Ing’s Peace Project and Essex County 4-H Scholarship Awards

Ing’s Peace Project

And

Essex County 4-H Scholarship Awards

                                           On Saturday, November 15, 2014

Ing’s Peace Project

Comments by Essex County 4-H Scholarship Awards’ attendants

On “What does Peace mean to you?”

Organized by Marissa Blonik and Greg Walker

On Saturday, November 15th, 2014

At Paul Robson Center, Rutgers University,

Newark, New Jersey

Tanyoka Williams, a volunteer with Essex County 4-H presented trophies to students.

Theme Basket Fundraiser

Students Artworks for Thanksgiving Day

And Veterans Day

Kenya Catching, an administrative assistant at Essex County 4-H organization

Marissa Boldnik, (4-H Program Associate), and other organization members worked hard for this very successful event.

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The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall Part 2

The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Saturday and Sunday, November 8 & 9, 2014

Part 2

Speech by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel at the 6th Falling Walls Conference

Date     Nov 08, 2014

Location:     Berlin

Professor Turner,
Professor Mlynek,
Professor Eissenhauer,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Thinking over, rethinking, thinking ahead – that’s what you’ve come here to do. The monumental installation by David Chipperfield, to whom I’d like to extend a very warm welcome, is a source of inspiration for this. I welcome all of you to Berlin, this city which has written history.

The Falling Walls Conference brings together the past and the future in a very special way. It combines the commemoration of the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago with a look ahead at which frontiers can be overcome today and tomorrow. It combines experiences and the hope of a good, indeed a better, life in future – a hope fuelled in particular by science and research. The Falling Walls Conference thus focuses attention on a key prerequisite and driving force of human action. This was, is and will remain freedom.

Tomorrow we will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This day brings home to us that the human urge for freedom cannot be suppressed forever. In the course of that fateful year, 1989, more and more East Germans overcame their fear of state repression and harassment. They exposed the fraud at the local elections. They gathered in churches to discuss openly. They founded civil rights movements and took to the streets to voice their demands.

On 7 October 1989, the SED grandees celebrated the 40th anniversary of the GDR with the customary pomp. At the same time, they ordered the security forces to harass people who were demonstrating peacefully. Despite this, just two days later tens of thousands of people gathered in Leipzig for the Monday demonstration. A line had thus been crossed. There was no going back. More and more people showed civic courage. It’s thanks to their courage that the barriers at the border between the two German states were finally opened.

In contrast to 1953 in East Germany, 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia or 1981 in Poland, the longing for freedom and self-determination could no longer be crushed; neither in East Germany nor anywhere else. The human need to be able to take one’s destiny into one’s own hands turned the cruel division of Europe and the Cold War into a thing of the past. Today around 500 million people from 28 member countries live within the European Union. They live together in peace and freedom. Others would like to become part of our community. Our coming together under one roof is the forward-looking answer to the antagonism of former days.

The lack of communication, the boundless distrust and cold confidence in military logic which prevailed one hundred years ago when the First World War broke out have become inconceivable. We are also remembering this event in 2014, as well as the outbreak of the Second World War 75 years ago. Both wars left many millions dead – both soldiers and civilians. They reduced our continent to rubble. They left a trail of unspeakable horror. We Germans will never forget that it was our country which broke all the rules of humanity during the National Socialist era. Due to the Shoah, that ultimate betrayal of all civilised values, Germany has an ever-lasting responsibility.

After all these horrors, Europe was not yet able to come together. The Cold War followed. Germany, Europe and the world were divided into two blocs. The wall which cut Berlin in two symbolised this.

25 years ago, in the days leading up to 9 November 1989, the growing protest movement may have led some to think it was vaguely possible that the Wall could fall. However, virtually no one could have imagined that it would only be a matter of hours. It is certainly possible to see a parallel to science in this. In this field, too, some things emerge with ill-defined outlines. But when precisely the breakthrough will happen and – above all – what it will look like exactly and what new possibilities it will offer, sometimes becomes apparent quite unexpectedly.

Freedom is a vital prerequisite and engine for this. Freedom opens up new worlds. Anyone who can think and research freely can better understand the bigger picture, can recognize new paths and is free to embark upon them. Or as the French author André Gide said, “One doesn’t discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” Yes, it requires courage to gain freedom. And it also requires courage to take advantage of freedom. The Falling Walls Conference wants to give us courage, the courage to overcome the walls around current thinking, to cut lanes and open up new perspectives.

This year’s Nobel Prize Winner for Chemistry gave us a wonderful example which shows that what is seemingly insurmountable can be overcome after all. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Professor Stefan Hell most warmly on his great success. His research focuses on nanobiophotonics. Thanks to his pioneering work, detailed resolutions which used to be considered impossible are now possible in the field of microscopy. Basically, he made visible what had previously been invisible. And this has quite literally opened up new and in-depth insights into living cells. This helps to better understand the causes of diseases and, ultimately, to devise targeted treatments.

Health research in particular illustrates very clearly how the pace of scientific advance can affect the standard of living. That’s also the reason why great hopes are often placed in science. To ensure that many of these hopes can be fulfilled, we have made the promotion of science a political focus – in the health field as well as in many other spheres.

We have devoted greater attention in health care to previously neglected diseases caused by poverty. For especially in the field of health research, developed countries like Germany with a strong research record have an international responsibility. That’s why we made this topic one of the focuses of our G7 Presidency.

When I say that, I’m also thinking of ebola, which has hit many parts of West Africa. German scientists are helping to find ways and means of halting the spread of this disease. However, we have to admit that we could probably already have a vaccine if we’d paid enough attention to this disease before the epidemic took hold.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is much I could tell you about what the Federal Government is doing in cooperation with the Länder to steadily advance science. However, rather than go into details, I would just like to say that we are always guided by the idea that only by breaking new ground, only if we are prepared to leave well-trodden paths and encourage people to do this, will we be able to maintain and increase our prosperity.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Falling Walls Conference undoubtedly also offers an excellent opportunity to showcase Germany’s scientific sector. I make no secret of the fact that we’d be delighted if even more top researchers from abroad were to come to Germany to research. Our universities and non-university research institutions have much to offer. We won’t content ourselves with cultivating our reputation as a country which traditionally produces poets and thinkers. Although we’re meeting in a museum today, our intention is not to merely look back. We want to gain a reputation as a country of pioneering thinkers.

For we know that innovation made in Germany as an outstanding seal of quality would be inconceivable without freedom. This also applies to vocational training. In the former GDR, for example, many were not allowed to study even though they were talented. A free state, on the other hand, fosters individual interests and abilities.

We welcome lateral thinkers, people who pursue new avenues. Everyone should have an opportunity, and everyone should take advantage of this opportunity. That’s what makes a country humane. And that’s what makes a country enduringly successful. That will remain the aim and yardstick of forward-looking, forward-thinking policies. In addition, there is a host of initiatives in which people who want to explore new paths, who want to overcome barriers, can come together. The Falling Walls Conference is one of these.

I wish you not only a lovely evening but also fruitful discussions tomorrow. Once again, I bid a very warm welcome to each and everyone of you.

Please visit The Federal Government’s link for more information:

https://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/EN/Reden/2014/2014-11-08-rede-bkin-falling-wall_en.html;jsessionid=99DEE33D9C2378BB697F0F59F6EFD806.s2t1?nn=393812

The followings are the articles and photographs from different media:

The Huffington Post on November 12, 2014

It’s Been 25 Years Since The Fall Of The Berlin Wall. These 16 Photos Tell The Story.

The Huffington Post  | By Eline Gordts 

Posted: 11/09/2014 10:06 am EST Updated: 11/09/2014 10:59 am EST

November 9 marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Cold War barrier that divided East and West Berlin for nearly three decades.

Responding to a question by an Italian journalist at a press conference on Nov. 9, 1989, Guenter Schabowski, the spokesman for East Germany’s Central Committee, announced that East German citizens would be able to travel to the western part of the city. The unintentional comment caused thousands of East Germans to rush to the barricade, demanding to be allowed to cross.

