In 2009, the anniversary of the peaceful revolution and the Fall of the Berlin Wall will come around for the 20th time. These events sparked profound transformation worldwide; they mark the end of the Cold War and of the partition of Europe.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 moved the world. The peaceful revolution in what was East Germany and the following reunification are historically unique. The events twenty years ago triggered a dynamic change that is reflected throughout the country. Aspects of the past have been captured in a new present, making today’s Germany a fascinating travel destination, a country where East and West have come together.

I’m walking along the Wall, twenty years after, today the wall disappears but not in the memory. The Wall was completely removed and there are only a few parts which can still be found. One of the most asked question is: “Where is the Wall…

Germany, Berlin, View of the Fernsehturm (Television Tower).The Fernsehturm Berlin (TV tower) is the highest building in Germany by a height of 368 metres. After the Ostankino tower in Moscow (540 metres), the TV tower of Kiew and Riga, the Fernsehturm of Berlin is the fourth highest building in Europe.It was in the year 1964 when the leader of the Communist party in East Berlin Walter Ulbricht decided to build the Fernsehturm. The start of construction was the 4th August 1965. The strings and the air-conditioning system was imported from Sweden. The security glass was brought from Netherlands.

Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country’s largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union.

Stasi prison Hohenschoenhausen, former Soviet special camp and remand prison of the Ministry of State Security...Erich Honecker (August 25, 1912 - May 29, 1994) was a German Communist who .led the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) .from 1971 until 1989. After German re-unification, he was tried for high .treason by Germany, but was released due to ill health...In 1961 Honecker was in charge of the building of the Berlin Wall. In 1971, he initiated a political power struggle that led, with Soviet support, to himself becoming the new leader, replacing Walter Ulbricht. During the 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev began his reforms, he remained a hard-line Communist. But popular protest led to his resignation on October 18, 1989, and he was replaced by his short-lived successor Egon Krenz.

By the late 1950s, many people living in East Germany wanted out. No longer able to stand the repressive living conditions of East Germany, they would pack up their bags and head to West Berlin. Although some of them would be stopped on their way, hundreds of thousands of others made it across the border. Once across, these refugees were housed in warehouses and then flown to West Germany. Many of those who escaped were young, trained professionals. By the early 1960s, East Germany was rapidly losing both its labor force and its population. Having already lost 2.5 million people by 1961, East Germany desperately needed to stop this mass exodus. The obvious leak was the easy access East Germans had to West Berlin. With the support of the Soviet Union, there had been several attempts to simply take over West Berlin in order to eliminate this exit point. Although the Soviet Union even threatened the United States with the use of nuclear weapons over this issue, the United States and other Western countries were committed to defending West Berlin.

East Side Gallery Berlin, Curriculum Vitae by Susanne Kunjappu-Jellinek. The Berlin Wall East Side Gallery is a 1.3km-long section of the wall near the center of Berlin. Approximately 106 paintings by artists from all over the world cover this memorial for freedom and make it the largest open air gallery in the world.

 

Germany, Berlin - Checkpoint Charlie, symbol of the Cold War, came to epitomize the separation between east and west. For nearly 30 years, this checkpoint represented not only a divided Germany but a world in political turmoil.

 

 

One of the last remaining East German watchtowers in former no-man's land stands as a reminder of the Cold War barrier in the centre of the city in amongst the building work behind Potsdamer Platz, Europe's biggest building site which has sprung up since the Wall was opened 15 years ago on 9th November 1989...

Stasi-file-archive in the former ministry for state security of the GDR in the Normannenstrasse in Berlin. In addition to intact files, a total of 16,250 sacks containing around 45 million shredded pages were rescued.

Examination room, Stasi prison Hohenschoenhausen, former Soviet special camp and remand prison of the Ministry of State Security.

Stasi prison Hohenschoenhausen, former Soviet special camp and remand prison of the Ministry of State Security…Erich Honecker (August 25, 1912 - May 29, 1994) was a German Communist who .led the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR) .from 1971 until 1989. After German re-unification, he was tried for high .treason by Germany, but was released due to ill health…In 1961 Honecker was in charge of the building of the Berlin Wall. In 1971, he initiated a political power struggle that led, with Soviet support, to himself becoming the new leader, replacing Walter Ulbricht. During the 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev began his reforms, he remained a hard-line Communist. But popular protest led to his resignation on October 18, 1989, and he was replaced by his short-lived successor Egon Krenz.

 

'U Boot' or Submarine cellar prison at the Stasi prison Hohenschnhausen, home to the torture devices and padded isolation cells

 

Friedrichstrasse Street, Günter Liftin, the first person shot at the Berlin Wall while trying to escape to the west.

 

Bernauer Strasse became especially symbolic of the inhumanity of the Berlin Wall. Because of the way the border was drawn in this area - the houses on the southern side of the street were in the Soviet sector, while the sidewalks in front of them belonged to the French sector - the Wall had an especially dramatic impact here. When the border troops started walling up the windows on the ground floor of these houses in August 1961, people attempted to escape to the western part of the city...

 

 

Germany, Berlin. Along the Wall, No Man's Land

 

 

Germany, Berlin, View of the Fernsehturm (Television Tower)