Germans celebrate 36 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. “Remembering the events of 1989 forces us to be responsible”

Berlin, which in the past symbolized the division of the world during the Cold War, celebrated on Sunday with a ceremony on Bernauer Street the fall of the wall built in 1961 that divided the city, reports the German agency DPA, quoted by Agerpres.

“Courageous citizens, with their desire for freedom and unity, tore down the Berlin Wall,” said Kai Wegner, the mayor of the German capital.

The wall came down on November 9, 1989, when Berlin was the capital of only the east of the country, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), dominated by the Soviet Union.

Axel Klausmeier, director of the Berlin Wall Foundation, said that “remembering the events of the fall of 1989 forces us to be responsible.”

At a memorial to the Soviet-imposed construction marked with roses, he said people have an obligation to be tolerant, to defend democracy, freedom and human rights and to promote the dream of peaceful coexistence.

After 28 years of Berlin being divided between East and West, the mass demonstrations put so much pressure on the GDR authorities that they were forced to open the borders. On the evening of November 9, tens of thousands of Germans crossed from the part of the city controlled by Soviet troops into the western sector, which belonged to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG).

In Berlin, once again the capital of Germany after reunification, the anniversary of that historic moment is being marked for the first time through Freedom Week – around 130 conferences, cultural events and dialogues with eyewitnesses, in 80 places, until November 15.

At the opening event, called the World Freedom Congress, about 200 dissidents from over 50 states with autocratic governments were present.

Mayor Wegner said his city's history proves that the desire for freedom and democracy cannot be suppressed.