Take a look at the incredible photos below from Nov. 9 and the turbulent days that followed.

People climb on the Berlin wall on Nov. 10, 1989. (AP Photo)

West Berlin citizens celebrate in the eastern part of the Checkpoint Charlie border crossing in West Berlin, Nov. 9, 1989, after the announcement by communist East Germany that it would open its borders to the west. (AP Photo/Lutz Schmidt)

A long row of East German Trabant cars passing through Checkpoint Charlie into West Berlin is greeted by enthusiastic West Berliners, 10th November 1989. (Photo by EPA PHOTOS DPA FILES/AFP/Getty Images)

East German border policemen, right, refuse to shake hands with a Berliner who stretches out his hand over the border fence at the eastern site nearby Checkpoint Charlie border crossing point on Nov. 10, 1989. (AP Photo/Lutz Schmidt)

Berliners sing and dance on top of The Berlin Wall to celebrate the opening of East-West German borders in this Nov. 10, 1989 file picture. (AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle, File)

In a giant cloud of exhaust fumes of two-stroke engines, hundreds of East German cars wait bumper to bumper in front of the West German checkpoint Helmstedt to enter the west, Nov. 11, 1989. In front of the eastern checkpoint, the cars wait in line for a distance of 30-40 kilometers, a West German policeman said. The ride from Berlin to Helmstadt (about 200 kilometers) would last about 11 hours. (AP Photo/Claus Eckert)

East German border guards look through a hole in the Berlin wall after demonstrators pulled down one segment of the wall at Brandenburg gate in this November 11, 1989 file picture. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File)

A West Berlin policeman, right, and an East German border guard stand on ladders while talking over the Berlin Wall at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, Nov. 11, 1989, where East Germany began to pull down the wall early Saturday morning. (AP Photo)

East German border guards use a hose to discourage West Berliners near Brandenburg gate, in Berlin, Nov. 11, 1989. The citizens from the west tried to demolish the wall, demanding it be pulled down. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

An unidentified West Berliner swings a sledgehammer, trying to destroy the Berlin Wall near Potsdamer Platz, on November 12, 1989, where a new passage was opened nearby. (AP Photo/John Gaps III)

An East Berlin border guard is hugged by an unidentified Berliner at Potsdammer Platz, Nov. 12, 1989, when East Germany opened the wall to the west at this historical landmark. (AP Photo/Rainer Klostermeier)

A man hammers away at the Berlin Wall, as the border barrier between East and West Germany was torn down after 28 years, in this Nov. 12, 1989 file picture. (AP Photo/John Gaps III, File)

West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall early 11 November 1989 as they watch people trying to demolish a section of the wall in order to open a new crossing point between East and West Berlin, near the Potsdamer Square. (GERARD MALIE/AFP/Getty Images)

Two West German policemen prevent people from approaching as East German Vopos stand on and near a fallen portion of the Berlin Wall 11 November 1989. (GERARD MALIE/AFP/Getty Images)

East and West German Police contain the crowd of East Berliners flowing through the recent opening made in the Berlin wall at Potsdamer Square, on November 12, 1989. (PATRICK HERTZOG/AFP/Getty Images)

Thousands of young East Berliners crowd atop the Berlin Wall, near the Brandenburg Gate (background) on November 11, 1989. (GERARD MALIE/AFP/Getty Images)

Please visit the following links for more information:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/09/berlin-wall-anniversary-photos_n_6094308.html?utm_hp_ref=world&ir=WorldPost

Berlin Berlin Wall Berlin Wall Anniversary Berlin Wall Fall Berlin Wall Fall Anniversary Berlin Wall Photos Berlin Wall Fall Photos

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https://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/08/remembering_the_divide.html

Boston.com

Remembering the Berlin Wall

In 1961, East Germany erected a wall — initially barbed wire, eventually concrete — in the middle of Berlin to prevent its citizens from fleeing the communist country to West Germany during the height of the Cold War. It has been reported that 136 people died while trying to escape, but the total number is unknown. The wall finally came down at the beginning of November in 1989, part of the reunification of East and West Germany. Here are images from this past weekend’s recognition of the construction of the wall 50 years ago, as well as historic images. — Lloyd Young (30 photos total)

A nun walks in front of a line of wreaths during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin Aug. 13. Germany marks the 50th anniversary of the day communist East Germany sealed itself off behind the Wall. Germany had been divided into capitalist western and communist eastern sectors after the end of World War II. At the height of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the East German regime started building the wall through the capital on Aug. 13, 1961. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)

A West Berliner stands at the foot of the Berlin Wall while talking to an East Berliner in this 1962. (KRT)

Spectators stand at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin Aug. 13. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)

A boy sitting on the shoulders of another child peers at the Liesen street in Wedding, West Berlin, over the wall towards the eastern part of the city Aug. 23, 1961. (Werner Kreusch/Associated Press)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Berlin’s Major Klaus Wowereit, Germany’s President Christian Wulff and Axel Klausmeier, Director of the Berlin Wall Foundation, lay down floral wreaths during a commemorative ceremony of the construction of the Berlin Wall at the Bernauer Strasse Memorial in Berlin on Aug. 13. Berlin marked the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall with a memorial service and a minute of silence in memory of those who died trying to flee to the West. (Carsten Koall/AFP/Getty Images)

A young woman is seen through semi-transparent portraits of people who were killed trying to cross from east to west across the Berlin Wall on the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall at the Bernauer Strasse memorial on Aug. 13. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A man took a photo at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, during the commemorative ceremony of the construction of the Berlin Wall on Aug. 13. Berlin marked the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall with a memorial service and a minute of silence in memory of those who died trying to flee to the West. (Michele Tantussi/AFP/Getty Images)

A man holding a German flag attends a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall at the Bernauer Strasse memorial on Aug. 13. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A visitor peeks through a still-existing section of the Berlin Wall into the so-called ‘death strip,’ where East German border guards had the order to shoot anyone attempting to flee into West Berlin at the Bernauer Strasse memorial on Aug. 5. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A combination photo shows people posing at the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin in this June 6, 1989 file image (left) and a general view of Ebertstrasse and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Aug. 3, 2011. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Tourists posing in front of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg gate in Berlin in this June 6, 1989 (left) and a general view of the Brandenburg gate Aug. 3, 2011. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

A man takes pictures of exhibited photographs of the Berlin Wall at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin during the commemorative ceremony of the construction of the Berlin Wall on Aug. 13. (Michele Tantussi/AFP/Getty Images)

A West Berlin police officer stands in front of the concrete wall dividing East and West Berlin at Bernauer Strasse as East Berlin workers add blocks to increase the height of the East German barrier Oct. 7, 1961. (Associated Press)

Sylvia von Scheidt reacts at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin Aug. 13. Germany marks the 50th anniversary of the day communist East Germany sealed itself off behind the Berlin Wall. Germany had been divided into capitalist western and communist eastern sectors after the end of World War II. At the height of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the East German regime started building the wall through the capital on Aug. 13, 1961. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)

Visitors pass a camera through a hole in a remaining part of the Berlin Wall at the Documentation Center for Nazi Crimes in Berlin Aug. 13. ( Steffi Loos/Associated Press)

A person walks across the plaque and a line of bricks that show where the Berlin Wall used to stand at the Berlin Wall memorial site in Bernauer Strasse, Aug. 9. The German capital is preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, which was erected on Aug. 13, 1961. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

People look at the map showing the location of the Berlin Wall within the limits of Bernauer Strasse at the memorial site in Bernauer Strasse in Berlin, Aug. 11. (Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters)

Tourists look through a part of the former Berlin Wall fortification at the Berlin Wall memorial site in Bernauer Strasse, Aug. 9. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

A tourist walked in front of a segment of the graffiti painted wall at the East Side Gallery in Berlin, Aug. 12. (Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters)

