In Pictures: Germany prepares to mark 30 years since the Berlin Wall's fall
The country is gearing up for celebrations to mark the demise of the Wall with a Skynet made of 30,000 ribbons, and 3D video beamers projecting footage linked to the Fall of the Wall on buildings and the remains of the divide.
A general view shows the art installation "Visions in Motion", made of 30.000 ribbons with written wishes of 30.000 people at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, November 1, 2019. On November 9th Germany will mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) in 1989.
As Germany prepares to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, several colourful art installations including photo and video exhibitions have already been set up in Berlin.
The historic event carries a symbolic weight since it marks the beginning of the end of the Cold War, which finally drew to a close 28 years ago, after a former senior East German Communist official accidentally announced the wall’s opening.
A Skynet made of 30,000 ribbons that bear aloft the wishes, hopes, and memories of 30,000 people will be on display from November 4 to 10, 2019.
The wall’s fall happened on November 9, 1989, when the spokesman of the Soviet bloc state, Guenter Schabowski, unexpectedly declared that every citizen could leave East Germany through border crossings immediately, as he answered a journalist’s question regarding the travel rules.
The unconfirmed announcement resulted in thousands of East Berliners breaching the wall and passing into the West, despite then-leader Erich Honecker saying in the same year that the Wall would stand at least 50 years more.
When the German Democratic Republic began inserting barbed wires and concrete blocks between the West and East on August 13, 1961, its official line was to prevent efforts to undermine the socialist state under Soviet control. The wall would block fascists from West Germany entering the East, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic said.
In fact, some three million people fled to the West between 1945 and 1961, and the number of skilled citizens who wanted to leave the East Germany was increasing. At least 1,065 people were killed while trying to flee East Germany.
However, despite the fall of the wall and economic progress in the East, a majority of Germans in the former communist area feel like second-class citizens, according to a recent government report.
At this year’s celebrations, leaders of former Cold War powers will be absent from anniversary festivities, as US President Donald Trump's America First, Britain's Brexit and Russia's resurgence put a strain on ties.
A general view shows the art installation "Visions in Motion", made of 30.000 ribbons with written wishes of 30.000 people at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, November 1, 2019. On November 9th Germany will mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) in 1989.
Video footage linked to the Fall of the Berlin Wall is projected during a rehearsal with 3D video beamers at Alexanderplatz square in Berlin, Germany, November 3, 2019. On November 9th Germany will mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) in 1989.
A wall, an art performance of the National Theatre Weimar, stand in front of the memorial of German poets Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, left, and Friedrich Schiller, right, prior the 30th anniversary of falling Berlin wall in Weimar, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019. With the temporary installation of 17 wall elements, the National Theatre recall the events of autumn 1989. The artist Christina Wildgrube designs this 'wall'. Unlike the former Belin wall, the art project should not create a long-term separation, but bring people together.
West Berlin citizens welcoming East Germans who passed the Berlin Wall border checkpoint Invalidenstrasse with an East German Trabant car after the opening of the East German border in Berlin, Germany, November 10, 1989. On November 9th Germany will mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) in 1989.
This Nov 10, 1989 file photo shows Germans from East and West standing on the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg Gate, one day after the wall opened.
In this Saturday, Nov 11, 1989 file photo, East German border guards are seen through a gap in the Berlin wall after demonstrators pulled down a segment of the wall at Brandenburg gate, Berlin. When the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union stepped back, letting East Germany's communist government collapse and then quickly accepting German unification.
The graffiti-covered Communist wall close to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, sometime in 1988. Sign reads: "Attention! You are now leaving West Berlin".
An East German border soldier looks at a man hammering a section of the Berlin Wall at Markgrafen Strasse /Rudi-Dutschke Strasse in Berlin, Germany, June 2, 1990. On November 9th Germany will mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) in 1989.
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