Written by Hiram Blumenthal Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:04

Germany Marks Bitter 50th Anniversary of the Construction of the Berlin Wall

BERLIN - The Berlin Wall's construction 50 years ago must be a constant reminder to citizens today to stand up for freedom and democracy, the city's mayor said Saturday as a united Germany commemorated the bitter anniversary. Seeing Berlin divided by the 140-kilometre-long wall tore apart the country as well as separating the city's streets, neighbors and families, Mayor Klaus Wowereit said at a televised ceremony. "It is our shared responsibility to keep the memory alive and to pass it on to the coming generations as a reminder to stand up for freedom and democracy to ensure that such injustice may never happen again," Wowereit said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, centre, and President Christian Wulff, left, speak to spectators as they attend the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Markus Schreiber/Associated Press
German Chancellor Angela Merkel — who grew up behind the wall in Germany's communist eastern part — also attended the commemoration in Berlin, where parts of the wall and an attached surveillance tower now form a museum.

Germany had been divided into capitalist western and communist eastern sectors after the end of the Second World War. At the height of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, the East German regime started building the wall through the capital on Aug. 13, 1961.

For 28 years until its collapse on Nov. 9, 1989, the wall was the epicenter of the Cold War, splitting Berlin in two and dividing a nation with two million tons of concrete, 700,000 tonnes of steel, attack dogs, tank traps, death strips and tripwires.

P.O.V.
Do you remember the day the Berlin Wall fell?
From the very first day it went up, anyone who tried to escape risked betrayal, prison, or death. Hundreds of east Germans were arrested while trying to flee to democratic Western Germany and at least 700 were killed trying to cross the wall.




Achim von Almrich lights a candle at the Berlin Wall Memorial at Bernauer Strasse in Berlin. Markus Schreiber/Associated Press
German President Christian Wulff said the "life-asphyxiating wall" must be a reminder to appreciate and preserve the "openness of today's world."

"When I was seven years old, I still went with my grandmother — just a few days before the construction of the Wall — from East Berlin's Pankow [neighborhood] to West Berlin, and for me as a child it was totally inconceivable that Berlin was suddenly divided," Merkel has said ahead of Saturday's ceremony.

"From that moment on, I couldn't go to visit my grandmother in Hamburg anymore. I couldn't see my aunt or my cousins anymore. That of course marked my entire life," Merkel said in unusually personal remarks.

Today much of the Wall has disappeared with only small portions, totaling about three kilometres, remaining.

Sections still standing, where numerous wreaths were laid on Saturday, are now being restored and listed for historical preservation.

For days, German newspapers and television channels have been marking the upcoming anniversary with interviews with people who tried to cross the Wall and programs and documentaries about its history.

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