An artist performs between iron bars during a rehearsal in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 8. The performance “Between the bricks” directed by Jo Parks will be shown during the remembrance celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall on Aug. 13. The iron bars symbolize the Berlin Wall and are set up where the original Wall stood at the Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse. (Markus Schreiber/Associated Press)

A man hammering at the Berlin Wall, as the border barrier between East and West Germany was torn down after 28 years. on Nov. 12, 1989. (John Gaps III, Associated Press)

A young West German girl smiling at her father as she points to a large hole in the Berlin Wall Nov. 11, 1989. The German capital is preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, which was erected on Aug. 13, 1961. (Reuters)

West Berlin youngsters peer through an opening in the wall at Postdammer Platz as East German border guards stand and watch. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe)

West Berliners crowd in front of the Berlin Wall early Nov. 11, 1989 as they watch East German border guards demolishing a section of the wall in order to open a new crossing point between East and West Berlin near Potsdamer Square. (AFP)

Defecting East German soldier Hans Conrad Schumann leaps over a barbed wire barricade at the Bernauer Street sector into West Berlin on Aug. 15, 1961. Schumann made his break for freedom to join his family which had fled earlier to West Berlin. Schumann, who was immortalized in this photograph as he leapt across the barbed wire fence that became the Berlin Wall, hanged himself from a tree June 20, 1998 near his garden, police said. (Peter Leibing/Assocaited Press/Contipress)

East German tanks lined up at Warschauer Bridge in Berlin, Germany Aug. 13, 1961. Crossing points between East and West Berlin were heavily guarded after Communists prevented East Germans from crossing into the West sector in an effort to stop heavy flow of refugees. (Peter Hillebrecht/Associated Press)

East German workers (left) assemble a wall of concrete blocks in the French sector of East Berlin Aug. 15, 1961. (Eddie Worth/Associated Press)

An inscription “from USSR mit love” on the Berlin Wall Oct. 13, 1976. The Berlin Wall might be history but the debate over its construction 50 years ago still weighs heavily on Germany’s collective consciousness as seen in an unseemly political row. With two regional elections set for September 2011, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has lashed out at the left-wing Linke party, a sometime ally, for recently defending the building of the Wall. (Ralph Gatti/AFP/Getty Images)

Peter Fechter is held by East German border guards, prior to being pronounced dead Aug. 17, 1962. Fechter was shot by East German guards as he tried to make it over the wall. (Associated Press)

The sculpture ‘Mauerdenkmal 1000’ (‘Wall memorial 1000’) by artist Florian Brauer, on the so-called ‘death strip’, (no man’s land), at the former Berlin Wall site in Bernauer Strasse June 16, 2011. The sculpture, which is part of events the German capital is holding to mark the 50th anniversary of the building of the Berlin Wall, is based on the scene when East German citizen Peter Fechter was eventually carried away by a GDR border guard, an hour after he was shot by guards on Aug. 17, 1962 as he attempted to climb over the Wall to West Berlin. Severely wounded, Fechter fell back onto the border strip at the base of the Berlin Wall and lay there bleeding to death without medical assistance. West Berlin police were not permitted to intervene, nor did the border troops of the western Allies at Checkpoint Charlie get involved. He was not carried away by GDR border guards until almost an hour later. (Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

More links and information

Please visit the following links for more information:

Boston.com

Remembering the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall – Times Topics

The Wall – Wikipedia entry

MSN & The NewYorkTimes

On a Memory-Filled Date, the Fall of the Berlin Wall Stands Front and Center

The New York Times

ALISON SMALE 5 hrs ago

© Michael Sohn/Associated Press Visitors gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

BERLIN — If memory needs places, Berlin was the place this weekend to remember the horror of the Berlin Wall, and the joy of unexpected liberation that accompanied its fall 25 years ago Sunday.

With her customary decorum, Chancellor Angela Merkel led her country in celebrations flavored with the only-in–Germany mix of triumph and tragedy.

In a 20-minute speech at a new memorial to the tragedies wrought by the wall, Ms. Merkel noted the special meaning of Nov. 9 in German history. It was on that day, in 1918, that Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated, “after four terrible years” of World War I. In 1923, it was the date of Hitler’s failed march on the Munich Festhalle. In 1938, she said, it was when the Nazis set fire to synagogues, plundered Jewish homes and businesses and detained and killed thousands of Jews — “the start of the killing of millions” in the catastrophe of the Holocaust.

Only in 1989, after Europeans across the Soviet bloc were rising up against Communism, did Nov. 9 become a date of joy with the wall falling. Now, Ms. Merkel and many other speakers this weekend noted, it is up to Germans to nurture the memory, preserve democracy and intervene to prevent injustice.

Thousands of words were spoken as hundreds of thousands of visitors converged on Berlin and captured millions of moments in the digital universe that did not exist a quarter-century ago. Where words and images were insufficient, the genius of Bach and Beethoven was summoned to express feelings.

Dorothea Ebert, a violinist who spent time in an East German jail after an unsuccessful attempt to flee to the West in 1983, performed for the chancellor and about 100 guests at the opening of the memorial, playing Bach’s Allemande from the Partita in D minor for solo violin. Hours later, the conductor Daniel Barenboim was to lead the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Staatsoper choir in Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” at the Brandenburg Gate.

The citywide celebrations drew a number of foreign dignitaries, including Lech Walesa, the founder of Poland’s Solidarity trade union; Miklos Nemeth, prime minister of Hungary when it opened the first hole in the Iron Curtain, allowing East Germans who were visiting Hungary to cross into Austria months before the wall fell; and the former Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, whose glasnost and perestroika policies paved the way for the successful popular uprisings across the Soviet bloc in 1989.

But it was, above all, a German event.

Ms. Merkel focused on Bernauer Strasse, the site in north Berlin where the wall literally ran through houses and people jumped to freedom from their windows as the wall went up on Aug. 13, 1961. It is now the site of an open-air memorial and museum that Berlin’s mayor, Klaus Wowereit, said would attract more than a million visitors this year.

After laying a yellow-and-red rose in memory of the 138 people killed trying to cross the wall — hundreds more died at the border that divided Germany itself — Ms. Merkel attended a brief religious service at which Berlin’s Lutheran bishop, Markus Dröge, extolled the “great and fragile gift of freedom.”

Christian Klopf, a local Berliner who helped start the drive for a memorial at the site, said that he passed it every day on a once-impossible journey from East to West. “And every day it is a great feeling,” he said.

Renate Fischer, another local resident, recalled how activists like herself at first just wanted to reform East Germany. “But then the impossible happened, and today it is routine,” she said.

Many of the East Germans who led the small but vocal dissident movement were prominent in this weekend’s celebrations. On Friday, Wolf Biermann, a singer who was stripped of his East German citizenship by the Communists in 1976, caused a stir when he used an appearance in the German Parliament to attack the Left Party, which consists partly of former Communists. When reminded that he had no right to make a speech, Mr. Biermann retorted that he was not going to be silenced now.

Indeed, he gave another concert for Ms. Merkel and hundreds of others on Saturday night. Some activists — including Roland Jahn, now the commissioner in charge of the huge archives of the Stasi, East Germany’s much-feared secret police — went on to other parties, thanking West German journalists for their help 25 years ago, and generally reveling in the satisfaction of success.

At the memorial opening Sunday, one former activist, Markus Meckel, 62, recalled how he returned home late on Nov. 9, 1989, in Magdeburg, and was astonished to learn that the wall had fallen. “For weeks, we had already had the feeling that we were going to succeed with democracy,” Mr. Meckel said. Only after that, he added, would they deal with the wall. “It was clear that you could not do one without the other,” he said. So when the wall tumbled in just a few hours, “I was just thinking: Things will get more complicated.”

How much more complicated has become clear this anniversary with the events in nearby Ukraine, a topic that hung over a brief meeting Ms. Merkel had with a few dozen former East Germans who visit schools and share their experiences, lest young people forget what dictatorship and democracy have meant over the past decades here.

