of the Iron Curtain.Steinmeier said, however, that the historic event did not mark the “end of history” as US historian Francis Fukuyama stated. The struggle of political systems continues and the future is more uncertain than ever before, he added.“Liberal democracy is being challenged and questioned,” Steinmeier said, calling on Germany and its European allies to keep fighting for a peaceful and united Europe.His message was echoed by Merkel, who grew up in the former East, during a commemorative service at the memorial’s chapel.“The values on which Europe is founded - freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights - are anything but self-evident. And they have to be filled with life and must be defended again and again,” she said.Foreign Minister Heiko Maas also used the occasion to appeal for European unity.“Power is shifting away from Europe, authoritarian models are on the rise, the United States is increasingly looking inwards and international law is losing ground,” he said.“It means we will have to overcome some of our much-loved national taboos.The United States and European allies accuse Berlin of spending too little on defence, and view Germany’s large current account surplus as a sign that Germans are not investing enough to support growth and development.Meanwhile Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in the former East told Sueddeutsche Zeitung that life in the Communist-ruled German Democratic Republic (GDR) was simpler and sometimes could be “almost comfortable in a certain way”.In an interview with the German daily released ahead of Saturday’s 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Merkel said western Germany had a “rather stereotypical notion” of the East. There are a lot of people, she said, “who simply had a hard time understanding that there was a difference between the GDR state and the individual life of the GDR citizens.”“I’ve been asked if you could be happy in the GDR, and if you could laugh. Yes, and myself and many others attached great importance to being able to look (ourselves) in the mirror each day, but we made compromises,” she said.Born in Hamburg in 1954, Merkel moved with her family to East Germany as a baby when herfather, Horst Kasner, was offered a job as a pastor there. She grew up in Templin, a small town north of Berlin surrounded by rolling hills and picturesque lakes.Although her father belonged to a wing of the Protestant church that worked with, not against, the political system, the family was viewed as suspect by the Communist authorities because of his religious role.The fall of the wall, which had divided East and West Germany in Berlin for nearly three decades and became a potent symbol of the Cold War, was followed a year later by the reunification of Germany.Reflecting on the time it has taken Germany’s east to adjust to reunification, Merkel told the Sueddeutsche: “The efforts of freedom, to have to decide everything, have to be learned.”“Life in the GDR was sometimes almost comfortable in a certain way, because there were some things one simply couldn’t influence,” she added.

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