Berlin Wall 32 years after Germany remembers the end of divisions

Authorities and members of civil society celebrated today the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, on Bernauer Strasse, a symbol of German division. After the event was canceled due to the pandemic in 2020, this year more than 60 personalities attended the ceremony, among them the mayor of the German capital, Michael Mueller, the Minister of Culture, Monika Gruetters, and the head of Culture of the regional government of Berlin, Klaus Lederer. The director of the Berlin Wall Foundation recalled the peaceful revolution and the fall of the Wall 32 years ago, but also stressed how this moment marked the beginning of a difficult period of transformation for many. The anniversary was also the occasion for an event at Schloss Bellevue where Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier launched an appeal for November 9 to become an occasion “to reflect on our country”. November 9, 1918 and 1989 remind the Germans that freedom and democracy did not fall from heaven and were not guaranteed forever, he declared, November 9, 1938 remembers the human crime of the Shoah and urges vigilance and moral courage. ” To endure this ambivalence, to keep light and shadow, joy and sadness in the heart, is part of being German “, said Steinmeier. Accepting both, the shame and pain for the victims and the respect and appreciation for the pioneers of our democracy, that’s what it must be about. “This is the core of an enlightened patriotism, a patriotism of quiet tones”. A patriotism made not of triumph and certainties, “but of conflicting feelings”. Christian Democrat Gitta Connemann, citing the data of a recent poll from which it appears that too few associate events that have occurred in history with this date: in 1938, between 9 and 10 November, with the anti-Semitic pogroms on a national scale in Germany Nazi during the ‘night of the crystals’, much later, in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall. But there are other dates, from the shooting, on November 9, 1848, of the German politician Robert Blum, to the end of the monarchy and the proclamation of the Republic on November 9, 1918. Five years later, between November 8 and 9, 1923 Adolf Hitler he tried to organize a coup, the failed Munich putsch. To this “we should not resign ourselves,” says Connemann, citing the poll for the Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung. “The best immunization against totalitarian structures and anti-Semitism is education, upbringing, education. And first of all, it passes through schools. The milestones of our history must have a place in the programs. November 9 So it should be a nationwide project day in schools. It’s not just about our history. It’s about our relationship with democracy, human rights, but also with Judaism, “Connemann said. “This must concern us all. Knowledge becomes understanding. Hate turns into action.”