Volker Wetzk, 46, drew the ire of East German officials in the spring of 1989 for refusing to say that he would obey the shoot-to-kill order when doing his mandatory service guarding the border with the West.

© Carsten Koall/Getty Images Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and other dignitaries placed flowers between slats of the former Berlin Wall at a memorial Sunday.

On Sunday, he gently admonished Chancellor Merkel for not saying more about Ukraine in her speech. She discussed the need to stick to diplomacy — just as the Americans, British and French had not risked military force to try to undo the division of Berlin, she noted.

Barbara Grosser, 67, another former East German who was jailed for trying to leave her country and eventually moved West, spoke of a widely shared reluctance about using force in any circumstances.

“If someone talks about using force, I am frightened,” she said. “They are highly well equipped and have fewer scruples than we do,” she added, alluding to Russian forces.   “So I would really be afraid.”

Please visit the following link for more information:

https://www.google.com/#q=On+a+Memory-Filled+Date%2C+the+Fall+of+the+Berlin+Wall+Stands+Front+and+Center+the+new+york+time

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The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

Saturday and Sunday, November 8 & 9,2014

Part1

On the weekend of Saturday and Sunday, November 8 & 9, 2014 I was keeping my attention on Television watching the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall especially on the BBC News and Euro News.  I was very glad to see German people celebrating the event and all the Europeans were having good time seeing East and West Germany unite into one country.  I also went on the internet to read the articles and seeing photographs of the cerebration of the event from different news websites.  I was glad and appreciated the entire medium, published the articles had wonderful pictures.  Since I spent a lot of time reading articles and viewing a lot of pictures of the event I would like others to view them also.  Some people might not have time to see as many articles as I have.  It is might be useful to teachers to show to their students in the classroom.

The 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is as importance as the period that the wall was up separating people from east and west.  It can show people who are fighting and killing each other in the present that compromise and willingness to have peace can be achieved.  The German people achieved unification without bloodshed.  They are now prosperous and have freedom to travel from East and West.  There is no longer the sadness of separation from family and friends. They have freedom of movement without killing anyone.

There is no wall high enough and long enough to confine people because people’s will power is higher and stronger than any partition that impounds them.

“Chancellor Angela Merkel attended a service for victims of the communist East German regime, and will go to a huge party at the Brandenburg Gate.

In her speech at the wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse on Saturday afternoon, Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, had explicitly emphasised the geopolitical resonances of the event, instead of indulging in personal reminiscences.”

“We have the strength to shape things, to turn things from bad to good, that is the message of the fall of the wall,” she said. “These days, that message is directed at Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and many, many other regions in the world.” (From BBC News)

This event is very good news for the whole world.  Killing and fighting is uncivilized and causes trouble not only in one country or one region but affects the entire world in a domino or ripple affect.  We hear bad news from all over the world every day and every minute of the news.

You cannot kill every one of your enemies.  It is impossible.  The only thing left is to survive with one another by making your enemy become your friend.  Over the past few years Syrians have killed each other with more than 200,000 people dead, including children, women and men.  How many more people do Syrians want to kill on all sides, five hundred thousand or million more?  Or do they want to surpass Hitler.  His regime killed more than twenty one million people (Wikipedia).  It will never end if Syrians keep killing and hating each other.  They will never give happiness and a good future to their children and family.  So why are they killing each other?  Can Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Libya, and others learn from Germany?  Find out how the German people united and helped each other to become prosperous rather than divided and destructive to their country.

Ing-On Vibulbhan-Watts, Thursday, November 20, 2014

The followings are the articles and photographs from different media:

BBC News on 11.9.14

Berlin Wall: Thousands of balloons released to mark fall

The balloons were released into the Berlin night sky, as Jenny Hill reports

Some 8,000 helium balloons have been released into the night sky over Germany’s capital at the culmination of events to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the fall of the wall had shown the world that dreams could come true.

Tens of thousands of people attended events, including a “citizen’s party” at the Brandenburg Gate.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing the communist East.

Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War.

The white balloons – perched on 3.6m poles to match the height of the wall and stretching for 15km (nine miles) – were released one by one to symbolise its disappearance.

Chancellor Angela Merkel places a rose in a remaining section of the wall

The Berlin State Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim played Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.

The release came amid a massive open-air party at the Brandenburg Gate. Earlier at the party, UK performer Peter Gabriel sang a version of David Bowie’s Heroes.

At the scene: Damian McGuinness, BBC News

For a weekend the balloons had become a part of the city, with Berliners strolling, jogging or cycling along the route.

Today not much of the Wall remains, and often you don’t even notice when crossing between East and West. That’s because, after 1989, Berliners wanted to destroy the much-hated barrier and rebuild their city.

But suddenly seeing the circuitous and often illogical line which tore through the city’s heart was a reminder of the insanity of using concrete to split a city in two, dividing neighbourhoods, friends and families.

Now the balloons have floated off into the sky, each one accompanied by cheers from the crowd – a shining and delicate symbol of peace and light, in stark contrast to the brutality of the heavy slabs of grey concrete. And a powerful reminder of how 25 years ago, under pressure from ordinary Berliners, this deadly barrier suddenly lost its threat.

Fireworks over Brandenburg Gate followed the release of the balloons

‘We can change things’

The day’s events began with a brass band playing, evoking the trumpets which brought down the walls of the biblical city of Jericho.

Chancellor Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, and other officials laid roses in one of the remaining sections of the wall.

Chancellor Merkel said it was easy to forget what had happened in Berlin

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attends a ceremony in Berlin

Tens of thousands joined the festivities in the German capital

Peter Gabriel performs at the Brandenburg Gate party

Speaking at the opening of a new information centre about the Wall, Mrs Merkel said it was easy to forget what had happened and it was important to remember it.

“We can change things for the better,” she said. “This is the message for… Ukraine, Iraq and other places where human rights are threatened.

“The fall of the Wall showed us that dreams can come true. Nothing has to stay as it is.”

Recently Ms Merkel has revealed more details about her movements on the day that the Wall opened.

She told German TV on Saturday that she joined crowds heading towards West Berlin after a visit to the sauna, describing “an incredible feeling of happiness”.

The chancellor was joined later at the Brandenburg Gate by former Polish trade union leader and president Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader.

A guard tower still marks the “death strip” between layers of the former wall that divided Berlin

The first Trabant to cross from the East to the West 25 years ago, traverses the border again in commemoration – at the Ullitz crossing from Saxony into Bavaria

The wall stretched for 155km (96 miles) through Berlin but today only about three kilometres of it still stands.

At least 138 people died trying to flee to West Berlin.

Within a year of the wall’s collapse, Germany – divided after its defeat in World War Two – was reunited.

Striking a sombre note, Mr Gorbachev, 83, warned on Saturday that the world was on the brink of a new Cold War.

BBC2-11.9.2014

Germany marks anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29974950

9 November 2014 Last updated at 05:02 ET

Illuminated white balloons, seen here near the Brandenburg Gate, mark the route of the Berlin Wall

Celebrations are being held in Germany to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Chancellor Angela Merkel attended a service for victims of the communist East German regime, and will go to a huge party at the Brandenburg Gate.

White balloons marking a stretch of the wall will be released to symbolise its disappearance.

The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing from East Germany to the West.

Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War.

The day’s events began with a brass band playing, evoking the trumpets which brought down the walls of the biblical city of Jericho.

Chancellor Merkel and other officials laid roses in one of the remaining sections of the wall.

While chatting to crowds afterwards, she said it was important to think about all those who suffered because of the Wall, not only in Germany but throughout Eastern Europe.

Ms Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, will be joined later by former Polish trade union leader and president Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader.

The wall stretched for 155km (96 miles) through Berlin but today only about three kilometres of it still stands.

Within a year of its collapse, Germany – divided after its defeat in World War Two – was reunited.

Crowds have flocked to the remaining stretches of the Berlin Wall

A guard tower still marks the “death strip” between layers of the former wall that divided Berlin

More than a million visitors have descended on Berlin for the weekend of festivities that will culminate later on Sunday at the Brandenburg Gate.

