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The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989
moved the world. The peaceful revolution in what was East
Germany and the following reunification are historically unique.
The events twenty years ago triggered a dynamic change that is
reflected throughout the country. Aspects of the past have been
captured in a new present, making today’s Germany a fascinating
travel destination, a country where East and West have come
together. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of "The Fall of the
Wall," cities from Berlin to Leipzig will be hosting special
festivals, exhibitions and events.
From the very beginning, the Berlin Wall was centre stage in the
world of international politics. On June 26, 1963, U.S.
President John F. Kennedy visited Berlin, proclaiming, "All free
men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and,
therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words: Ich bin ein
Berliner." Twenty-four years later, at the city's Brandenburg
Gate, President Ronald Reagan called on Mikhail Gorbachev,
General Secretary of the Soviet Union, to "tear down this wall!"
When Hungarian border soldiers pulled down the barbed wire fence
to Austria on May 2, 1989, the cries within East Germany for
freedom of travel became increasingly vociferous. East German
citizens took refuge in West German embassies in Budapest,
Prague and Warsaw. Later in the year, at the beginning of
September, the Monday demonstrations began in Leipzig, soon
spreading to other towns and cities. "We are the people" was the
chant echoed by hundreds of thousands of protesters, who
demanded such civil liberties as free speech and unrestricted
travel. On November 9, thousands of East German citizens
streamed to the checkpoints in the Wall that divided Berlin and
demanded they be opened. Not long after, that very night, they
had their wish, and East and West Germans danced together on top
of the Berlin Wall until the early hours of the morning.
Celebrations in Berlin
Berlin will be the centre of celebrations in 2009. Residents and
visitors to the city will commemorate the events of 1989 and the
subsequent reunification in 1990 with an extensive cultural
program, including an open-air exhibition on Alexanderplatz from
May 7 to November 9. During the same period, another exhibition,
charting the urban development of the new Berlin, will be on
tour around the city. A number of museums, too, are devoting
space to the subject alongside their permanent collections. On
November 9, the anniversary of the fall of the Wall, that
historic event will be symbolically retold and celebrated with
concerts and a street festival.
Today, the Berlin Wall Trail traces close to 160 kilometres of
the former border, including a one-kilometre stretch of wall on
Mühlenstrasse, the longest that still stands. Here, after the
border was opened, artists from around the world painted the
east-facing side of the wall with impressive graffiti, now known
as the East Side Gallery, one of the largest open-air galleries
in the world. The history of the former East Germany is also
remembered at several other locations in the city, including the
Checkpoint Charlie Museum, which commemorates the legendary
border crossing and tells the story of the Wall.
Night of Candles in Leipzig
Leipzig, birthplace of the peaceful revolution in 1989, takes
centre stage in the celebrations of the fall of the Wall. For
the past two years, on October 9, Leipzig has commemorated a
pivotal evening of the peaceful revolution with what has become
an annual ‘Night of the Candles’. Artistic light installations,
authentic photographs, documentaries and musical contributions
set the scene for the program highlight, when thousands of
residents and visitors arrange candles in the shape of a huge
number ‘89’. Local choirs provide musical accompaniment to this
symbolic gesture. For the 20th anniversary, festivities are set
to take place over several days, extending to the city’s ring
road, where the people of Leipzig demonstrated for freedom and
democracy in autumn 1989.
The exhibition "Leipzig on the path to the peaceful revolution"
will be on display from January 15 to December 31 in city’s
Stasi Museum, located in the building that, for 40 years, housed
the Leipzig branch of the Ministry for State Security. Here,
visitors can now learn all about the infamous East German secret
police, their functions, equipment and methods.
Potsdam and the Bridge of Spies
Potsdam, today the capital of the province of Brandenburg, also
played a key role in the history of the two Germanies:
Cecilienhof, the grand manor house where the Potsdam Conference
took place in 1945, today is a four-star Castle Hotel and open
to the public, as is the formerly inaccessible Glienicke bridge,
spanning the Havel river between Berlin and Potsdam, where the
Cold War powers used to exchange captured spies. The bridge is
also the starting point for the guided group tour entitled
"Border Trails amid World Cultural Heritage", offered from April
to the end of November 2009.
Reality Packaging Cold-War Style
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in northeastern Germany, is home
to numerous museums and exhibitions that bring the region's
history to life, including the Museum of East German History in
Tutow, the Prora Documentation Centre, on the Baltic island of
Rügen, and the Eichenthal bunker, in the spa town of Bad Suelze.
Visitors can explore these sites on a self-driven Trabant tour.
The Trabant was the predominant make of car driven in the former
East Germany.
Hotel guests of the Waldhotel Rennsteighöhe, near Erfurt in
Thuringia, can come face to face with East German history by
booking the "Experience Reality" package and sleep in a former
bunker, then operated by the Ministry of State Security, as part
of an informative 16-hour program.
Also in Thuringia, on the former inner-German border, is Point
Alpha, one of the major border observation posts from the Cold
War period and now a museum and monument. Guided tours and hikes
concentrate on different aspect of its history.
Off-Roading in the No Man’s Land
The Green Ribbon Experience is a project initiated by a number
of regions in Germany to protect and breathe new life into the
fragile scenery and historic heritage along the former border,
the no man’s land that had remained undeveloped. The initiative
ties together precious natural habitats from Travemünde, on the
Baltic coast, to the old East German frontier near Hof in
Bavaria, crossing nine of Germany's sixteen federal provinces
along the way (Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,
Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Hessen, Bavaria,
Thuringia and Saxony). When it is finished, locals and visitors
alike will be able to explore the beautiful natural habitats
that thrived under the ‘protection’ of the Iron Curtain. A
network of walking trails, cycle paths and kayak routes -
signposted and interspersed with information boards - will make
this a reality by 2009.
Grenzfahrten, a tour operator specializing in off-road
experiences along the former East German border, organizes
customized tours for thrill-seekers in a Mercedes-Benz
all-terrain Unimog. The action takes place along the Green
Ribbon in the Thuringia-Franconia region and can be
custom-tailored for individuals or groups.
(German only)
More information on all events and tours to celebrate the Fall
of the Wall soon to come on
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