Brandenburg Gate 1976

Anyone moving round Berlin today can hardly imagine how, for almost 30 years, a Wall and barbed wire cut through and divided this lively, vibrant and cosmopolitan city. Even the people who live here now find it hard to retrace the course of the Wall. In the ten years since 9 November 1989, the day the Wall came down, the two parts of Berlin have grown together. The Wall was built by the GDR régime in order to prevent its residents from fleeing the territory. On 13 August 1961 a government had its citizens walled in because it could no longer tolerate them voting with their feet. Thus, the division of Berlin, the division of Germany and Europe was sealed. For 29 long years, the Wall cut through the city, the country and the continent.

Desperate refugees displayed incredible inventiveness in their attempts to climb over, tunnel under or even fly over the Wall. We know today that over 100 people died in these attempts. In 1961, practically overnight, the Wall broke up families and friendships, destroyed plans and hopes. In a slow and difficult process, it was possible to bring the former GDR to introduce a visitors' regulation, which reduced the pain somewhat.

It was the upheavals and signs of dissolution in the socialist bloc in eastern Europe that gave Berlin and the Germans a fresh opportunity. On 9 November 1989, taken completely by surprise and weeping for joy, Berliners from East and West fell into each other's arms. The Wall had fallen, without violence and, so to say, as the result of a remark made in passing. Thousands celebrated at the border checkpoints, on Kurfürstendamm and at the Brandenburg Gate. That night will never be forgotten in Berlin.

Brandenburg Gate 1989

On 3 October 1990, almost one year later, German unity became reality in international law. The determination to achieve freedom and self-determination had won through, the re-established Länder (states) of the GDR joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Berlin, for years at the centre of the Cold War and confrontation, had now become a symbol of German unity and the future of Europe. In the "workshop of unity", where East and West are now growing together in an extremely confined space, the opportunities as well as the challenges of reunification can be experienced and shaped at close quarters.

Today it is only at a few prominent places in Berlin where any remains of the formerly numerous Wall installations can still be found. The historical responsibility of preserving these remains of the Wall for future generations is a binding obligation on us. The Wall memorial in Bernauer Strasse, which was opened in 1998, keeps alive the memory of the inhuman border. Twice during the 20th century, totalitarian governments made Berlin the seat of their government. At the end of the century, Berlin is the capital of a free and reunited Germany, integrated in western alliances and living at peace with its neighbours, having found its acknowledged place in the community of nations. The remains of the Wall stand as memorials and admonishment. They remind us of the second dictatorship on German soil in this century and above all of the victims. They admonish us to act energetically in the cause of peace, freedom and justice.

Eberhard Diepgen
Former Governing Mayor of Berlin (1984-89) (1991-2001)