The monument itself was inaccessible during the partition of Germany and is seen as a symbol of the country’s reunification.

On Saturday, people posed for photos in front of the few remaining graffiti-daubed slabs of the wall, or read information boards about life under Berlin’s 28-year division.

Others admired the art installation of almost 7,000 white balloons, pegged to the ground and winding along a 15km (nine miles) stretch of the wall’s route.

At the bustling Potsdamer Platz, which was once cut in two by the wall, a small crowd watched archive footage of East German demonstrators chanting: “We are the people.”

Striking a more sombre note, Mr Gorbachev, 83, warned on Saturday that the world was on the brink of a new Cold War.

The route of the Berlin Wall is picked out by the illuminated balloons

Entertainers have been rehearsing close to remaining stretches of the wall

Tensions between the West and Russia have been raised by the crisis in Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union.

“Bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East against the backdrop of a breakdown in dialogue between the major powers is of enormous concern,” he said.

“The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it’s already begun.”

Mr Gorbachev said that the West – in particular the US – had succumbed to “triumphalism” after the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

For this reason the global powers had been unable to cope with conflicts in Yugoslavia, the Middle East and now Ukraine, he added.

Mr Gorbachev, as leader of the USSR in the late 1980s, is credited with rapprochement with the West and creating a more liberal atmosphere which led to the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989.

BBC News on 11.8.2014

Ex-USSR leader Gorbachev: World on brink of new Cold War

Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev “The world is on the brink of a new Cold War”

The world is on the brink of a new Cold War, and trust should be restored by dialogue with Russia, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said.

At an event to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Sunday, Mr Gorbachev said the West had “succumbed to triumphalism”.

He expressed alarm about recent Middle Eastern and European conflicts.

Tensions have been raised between the West and Russia over Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union.

More than 4,000 people have died in fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, who seized control in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in April.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since September, but elections in rebel-held elections last weekend have prompted fears of a return to full-scale conflict.

Analysis: BBC’s Damien McGuinness in Berlin

Mikhail Gorbachev’s speech near the Brandenburg Gate shows that the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is more than a way of remembering an historical event – but rather, given the Ukraine conflict, the events of 1989 have immediate relevance today.

The fall of the Wall is seen as the end of the Cold War – but according to Mr Gorbachev the world is on the brink of a new Cold War.

Many of his comments today will be seen as a commendable effort to de-escalate tensions – such as his calls for more dialogue.

But some of Mr Gorbachev’s other opinions are controversial in the West. He said Europe and the US were partly to blame for the conflict in Ukraine, citing Nato’s expansion into Eastern Europe.

And he accused Western leaders of triumphalism after 1989, saying they took advantage of Russia’s weakness.

Mr Gorbachev, 83, was attending an event at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

The landmark was inaccessible during the Partition of Germany, and is seen as a symbol of the country’s reunification.

“Bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East against the backdrop of a breakdown in dialogue between the major powers is of enormous concern,” he said.

“The world is on the brink of a new Cold War. Some are even saying that it’s already begun.”

He said that the West, in particular the US, had succumbed to “triumphalism” after the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

For this reason the global powers had been unable to cope with conflicts in Yugoslavia, the Middle East and now Ukraine, he added.

The Wall’s fall is a powerful symbol of the 1989 revolutions in Eastern Europe

White balloons follow the course of the Wall as part of the anniversary celebrations

The former Soviet leader urged the West to lift sanctions on Russian officials – imposed over the annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s alleged involvement in the Ukraine conflict – and restore trust through dialogue with the Kremlin.

Mr Gorbachev, as leader of the USSR in the late 1980s, is credited with rapprochement with the West and creating a more liberal atmosphere which led to the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989.

On 9 November of that year East Germany opened its borders including the Wall, which separated East and West Berlin.

Its collapse led to a mood of euphoria, as many East Germans got their first glimpses of the West.

Hundreds are now arriving in the German capital to celebrate Sunday’s anniversary.

Festivities will include a rock concert and fireworks at the Brandenburg Gate. Other participants include German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Polish president Lech Walesa.

Please visit the following links for more information:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29966852

Berlin buzzing despite German slowdown Listen

The Guardian on 11.9.2014

A city undivided: the fall of the Berlin Wall commemorated 25 years on

Germans recall the ‘sheer madness’ of the night in 1989 when thousands of East Berliners streamed across the border

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/09/berlin-wall-fall-remembered-residents-25-anniversary

Berlin Wall – readers’ memories: ‘It’s hard to remember how scary the Wall was’

The Brandenburg Gate stands illuminated during celebrations on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Philip Oltermann in Berlin

Sunday 9 November 2014 15.56 EST

As the long row of helium-filled white balloons lifted off one by one into the night sky over Berlin, Tina Krone managed to gulp down a tear and lit a sparkler. “I haven’t seen that many people on the streets for 25 years,” she said, surveying the crowds at Bernauer Strasse.

On 9 November 1989, when she and thousands of other East Berliners streamed across the border into the west shortly before midnight, only those old enough to remember the building of the wall had cried.

Krone and her friends, on the other hand, had simply been lost for words: “‘Madness, sheer madness’. I know it’s not very original of me, but I must have said that a thousand times that night.”

An active member of the East German dissident movement, she had received a call from a friend in the west at about 10.30pm: “Have you seen the news? They’re saying the wall is open.”

Illuminated balloons, part of the so-called Border of Light, rise into the sky at the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Photograph: Soeren Stache/Corbis

Because the closest border crossing to her at Bornholmer Strasse was already crowded, she and her partner jumped into their Trabant car to head to Kreuzberg.

When she had passed through the checkpoint at Heinrich Heine Strasse, a West Berliner thrust a bottle of beer into her hand, but she says she did not need to take a single sip to feel intoxicated.

In a bar, she and her partner met long-lost friends, who gave them a pile of western newspapers and a small colour TV as a welcoming gift. By daybreak, they were back at the checkpoint – there had been rumours that the border would close again at 8am.

Only when the guards waved them through for a second time did the reality sink in. “Then I knew there was no way back for the party bigwigs,” Krone says. “After that, it felt like our Trabi was flying us home.”

Whatever one’s views of the handling of the aftermath of the wall’s fall, memories of 9 November 1989 still have power. And while fall-of-the-wall anniversaries come and go, this year’s art installation, conceived by brothers Christopher and Marc Bauder, managed to create a rare thing: a memorial that felt both poignant and playful, thought-provoking but not maudlin.

People watch balloons marking the former border flying away in front of the Reichstag building. Photograph: Steffi Loos/AP

Since Friday morning, a so-called Lichtgrenze or “border of light”, made up of 8,000 balloons, has traced a section of the fallen wall across central Berlin for 15km (nine miles).

On Friday and Saturday night, thousands of Berliners old and young were out on the streets to walk along the old border.

Those who grew up in a divided Berlin are unlikely to ever forget the precise route of the old dividing line.

Krone says she still feels a bit queasy when she passes from east to west and recalls that it “hurt” the first time she passed under the Brandenburg Gate. The driver of the taxi in which she was travelling turned around and did it again, three times in total, “until it stopped hurting”.

But for tourists, it is surprisingly hard to tell these days where West Berlin used to start and East Berlin used to end. On Potsdamer Platz and near the central station, the area where the wall of light ran this weekend has been wholly renovated and is unrecognisable from the wasteland of 1989. In the hipper parts of Kreuzberg, the installation has reminded more recent arrivals that a country used to end right outside their doorstep.

German chancellor Angela Merkel walks along a section of the former Berlin Wall during celebrations for the 25th anniversary of its fall. Photograph: Imago / Barcroft Media

At 7.20pm, with a considerable delay, the first balloon floated into the night sky in front of the Brandenburg Gate. The Berlin State Orchestra played Beethoven’s stirring Ninth Symphony and outgoing Berlin mayor, Klaus Wowereit, gave a short speech. “Walls made of concrete and walls in our heads are surmountable when people come together and take their fate into their own hands,” he said.

