Germany - fall of the Berlin Wall

Amid anniversary cheer, Merkel warns divisions remain

Article published on the 2009-11-09 Latest update 2009-11-09 14:16 TU

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Berlin on 9 November
(Photo: Reuters)

The united Germany remains marred by division 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday as she set off emotional commemorations of the defining moment in the end of communism in Europe.

Thousands visited the route of the Wall in Berlin, which was ripped down by East Germans on the night of 9 November, 1989.

Merkel meanwhile attended a memorial service at a church where pro-democracy rallies were held in the weeks before the end of the communist regime.

The chancellor gave her warning about the work still to be done before the main ceremonies were held at the Brandenburg Gate, attended by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, presidents Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia, and the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, ex-Polish president Lech Walesa and dissidents who helped end European communism were on hand at the former "death strip" where border guards once had shoot-to-kill orders.

"German unity is still incomplete," said Merkel, who grew up behind the Iron Curtain in communist East Germany.

"We must tackle this problem if we want to achieve equal quality of life" in east and west, she told ARD public television, noting that unemployment was still twice as high in the depressed east than in the west.

Following weeks of protests against the regime, East Germany's Stalinist authorities suddenly opened the border on 9 November, 1989. After 28 years as prisoners in their own country, euphoric East Germans streamed past checkpoints, many falling tearfully into the arms of West Germans on the other side.

Merkel, Walesa and Gorbachev, who remains a revered figure here, will join former dissidents in crossing the former checkpoint at Bornholmer Strasse, where hundreds of East Germans had their first taste of freedom.

The celebrations will later move to the Brandenburg Gate for an open-air concert and the symbolic toppling of 1,000 giant styrofoam dominoes along two kilometres of the wall's former course.

South Korean activists marked the anniversary in Seoul by launching leaflets attacking North Korea's leader across the world's last Cold War frontier.