Berlin marked 36 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall with a commemorative ceremony on Bernauer Strasse, a street once split in two when the Wall was built in 1961.
Mayor Kai Wegner praised the courageous citizens who tore down the Wall, driven by their desire for freedom and unity.
Axel Klausmeier, director of the Berlin Wall Foundation, emphasised the importance of remembering the events of autumn 1989 as a call to take responsibility. He urged people to embrace tolerance, protect democracy, freedom, and human rights, and foster the dream of peaceful coexistence.
The Berlin Wall divided the city into East and West for 28 years. In autumn 1989, massive protests put the East German leadership under intense pressure, leading to the opening of the borders on 9 November. That evening, tens of thousands of people crossed the border from East Berlin to West Berlin.
The events precipitated the collapse of the division between East and West Germany.
