Silver Jubilee of fall of Berlin Wall observed
On 9th November 2014, Germany marks 25 years since the euphoric fall of the Berlin Wall. A great festival was organized to celebrate to mark this peaceful revolution which ended Europe’s Cold War division on November 9, 1989. On the occasion, white balloons marking a small stretch of the wall were released to symbolize the disappearance of the wall.
About Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall separated the city of Berlin into communist East Berlin and democratic West Berlin in Germany from 1961 to 1989. It was constructed by German Democratic Republic (GDR) or East Germany starting on 13 August 1961. Many people thought it was a symbol of the Cold War. The Berlin Wall was about 168 km long of which only 3 kilometer is in existence now also.
It was built to prevent people from escaping from the eastern half of Berlin.
The Berlin Wall was officially referred to as the Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart by GDR authorities, implying that the NATO countries and West Germany in particular were fascists. The West Berlin city government sometimes referred to it as the Wall of Shame (term coined by Mayor Willy Brandt) while condemning the Wall’s restriction on freedom of movement.
East German guards had shot and killed more than 100 people who tried to escape communist control by climbing the wall or tunneling beneath it. Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War.
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Month: Current Affairs - November, 2014