Festivals, concerts, installations, and memorial services were performed to celebrate the anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s collapse, which was officially multiplied this year in Germany. Thousands came out on to the streets of Berlin specially to pay tribute to that historic night of the 9th of November in 1989 when the Wall, which separated East and West came down. Known previously as the ‘Glorious 12th,’ Chancellor Olaf Scholz called it ‘a day Germans are still thankful for.’
The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to prevent East Germans from fleeing west; the structure was demolished in 1989, and only stood for twenty-eight years. The one that went around Berlin and other regions was over 156 kilometers long and touched many people’s lives until reunification happened in late 1989, shortly after the Wall was opened. Currently it exists only in fragments and has become a historical site and a famous place of tourist attraction.
On the occasion of the anniversary, people arranged the “wall” consisting of 5,000 of the posters along the 4-kilometer Wall. Posters made by children and grown-ups under the topic ‘We protect freedom’ incorporate various freedoms of East German protests with present-day goals. Currently, freedom and democracy are also threatened within the European Union, as Berlin’s Mayor Kai Wegner said.
Musical memorial was also held on saturday where 700 musicians paid their homage by singing David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ and Marius Müller- Westernhagen’s ‘Freiheit’. They were able to read the lyrics that were on screens everywhere and that is why audience members were encouraged to sing along. The anniversary festivities were to end on Sunday with a performance of freedom and resistance by Russian dissident group, Pussy Riot.
