• 30 years Berlin Wall. Merkel: too many victims of the dictatorship. Steinmeier: united thanks to the Eastern countries
  • Escape from East Berlin, the tunnels of freedom dug under the Wall

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09 November 2019In 1989 this was the "night of the nights after which nothing was as before. Tonight 30 years ago the Berlin Wall fell, what luck for us Germans, what a blessing for the whole of Europe, we celebrate". The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said this in a speech held from the stage in front of the Brandenburg Gate where the party for the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall takes place.

Steinmeier: Today there are invisible walls of hatred, let's throw them down
The Berlin wall "no longer exists" but today there are "other walls, walls of hatred, of frustration", walls that "are invisible but divide the same", says Steinmeier. "The Berlin Wall was the last", but "there are new walls that are not physical, they were created by us and we can only throw them down," he said. "We don't look the other way, but we go beyond these walls once and for all".

"Brandenburg Gate open city symbol"
"So you arrived at the Brandenburg Gate, a place that was the symbol of the separation of our country, now it is a symbol of freedom, a symbol of union, a symbol of an open city. Frank-Walter's words are full of emotion Steinmeier. "The wall did not fall by accident. I also thank the populations of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia ". In his speech, the German Head of State recalled the last president of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, who" brought a new policy to Berlin and for this we are grateful to him ".

The president in the US calls for "respect, not selfishness". And remember Reagan
The German president has asked the United States to be a "mutually respectful partner" and to reject nationalism, in a clear reference to the American leader, Donald Trump. Recalling the key role of the United States in helping to bring down the hated wall that separated the communist East from the West capitalist, Steinmeier said he still heard the cry of the late American president Ronald Reagan of "breaking down this wall" in front of the iconic Brandenburg Gate. "This America as a mutually respectful partner, as a partner for democracy and freedom, against national selfishness, this is what I hope also in the future," said Steinmeier.

Thousands under the 'cloud' in front of the Brandenburg Gate
Thousands of people gathered at the Brandenburg Gate for the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the final 150 meters of Via 17 Giugno which cuts the Tiergarten in two (at the time it was located in the West) and overlooks the square where once there were the wall and the Vopos towers, symbol of the separation between the West and East, tourists and Berliners have photographed the artistic installation "Visions in Motion", 30,000 messages of wishes, hopes and ideas floating in the sky. In front of the door a globe was installed on which the world is projected.