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| November 10, 2009 | (Use j/k keys to navigate)  Email to a friend  Permalink |
The Berlin Wall, 20 years gone
Twenty
years ago, on the night of November 9, 1989, following weeks of
pro-democracy protests, East German authorities suddenly opened their
border to West Germany. After 28 years as prisoners of their own
country, euphoric East Germans streamed to checkpoints and rushed past
bewildered guards, many falling tearfully into the arms of West Germans
welcoming them on the other side. Thousands of Germans and world
leaders gathered in Berlin yesterday to celebrate the "Mauerfall" - the
dismantling of the Berlin Wall and German reunification - and to
remember the approximately 100-200 who died attempting to cross the
border over the years. Collected here are photographs both historic and
recent, from the fall of the Berlin Wall. Be sure to pause on photos 12
- 15, and click them to see a fade effect from before to after. (38 photos total)
[Click on this image to see it fade] A
before-and-after combination of two pictures shows West Berlin citizens
continuing their vigil atop the Berlin Wall in front of the Brandenburg
Gate in this November 10, 1989 file photo (before) and cars passing
through the Gate on November 1, 1999 (after, click image to view).
(REUTERS/David Brauchli [before]/Fabrizio Bensch [after]) #
[Click on this image to see it fade] Two
pictures of the German Reichstag building (left) one with the Berlin
Wall (before) taken on November 10, 1989, and the same view (after,
click image to view) taken twenty years later on October 20, 2009,
without the wall. (GERARD MALIE/JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images) #
Among
roses left by visitors, a couple peeks over a still-existing section of
the Berlin Wall into the so-called 'death strip,' where East German
border guards had the order to shoot anyone attempting to flee into
West Berlin, at the Bernauer Strasse memorial on the 20th anniversary
of the fall of the Wall on November 9, 2009 in Berlin, Germany.
(Carsten Koall/Getty Images) #
Spectators
watch as giant, painted styrofoam dominoes stand along the route of the
former Berlin Wall near the Brandenburg Gate on November 9, 2009 in
Berlin, Germany. The approximately 1,000 dominoes, painted by
schoolchildren and artists all over the world, are meant to
symbolically represent the end of communist rule across Eastern Europe
and are the highlight of celebrations in the German capitol marking the
20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (Henning
Schacht-Pool/Getty Images) #
An
honour guard carrying torches at Bellevue Castle on November 9, 2009 in
Berlin, Germany. The city of Berlin is celebrating the 20th anniversary
of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which led to the end of communist rule
in East Germany and later on the reunification of East and West
Germany. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images) #
From
left, Gordon Brown, U.K. prime minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, France's
president, Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, Dmitry Medvedev,
Russia's president, Horst Koehler, Germany's president, Klaus Wowereit,
mayor of Berlin, and Hillary Clinton, U.S. secretary of state, walk
through the Brandenburg Gate as part of the celebration of the
twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, in Berlin,
Germany, on Monday, Nov. 9, 2009. (Michele Tantussi/Bloomberg) #
More links and information
The View From the Wall - NYTimes.com interactive
A Fateful Day, and the East Tasted Freedom - NYTimes.com, 11/8
Chasing the Story on a Night That Changed All - NYTimes.com, 11/6
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
really nice pictures
liberté
#32 is a telling statement of the disregard our American President has for liberty. The only major western world leader to not attend.
Great photos!
I LOVE BERLIN!
Beautiful
In my opinion demolishing te wall, Was the biggest misstake ever made.
Beatiful images...
The ultimate feeling, the joy of freedom.
at rick vogelsckrik
why do you have that opinion?
Superbes photos pleines d'émotions ! ©ż©
And still there are many walls to tear down in the world...
#20. Wow. Finally, a peak at the truth. However, sad as it may be, most of today's youth would not know who the image to the right of Kennedy is.
The before and after photos brought me to tears!
I think #33 is hilarious. Nearly everyone in the crowd is watching the fireworks through a digital camera viewscreen.
#38 is quietly powerful and moving, and a superb choice for the final photograph.
Comment #3: If Obama had come, it would have meant a lot less "liberté" for the spectators due to security measurements. This has nothing to do with his (existent or non-existent) disregard for liberty.
Berlin ich mag dir!!
Liberté j'écris ton nom (Paul Eluard)
In response to #3, our President attended the funeral services at Fort Hood. He can't be everywhere at once.
In picture 30, those are cellos, not violins.
In response to #19, he announced he was not attending back on October 16th. Weeks before Ft. Hood. Look it up.
at John Doucette
Why dont you use this as an opportunity to inform?
@19 I was going to post the same thing. Thanks.
Great pictures. How tempting are giant dominoes?
I was the at the Brandenburg Gate in January 1990 when the wall was still up. Great to see it gone. Wonderful pics.