At Bernauer Strasse, the row of balloons took a sharp left into Mauerpark, once a section of the death strip, now a giant park for residents. Some people had climbed on to the strip of wall in front of the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn sports stadium to get a better view, as if in tribute to the pictures that were transmitted around the world in 1989.

Back then it was here, in the Prenzlauer Berg district, that the power of crowds forced the first border point to open. On Sunday, the locals’ famed impatience was once again on display: a number let go of their balloons early.

This year’s commemoration of the fall of the Iron Curtain may also feel more poignant because there is a palpable sense that peace in Europe in 2014 is more fragile than it was at the 20th anniversary in 2009.

People attend a memorial activity to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media

In her speech at the wall memorial on Bernauer Strasse on Saturday afternoon, Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, had explicitly emphasised the geopolitical resonances of the event, instead of indulging in personal reminiscences.

“We have the strength to shape things, to turn things from bad to good, that is the message of the fall of the wall,” she said. “These days, that message is directed at Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and many, many other regions in the world.”

Merkel, who on 9 November 1989 had walked over into the west at the Bornholmer Strasse checkpoint on her way back from the sauna, with her wet towel still in her bag, said: “If one thing was wonderful about those days, it was the imagination that was being set free after having been suppressed for so many years.”

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, issued a statement on the anniversary, warning that “Europe must once again become a thing of the heart”. He said: “It was with passion and courage that the people tore down that which divided them, in search of peace, freedom, unity, democracy and prosperity. Two decades later, we must not forget that peace is not a given in Europe. More than ever, Europe must live up to its responsibility to safeguard freedom and peace.”

Hulda, 3, places flowers in between slats of the former Berlin Wall at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

On Saturday, the former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev warned of a “new cold war”, brought about by the west’s mishandling of the aftermath of the fall of the wall.

“Instead of building new mechanisms and institutions of European security and pursuing a major demilitarisation of European politics … the west, and particularly the United States, declared victory in the cold war,” said the man behind the Soviet Union’s glasnost and perestroika reforms, speaking at a symposium near the Brandenburg Gate.

“Euphoria and triumphalism went to the heads of western leaders. Taking advantage of Russia’s weakening and the lack of a counterweight, they claimed monopoly leadership and domination in the world.”

The enlargement of Nato, Kosovo, missile defence plans and wars in the Middle East had led to a “collapse of trust”, said Gorbachev, now 83. “To put it metaphorically, a blister has now turned into a bloody, festering wound.”

Please visit the following links for more information:

BBC News on 11.4.2014

Berlin leaves divisions behind as Wall’s traces vanish

https://www.bbc.co.uk/search?q=25%20aniversary%20Berlin%20Wall%20fall%20Pictures

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29829336

4 November 2014 Last updated at 19:58 ET

By Moritz Schuller Tagesspiegel newspaper, Berlin

Chris Hadfield’s picture from space clearly shows the yellower lighting in East Berlin

A year ago the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield sent down from space an image that was both beautiful and astonishing.

His picture of Berlin, taken from hundreds of miles above the Earth, was that of a city divided.

The West glowed in a whitish colour, the East was yellowish – and the dividing line looked suspiciously like that of the infamous wall which had once cut the city in two.

A divided Berlin? Twenty-five years after the wall came crushing down to mark one of the happiest days in the city’s history?

From less than 200 miles above the Earth that dividing line is hardly visible.

In fact, Berlin has done away with the wall so thoroughly that those wanting to mark the anniversary needed to rebuild the monument. It doesn’t run through a barbed wire death strip any more but a huge mall on Potsdamer Platz.

Today, the guard tower overlooks H&M and a lingerie boutique.

An original East German guard tower near Potsdamer Platz is now a tourist attraction

Part of Berlin is being temporarily divided to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

And yet, Commander Hadfield’s picture from outer space speaks some truth.

Angela Merkel, a former East Berliner, may today be running the country, but the street lamps in the East are still sodium-vapour lamps with a yellower colour and the ones in the West are still fluorescent lamps with a whiter colour.

In the East people still read Berliner Zeitung, while the West reads Tagesspiegel.

One half roots for Hertha BSC, the other for FC Union, the football team from the East.

The income gap is closing, but it is still exists. In those exciting weeks 25 years ago, West Berliners went rural, East Berliners went commercial.

One half longed for a countryside from which they had been cut off for 30 years and the others for a more urban, less drab environment. Soon, they returned to their old neighbourhoods and their old ways of life.

Berlin, perhaps because it has seen and suffered so much, is a complacent city.

The East Berliners approached unification perhaps with a more pride than the rest of their country.

Bernauer street on 10 November 1989 (L) as crowds push through the wall and (R) the same street today

East Berlin had been the country’s capital, and it is still home to a multitude of Communist Party and Stasi cadres, the last stalwarts of the old system.

Just like West Berlin, it was a highly subsidised social entity – both parts were propped up as showcases of their respective political systems.

This fed into a sense of importance on both sides of the wall, even before it collapsed, which their West and East German compatriots found at once off-putting and attractive.

The union worked because Berlin, traditionally a working-class city, was able to deal well with the remnants of the East German establishment and the post-communists’ election successes in the 1990s.

No wonder, then, that it was Berlin where one of the first coalition governments involving the post-communists was formed.

Checkpoint Charlie (L in 1968) marked the border between the Soviet and American sectors and (R) in 2009

West Berlin, for many years an island in the sea of socialism, had always lacked Munich’s or Hamburg’s bourgeois elites. And even today the unified Berlin retains more of its East German legacy than most of the rest of the country.

At the same time, none of those who flocked to Berlin after 1989 were too worried about the city’s past.

The 20-year-olds from Stuttgart and Dublin, the EasyJetters, the DJs, the artists, the fly-by-night real estate cowboys, the start-up financiers, the unemployed academics from Spain, they didn’t concern themselves with the wall or the pain it had inflicted upon the city.

They brought a different and more innocent geography to the city.

To them the past, divided in East and West, was never more than the backdrop for their big party, fascinating but as unreal as The Third Man.

The throngs of young Israelis moving to Berlin and staging gay, “meshugge” (crazy) parties seem to indicate that Hitler’s old haunt has finally turned the page.

Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit coined the phrase “poor, but sexy” for Germany’s reunified capital

Eventually, the former East and West Berliners adopted that view of their city.

If everybody else is gushing about the exciting, unique new Berlin, why quibble with that? Why keep harping upon the past?

The newcomers allowed the locals to adopt a new narrative of their own city. And they did.

Berlin became a work in progress, hyped by its officials as the home of the future and brought down again by the uncouth Berliners themselves and their charming lack of ambition – to them a strip of lawn, a sausage and a beer amounts to an afternoon well spent.

Clearly that has a global appeal. Twenty-five years after the fall of the wall, Berlin is poor, but sexy, as outgoing Mayor Klaus Wowereit once said.

It is a provincial metropolis, a cultural playground, and this time it is being subsidised by those who are drawn to it and its allure.

Soon more time will have elapsed since the fall of the wall than the wall actually lasted. Yet, the social, cultural and political differences between East and West Berlin are still detectable.

They don’t matter so much, however, because the city has found a different urban narrative. And, also, they don’t matter so much, because Berlin has always been a city where differences mattered less than elsewhere.

Moritz Schuller is opinion page editor at Tagesspiegel in Berlin.

