Tens of thousands gathered in central Berlin tonight as Germany marked the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall - an event that led to the unification of their country.
Earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel said that, 25 years on, the collapse of the Berlin Wall remained a "dream come true" and a reminder of the importance of European unity.
But she reminded Germans that November 9th was a day heavy with mixed memories: the end of the German monarchy in 1918; Hitler’s failed putsch in 1923; and the 1938 Nazi Pogrom against Jews when the country’s synagogues burned.
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“On this 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall I don’t feel just joy,” she said, “but also the responsibility our whole German history gives us.”
At a ceremony this evening marking the 1989 fall of the 155km fortified around West Berlin, ending 28 years of division, Dr Merkel praised the people of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary for paving the way to the unification of Gemrany. In a nod to a recent debate, she said her “ideology-obsessed” East German homeland was clearly an Unrechtsstaat where the rule of law did not always apply.
The message of the Berlin Wall’s fall was that “things can change for the better”, added Dr Merkel, calling on European solidarity with peoples whose human rights are “being trampled on” in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
Three-day celebrations ended this evening when Berlin’s Staatskapelle orchestra played Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and a 15km line of 8,000 illuminated balloons, marking the former deathstrip, were released into the night air.
Not everyone was in a celebratory mood, with former victims of the East German regime accusing Berlin of exploiting German division for commercial gain. An estimated 250,000 East Germans were held, interrogated or imprisoned between 1954 and 1989, for protesting against the regime or demanding to leave the country.
Beyond that were forced adoptions, secret doping of athletes with health consequences and countless cases of people refused permission to study. The number of those who died trying to escape East Germany still varies wildly, from around 250 to more than 1,100.
One of the many Berlin Wall victims was Michael Bittner, shot on November 26th, 1986. Authorities altered his post mortem report to suggest he was still alive, telling his mother Irmgard he was smuggling people across the border. It was another four years before Irmgard Bittner learned her son was dead and, almost 30 years after his death, she is still campaigning to find his remains.
“There are people out there who know where he is, if only someone would send a postcard it would help me,” she said.
Dr Karl-Heinz Bomberg, a psychoanalyst who treats many victims of East German injustice, says their suffering often continues today. “The victims don’t percieve this society is ready to recognise their suffering, but that is crucial for healing,” he said.
Gabrielle Stolzer was imprisoned after protesting when dissident singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann was stripped of his East German citizenship in 1976. She dislikes the word “victim” because it makes people like her who took on the state look helpless. “I know people who ... never talked about their experiences,” she said, “who, only now, are starting to have nightmares as everything they experienced starts coming back.”
For East German political prisoners who spent more than 180 days behind bars, Germany paid compensation of €306 per month of imprisonment and a €250 monthly pension if they have a monthly income of less than €1,092 a month. Victim support groups complain the system is overly bureacratic and want further reform.