I remember that day and I was a dumb 15 year old punk teenager at the time... I remember thinking that the world had just become a better and safer place to live. 20 years later, and there are people plotting to rid us of the Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Press (non government controlled that is), and Freedom of Religion. Fight against those that would take your liberty. Fight like we all fought for the end of the Soviet Union and East Germany in the 80s.
I believe that in #32 photo, next to Hillary Clinton is the romanian president, Traian Basescu. You've forgot to mention him :)
I can't believe it's been 20 years already...
Love the before/after photos! Wonderful to see such change for the better. Great set of photos!
@21, 3
"We are now moving towards the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down and Germany being reunified after so many painful years," Obama said. "And this is a special moment for Chancellor Merkel, as somebody who grew up in East Germany, who understands what it's like to be under the shadow of a dictatorial regime, and to see how freedom has bloomed in Germany, how it has become the centerpiece for a extraordinarily strong European Union."
-President Barack Obama
(Quote from a Fox News article)
Do these sound like the words of someone who "disregards liberty" (whatever that means)?
He is obviously well liked in Germany, and Clinton was there anyway. Not sure what the big deal is with his absence.
I'm sure if he hadn't been at Ft. Hood, you'd be attacking him for that. Can't we even celebrate peace in Europe without petty partisan sniping?
Herzliche glückwünsche zu den Deutschen, and to all who have emerged from totalitarian oppression.
Ich bin ein Berliner
If I remember correctly the fall of communism in central/eastern Europe started in Poland, then there was Hungary and only after that the fall of the Berlin wall. But somehow, maybe because "the wall" is such a clear symbol, maybe because Germany is a more "famous" country, maybe because Germany put more effort into "advertisement" of that anniversary (MTV awards, concert of U2, etc.) than aforementioned countries, it is the German anniversary that gets all the media attention, which will, I'm afraid, end up with most people in the world thinking that it were the Germans that beat communism in that region.
Goosebumps like crazy! Amazing photos, amazing event!
I was there.. froze my ass off.
But it was worth it.
Gorby got the most applause, he is the man that made this possible without any bloodshed.
#30 You've made the assumption I think he should have been in Berlin, how petty and partisan of you.
Wunderbar! Very interesting historic photographs. Now look at e.g. the "Israeli West Bank barrier". In comparison with it the Berlin Wall looks almost childish. One could argue that the real importance of the Berlin Wall is symbolic. The Israeli Wall then is even more tragic symbol. Let us hope that it too will fall shortly.
@Juan, comment 32: in image 34, the first domino, which Lech Walesa is about to knock over, says "It began in Poland." Does that make you feel a little better?
Theo
Nice pictures, but sadly the *after* picture of #12 is outdated as well. Brandenburg Gate has (fortunately) been closed for motorized traffic for years.
@ Juan. I think you cntradicted your own point. The fact is the wall was THE symbol of the divide between communism and the rest of Europe. It's fall is seen as the final deathblow to communism in Europe. Hence the reason it is celebrated more than Poland or Hungary.
How utterly appropriate that Lech Walesa pushed over the first domino.
@Juan (#32):
I think you miss the point.
Walesa was there to start the downfall of the dominos symbolizing The Wall. Can't imagine how to state the point better than that.
He is the symbol for the start and the downfall of The Wall is the symbol for the finally cracked Iron Cutain. The Wall was a kind of final frontier in breaking the Iron Curtain. After that there has not been any possibility to hold back people anymore. It was the culmination and the big last strike bringing freedom to east europe by reunifying the only nation that was parted by the Iron Curtain.
The process of establishing democraty isn't finished yet though in east europe.
BTW: Why shouldn't Germany celebrate the start of it's reunification and the people who did it - the people on the streets. In the end it was clearly celebrated as an european event.
if anyone actually read the news, you'd know that president obama was asked not to attend specifically because if he did it would have shut down many areas because of his security needs. this would have kept many people from seeing and/or getting close to the events.
Actually Lech Walesa and Miklos Nemeth (former hungarian prime minister) pushed the first 2 dominoes - one each side.
@Theo - yeah, it's a great thing I think, and it would be good, if only for educational reasons, if it was put into the note under this picture, along with some short explanation of what "it began in Poland" actually means. I think there was more things like that during all the celebrations and big thumbs up for that to Germans.
@Jim - I don't think I contradicted myself, I understand the strength of symbols and I put it as a one of the reason why it probably is like it is.
Anyway, I don't want to criticize anyone or argue "which country is more important". Only wanted to, let's say, "inform" about this "sub-plot of the story".
Merci pour ces photos pleines d'émotion
In slide number 30, it's CELLISTS that are playing, not violinists. Please get it right!! :-) Great slide show though!
Such great pictures of such a great day!!!