Berlin at a glance

  • Population 3.5 million approx.
  • Foreigners 372,300
  • Unemployment 10.8%
  • City reunified 9 November 1989
  • German parliament moves from Bonn to Berlin 19 April 1999

German government moves to Berlin 26 June 1999

Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate in December 1989 (L) with East and West German policemen and (R) today

Please visit the following links for more information:

02 NOVEMBER 2014, EUROPE

30 OCTOBER 2014, EUROPE

14 OCTOBER 2014, MAGAZINE

22 MAY 2014, EUROPE

Around the BBC

Mauer-Museum am Checkpoint Charlie

CheckpointCharlieMuseum

FACTS ABOUT THE BERLIN WALL (FROM JULY 1989)

Total ring around Berlin: 155km
Length between West and East Berlin: 43.1km
Length between West Berlin and the GDR: 111.9km
Metal fencing: 66.5km
Observation Towers: 302
Bunkers: 20
Dog-runs: 259
Anti-vehicle trenches: 105.5km
Electric contact or signal fencing: 127.5km
Military roadway: 124.3km

Measurements for each wall segment:
Height: 3.6m
Width: 1.2m
Breadth at base: 2.1m
Weight: 2.6 tonnes
Material: Reinforced concrete

Germany Info/Vertretung/USA

Looking Back at the Fall of the Berlin Wall

https://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/02__GIC/GIC/05/08-Mauerfall25/02-Timeline/Timeline__S.html

The Berlin Wall in 1990. (© picture-alliance/dpa) On November 9, 1989, the world watched in amazement as jubilant crowds gathered on both sides of the Berlin Wall around midnight to celebrate the opening of the border crossings between the eastern and western parts of the city. A peaceful revolution in East Germany had finally cracked this grim symbol of Cold War and political oppression. It signaled the beginning of the end of Germany’s postwar division and national unity came less than a year later on October 3, 1990.

Erected on August 13, 1961 by the communist regime in East Germany, the Wall divided Berlin for 28 years. It cut right through the heart of the city, amputating vital traffic links and separating families and friends. Minefields and border police with shoot-to-kill orders thwarted any further attempts by East Germans to look for a better future in the West. While the communists tightened their grip on people’s lives in East Berlin, the western part of the city became a walled-in outpost of freedom and democracy.

Today, Berlin is once again Germany’s vibrant capital. The wounds of history have healed. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, its vestiges remind us that freedom is precious. Freedom would not have prevailed and reunification would not have been achieved, in Berlin and in Germany as a whole, without the steadfast and unfaltering support of our American friends. We celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in a spirit of deep gratitude and with a desire to share our experience – the vision of hope, of unity, and of Freedeom Without Walls.

US President John F. Kennedy gave his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (I am a Berliner!) speech on June 26, 1963. (© picture-alliance/dpa)

BERLIN WALL TIMELINE

1945 – World War II ends: The Allied Powers split Germany into four occupation zones, and its capital Berlin into four sectors.

1949 – Cold War: The Federal Republic of Germany emerges out of the US, British and French zones in the West. The Soviet Union establishes the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) in their eastern zone, but cannot push the three Western powers out of Berlin.

1950s: Economic success of West Germany, fueled by the US Marshall Plan, and increased political repression at home swell the numbers of East Germans looking for a better life in the West. The GDR seals off the inner German border, leaving Berlin as the last loophole to the West.

1961 – August 13: All crossing points between the East and West Berlin are closed by GDR forces. Construction of the Berlin Walls begins.

1961 – August 22: The Wall claims its first of several hundred victims, when Ida Siekman falls to her death while trying to escape to the West by jumping out of her appartment at Bernauer Strasse. The exact number of Wall victims remains unknown.

US President Ronald Reagan visited Berlin on its 750th anniversary in 1987, where he delivered a rousing speech. He is flanked by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl (r) and Bundestagspräsident Philipp Jenninger (l). (© picture-alliance/dpa) 1963 – June 26: President John F. Kennedy visits Berlin, reaffirming US support for this outpost of freedom with his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner!” (“I am a Berliner!”) speech.

1987 – June 12: President Ronald Reagan delivers a speech in front of Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate in which he memorably demands: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

1989: Amidst increasing economic failure of the communist regime, the first protesters gather in Leipzig with calls for democratic reforms and individual rights. Their movement quickly spreads to all major cities in the GDR.

1989 – November 9: Unable to suppress this peaceful revolution and hoping to buy time, the GDR leadership lifts all previous travel restrictions to the West. Shortly before midnight, tens of thousands flock to the Berlin Wall. The border guards cannot hold them back. On the other side, jubilant crowds greet the first arrivals.

1990 – October 3: After the Wall fell, it was to be another 11 months before Germany was reunited. In the first (and last) free elections to East Germany’s Volkskammer (parliament) on March 18, 1990 the East German electorate voted by an overwhelming majority for those parties that demanded swift accession to West Germany. In summer 1990 a treaty to this effect was negotiated by the two Germanies. East Germany acceded to West Germany on October 3, 1990, which has since been celebrated as the Day of German Unity and is an official holiday in Germany.

VisitBerlin on 11.9.2014

https://www.visitberlin.de/en/event/11-09-2014/25-years-fall-of-the-berlin-wall

25 Years Fall of the Berlin Wall – an overview

Preparing for the lights border wall anniversary event . Thousands balloon holders waiting for their construction along the former border. © Jan Frontzek

–        © Kulturprojekte Berlin/Christopher Bauder

Visualization of ” THE WALL – The asisi panorama to a divided Berlin ,” View from the visitors platform , 2011 © asisi

–        © Kulturprojekte Berlin/Christopher Bauder

–        © Kulturprojekte Berlin/Christopher Bauder

Bernauer Str. – © Detlef Peuker

Modernization of the Berlin Wall at the Bernauer Strasse ( September 1980)

 © by Yagosaga (Eckhard Etzold) at wikipedia

2014 is a historic year for Berlin. It marks the 25th anniversary of the most significant event in recent German history: the Fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989. To remember the day many exhibitions and events will take place.

One of the main highlights will be happening on the weekend around 9th November: Along the former course of the Berlin Wall a new temporary Berlin Wall will be built with thousands of illuminated balloons.

Border of Lights

To the strains of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in the presence of guests of honour and eyewitnesses at the Brandenburg Gate and at six other locations, white balloons will be released into the skies on the night of 9 November to commemorate the peaceful revolution of 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago.

Gathering Spots

Berliners and visitors are invited to stroll along the course of the Wall to remember and visualise the extent of the former division. At the Bornholmer Straße (9.11 only), Mauerpark, Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Centre, Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz, Checkpoint Charlie and East Side Gallery gathering spots, there will be information pavilions (open from 9.30am-10.00pm each day), guided tours, souvenirs, viewing platforms, catering and collages of historic images shown on giant screens.

On 8 November between 5 and 9 pm, chamber ensembles consisting of members of the European Union Youth Orchestra will be performing brief concerts at the Mauerpark, East Side Gallery and Checkpoint Charlie gathering spots. The chamber music programmes will include music from the past three centuries and reflect both the richness of European music history resist and the joy that erupted as German division came to an end 25 years ago.

There will also be guided tours along the lighting installation each day of the weekend.

Open-Air Exhibition

The open-air exhibition “100 Wall Stories” will consist of a hundred informational exhibits along the lighting installation providing background on topics such as: stories of a divided city before the Wall, the construction of the Wall in 1961, protests against the Wall, escape attempts, deaths at the Wall, border installations and inspections, everyday life in the divided city, stories of the peaceful revolution of 1989, the fall of the Wall, opening the border crossings and souvenir hunters

Philharmoniker with Sir Simon Rattle

The Berliner Philharmoniker will be presenting a special concert to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the large hall of the Philharmonie on 9 November 2014.

Street Festival at the Brandenburg Gate

The Federal Government is planning a street festival around the Brandenburg Gate for 9 November, with Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle as well as singers Udo Lindenberg and Peter Gabriel pulling in the crowds.

Permanent Exhibition at the Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Straße

On the morning of 9 November, after a memorial service at the adjacent Chapel of Reconciliation, the new permanent exhibition “1961|1989: The Berlin Wall” will be opened at the Berlin Wall Memorial and Documentation Centre.

