Germany, allies celebrate 30 years since Wall’s fall

Pivotal moment in 1989 was part of ending Communism in eastern Europe.

BERLIN — Germany marked the 30th anniversary Saturday of the opening of the Berlin Wall, a pivotal moment in the events that brought down Communism in eastern Europe.

Leaders from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic attended a ceremony at Bernauer Strasse — where one of the last parts of the Berlin Wall remains — before placing roses in the once-fearsome barrier that divided the city for 28 years.

“The Berlin Wall, ladies and gentlemen, is history,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a memorial service inside a small chapel near where the Wall once stood. “It teaches us: No wall that keeps people out and restricts freedom is so high or so wide that it can’t be broken down.”

Noting the cruelty of the East German regime — which had torn down a previous church on the former death strip site so snipers could get a better shot at people fleeing to the West — Merkel paid tribute to those who were killed or imprisoned during the Communist dictatorship and insisted that the fight for freedom worldwide isn’t over.

“We are bereft of excuses, challenged to do our part for freedom and democracy,” she said.

In a statement issued by his office, President Donald Trump congratulated Germany on its anniversary, saying that “courageous men and women from both East and West Germany united to tear down a wall that stood as a symbol of oppression and failed socialism for more than a quarter of a century.”

“The United States and our allies and partners remain steadfast in our unwavering allegiance to advancing the principles of individual liberty and freedom that have sustained peace and spawned unparalleled prosperity,” he added.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall was brought about largely by peaceful protests and a stream of people fleeing East Germany that piled pressure on the country’s Communist government to open its borders to the West and ultimately end the nation’s postwar division.

Thirty years on, Germany has become the most powerful economic and political force on the continent, but there remain deep misgivings among some in the country about how the transition from socialism to capitalism was managed.

SEAN GALLUP / GETTY IMAGES People stick flowers into slats of one of the last portions of the Berlin Wall still standing at Bernauer Strasse following Saturday’s ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall Nov. 9, 1989.

SEAN GALLUP / GETTY IMAGES Left: Visitors look at photographs from 1989 at Bernholmer Bridge, where on Nov. 9, 1989, people first crossed unhindered from East Berlin into West Berlin.

CHRISTIAN MARQUARDT / GETTY IMAGES Above: German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends a ceremony in the Chapel of Reconciliation during the 30th anniversary celebrations.