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German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth on Freedom Without Walls
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- Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States of America, Klaus Scharioth
- (© German Embassy, Washington DC)
Twenty years ago, 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 and thus the two parts of Germany 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 are healing. 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, in Germany as a whole, and also in all of Europe 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 freedom without walls.
