25 years ago today; November 9th, 1989 marks the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 to keep people from fleeing Communist East Germany. Its fall has now become a symbol of the end of the Cold War.
To commemorate, 8,000 illuminated balloons, representing the Wall, will be released into the Berlin sky. They are lined “Lichtgrenze” (border of light) along the former path of the Berlin Wall from Bornholmer Straße, past Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie.
The celebration’s theme “Mut zur Freiheit” (“The Courage to Seek Freedom”) remembers those who made the peaceful revolution of 1989 possible. 100 informational displays along the light installation help visitors remember the stories of those who were separated by the Berlin Wall and those who died trying to cross it.
Leading members of Ban Ki-moon’s UN Advocacy Group have honored the symbolic power of the Fall of the Wall by becoming virtual balloon-patrons. The group’s chairs are Paul Kagame, President ofRwanda, and Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway.
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Muhammad Yunus pointed out that “the Fall of the Wall 25 years ago fosters hopes all over the world that the UN Millennium Development Goals will be attained. After all, thousands of people achieved the seemingly impossible on 9 November, 1989 through courage and perseverance.”