All of West Berlin was Surrounded

The Wall did not just go through the heart of Berlin; indeed, it completely encircled all of West Berlin, often as fenced-in no-man’s land. For the 28 years it stood, some 200 people died at the Wall. In memory of those who were killed, there will be a service held at 11.00 am on Sunday, 9 November 2014 on the former border strip newly opened as the Berliner Allee Wall Memorial (at the edge of the Schönwalde housing estate). Representatives from partner municipalities Muggensturm in Baden-Württemberg, Wagrowiec, Poland and Röderland, Brandenburg will also be present.

Another memorial along the former border will be dedicated at Groß Glienicker See/Gutspark Glienicke. The former border fence and a piece of the Wall were installed here this year as a memorial. At the 3.30 pm ceremony on 9 November 2014, the site will be opened to the public.

Not just Berlin

A quarter century after the peaceful revolution of 1989, four cities in the former East Germany (Berlin, Plauen, Dresden and Leipzig) will be holding joint commemorations of the events of autumn 1989 the weekend of 7–9 October. The Berlin commemoration will be held at the Gethesemanekirche.

Flyer 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Wall (weekend 7th of November to 9th of November)

25 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Find out more about Berlin’s most thrilling breakthrough and its impacts on mauer.visitberlin.de/en

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The Wall and The Berlin Wall

The Wall and The Berlin Wall

Ing’s Sculpture

and

The Berlin Wall Around the World

The weekend of November 8 & 9, 2014, Germany celebrated the 25th anniversary of fall of the Berlin Wall.  It makes me think about one of my sculptures.  I produced a sculpture named The Wall in 2010.  The Wall has two societies.  One side represents milk and honey, the prosperous society.  The opposite side is the poor who want to climb over the wall to the prosperous side.  It can represent The Great Wall Of China, The Berlin Wall, the wall between Israel and Palestine, the wall between United States and Mexico.  The Wall, itself can be interpreted as an invisible wall, the wall that separates family, parents and children, wife and husband and other conflicts between people.  So what should we ask ourselves are: “Do we need the wall?”, “Can we get along?”, “Can we help one another?”  I hope that by viewing the sculpture you may think about our world societies and work to help each to progress into a more civilized world. 

The Wall is one of my participation art series for people to write their comments on the poster that I created. They can comment about the walls that are erected all over the world preventing others from coming in their territory.

The following are some of the comments on The Wall:

Rich or Poor we are one.  Live in unity.

Knowledge, tears down the Wall

All Connected

I like this side of the wall—-, don’t need & see the other———.

Make love not war

Struggle is a part of us, our need for attainment.

I see bears on wall.

The first wall to scale is our own introversion.

A realistic utopia 

The Berlin Wall around the World

“Germany celebrates the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this weekend.  To mark the event Reuters photographers around the world captured images of segments of the wall, which are kept as monuments in many countries.”(The weekend of November 8 & 9, 2014)

Please visit MSN photograph section for more information, the link is the following:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/the-berlin-wall-around-the-world/ss-BBcK9Cl?ocid=mailsignout

Ten segments of the Berlin Wall, which constitute the longest stretch outside of Berlin, are seen on display in Los Angeles, California September 18. 2014.  The Berlin Wall, which devidedWest Berlin from the communist East after it was built in 1961, was the most potent symbol of the Cold War.  REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Men sit on a bench next to a section of the Berlin Wall outside the Imperial War Museum in London September 18. 2014.  This section came from near Brandenburg Gate and shows a graffiti by artist Indiano.  At least 136 people were killed or died at the Wall, most of them while trying to escape.  REUTERS/ Stefan Wermuth

People walk past a segment of the former Berlin Wall at Postdamer Platz square in Berlin October 29, 2014.  On November 9, 1989, following huge protests in East Berlin the wall was breached and thousands of people poured into West Berlin.REUTERS/ Fabrizio Bensch

A segment of the Berlin Wall is seen between trees in Yokohama, south of Tokyo September 15, 2014.  REUTERS/ Yuya Shino

A piece of the Berlin Wall is seen in the artists’ village of Ein Hod near Haifa in Israel October 17, 2014.  REUTERS/ Baz Ratner

A visitor looks at a section of the Berlin Wall painted with a mural of Olympic champion Usian Bolt, at the Jamaica Military Museum and Library at Up Park Camp, headquartersof the Jamaica Defense Force in Kingston, September 13, 2014.  The 12-Foot section of the wall was given to Bolt in 2009 by the city of Berlin after the runner broke world records in the 100 and 200 meter finals of the World Athletics Championships in that city.  REUTERS/Gilbert Bellamy

A woman walks by a piece of the Berlin Wall near the European Parliament in Brussels October 31, 2014.  REUTERS/ Francois Lenoir

A section of the Berlin Wall is surrounded by a display in the Cold War exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford, England, October 14, 2014.  REUTERS/Suzanne Plukett

Segments of the Berlin Wall, which are for sale, are seen at a storage yard in Teltow, south of Berlin October 29, 2014. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

A piece of the Berlin Wall, which has been on display at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum since 1990 is seen in Simi Valley, California, September 16, 2014.  REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A segment of the Berlin Wall is seen in a park in central Sofia October 29, 2014.  REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

A piece of Berlin Wall is seen in a park in central Moscow October 8, 2014.

REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

Tree sections of Berlin Wall are seen in Plaza Berlin in Guatemala City, September 10, 2014.  REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez

A staff member walks past a section of the Berlin Wall outside the German School in Richmond, London, October 14, 2014.  REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

A man walks near a piece of the Berlin Wall in La Defense business district in Courbevoie October 16, 2014.  The municipality of Courbevoie bought the piece of wall for 300,000 Deutsche Marks in 1990.  The segment shows a painting of Kiddy Citny.  REUTERS/Charles Platiau

A piece of the Berlin Wall is displayed at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California September 17, 2014.  REUTERS/Mike Blake

People walk near a piece of the Berlin Wall in Porte de Versailles in Paris October 20, 2014.  REUTERS/Charles Platiau

A woman walks past a piece of the Berlin Wall, which was from Potsdamer Platz, in a park outside the European Parliament in Brussels October 31, 2014.  REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

A piece of the Berlin Wall is seen in the front yard of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy in Taipei October 20, 2014.  REUTERS/Pichi Chuang

A section of the Berlin Wall stands in the carpark of the German Club in Canberra,Australia October 15, 2014.  REUTERS/David Grey

A section of the Berlin Wall is displayed at the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham, England, October 16, 2014.  REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

A segment of the Berlin Wall, which was painted by French-born, Berlin-Based artist Thierry Noir, is pictured at The Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War in Culver City, California September 18, 2014.  REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

A piece of the Berlin Wall is seen in a garden at the Alexander Von Humboldt German school in Mexico City,.September 10, 2014.  REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

A segment of the Berlin Wall is seen on the main campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California September 18, 2014.  REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

A piece of the Berlin Wall is seen at Chapman University in Orange, California September 17, 2014.  REUTERS/Mike Blake

A piece of the Berlin Wall is seen at Chapman University in Orange, California September 17, 2014.  REUTERS/Mike Blake

A section of the Berlin Wall is seen at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California, September 16, 2014.  REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

A piece of the Berlin Wall is seen at a garden inside San Martin palace, headquarters of Argentina’s Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires September 12, 2014.

REUTERS/Marcos Brindicci

A woman runs past segment of the Berlin Wall at Berlin Park in Madrid November 2, 2014.  REUTERS/Susana Vera

A child sweeps in front of four pieces of the Berlin Wall at Teguh Ostenrik’s workshop in Pondok Petir village in Depok, Indonesia’s West Java province October 22, 2014.  indonesia sculptor Teguh Ostenrik bought four original sections of the Berlin Wall to Indonesia in 1990.  REUTERS/Beawiharta

A woman takes a photograph of her husband in front of part of the Berlin Wall at Berlin square in Seoul October 17,2014.  REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

A section of the Berlin Wall stands in front of St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town October 28, 2014.  The section was presented to former South African President Nelson Mandela in the 1990s.  REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

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