Anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall
The Fall of the Berlin Wall: 25 Years Later
Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) — November 9th marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols reflects on the history of the wall and what has changed in the years since the wall was opened, re-unifying East and West Germany. He speaks on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”
Germany marks anniversary of fall of Berlin Wall
Illuminated white balloons, seen here near the Brandenburg Gate, mark the route of the Berlin Wall
Celebrations are being held in Germany to mark the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 2014.
Chancellor Angela Merkel is at a church service for victims of the communist East German regime, and will go to a huge party at the Brandenburg Gate.
White balloons marking a stretch of the wall will be released to symbolise its disappearance.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to stop people fleeing from East Germany to the West.
Its fall in 1989 became a powerful symbol of the end of the Cold War.
The day’s events began with a brass band playing, evoking the trumpets which brought down the walls of the biblical city of Jericho.
Chancellor Merkel and other officials laid roses in one of the remaining sections of the wall.
Ms Merkel, who grew up in East Germany, will be joined later by former Polish trade union leader and president Lech Walesa and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader.
The wall stretched for 155km (96 miles) through Berlin but today only about three kilometres of it still stands.
Within a year of its collapse, Germany – divided after its defeat in World War Two – was reunited.
