Crisis-stricken Germany commemorates fall of the Wall

Photo: Ralf Hirschberger Agence France-Presse Musicians perform next to screens displaying artwork at the Brandenburg Gate during celebrations marking the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Berlin.

Agence France-Presse

Posted at 10:44 a.m.

• Europe

Germany is celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall on Saturday, which fell 35 years ago, on a “happy day” that contrasts with the somber atmosphere of the moment, linked to the government crisis in the country and the decline of democracies around the world.

However, the festivities that are being held throughout the weekend will try not to lose sight of the symbolism of this historic event, which took place on November 9, 1989.

It was “a happy day” that also reminds us that “freedom and democracy have never been self-evident,” declared the conservative mayor of Berlin Kai Wegner during a ceremony also attended by the head of state Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The slogan of the festivities, “Preserve Freedom,” resonates particularly well at a time when democracy is in decline around the world and wars continue to rage, in Ukraine and Gaza.

They also come as Olaf Scholz’s coalition has fallen apart after the liberal finance minister was sacked on Wednesday night, plunging Europe’s largest economy into a period of uncertainty.

Former West Berliner Jutta Krüger, 75, certainly finds it “a shame” that the government is falling now.

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“But we should still celebrate the fall of the wall. “It was especially important for Berliners, but also for those who lived in East Germany, to know that they could go out if they wanted, go where they wanted,” the pensioner told AFP.

Ideals of 1989

Chancellor Olaf Scholz also stressed on Friday that the values ​​of 1989 could not “be taken for granted.”

To embody these ideals, an open-air installation stretching 4 km along the former route of the Wall displays replicas of placards from the 1989 demonstrations as well as thousands of others created by citizens.

The fall of the Wall, a symbol of the Cold War and the division between the Western and Soviet bloc, paved the way for the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany a year later. late.

The 155-kilometre “Wall of Shame” was erected in August 1961 around West Berlin to halt the growing exodus of people from the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

At least 140 people have died trying to cross it.

Activists from around the world have been invited to the celebrations, which run until Sunday, including exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and Iranian dissident Masih Alinejad.

Russian protest punk band Pussy Riot will perform outside the former headquarters of the Stasi, East Germany’s feared secret police. the East.

“We stand with those who are fighting today for their freedom and against enslavement!” declared Frank-Walter Steinmeier in his speech launching the festivities on Wednesday evening.

Persistent differences

“The focus on freedom is particularly important” at a time when we are facing the rise of “populism, disinformation and social division,” Joe Chialo, head of culture in the Berlin regional government, also stressed.

Elections in three regions of the former GDR in September highlighted the persistent political divisions between eastern and western Germany.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won historically high results, while a new far-left group made inroads.

This weekend also marks the anniversary of “Kristallnacht,” a pogrom carried out by the Nazis on November 9 and 10 1938.

At least 90 Jews were murdered, tens of thousands were deported to concentration camps, and 1,400 synagogues were burned down in Germany and Austria.

“It is very important for our society […] to learn the right lessons from these events,” the German government recalled at a time when Germany has been experiencing a resurgence of anti-Semitic acts since the events of October 7, 2023 — the unprecedented attack by Hamas against Israel — which triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.