Celebrating Again: 20 Years Since Berlin Wall's Great Fall

Like several significant moments in history, I remember exactly where I was when I learned the Berlin Wall was coming down: my sixth grade classroom. It was presented to us as an earth-shattering moment in history, the symbolic end of the Cold War in western Europe.

Twenty years later, the significance of that wall literally being torn down by exuberant East and West Germans seems no less relevant. The symbolic meaning of that event has not been undimmed by the passage of time — quite the opposite — and all the hoopla happening in Berlin today to celebrate the historic 20th anniversary of the wall coming down seems to rightly honor a joyous moment in history.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to be the perfect person to lead today's celebration. She is the first modern German leader to have grown up in East Germany, and when the wall came down the then 35-year-old was working as a scientific researcher in East Berlin. According to Reuters she called the event, "the happiest day in recent Germany history," which in many cases reunited relatives who had been separated for the 28 years The Wall divided east and west.

MSNBC reports the German leader started her day today with President Horst Koehler and other leaders at a prayer service at a former East Berlin church that was a gathering point for opposition activists in 1989. She also met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Later today, leaders from all 27 European Union countries, along with Russian president Dmitri Medvedev, will gather in Berlin and participate in festivities that will include the toppling of 1,000 giant painted dominos that were placed along a .9-mile stretch of the wall's original path. Music featuring everyone from Beethoven to Bon Jovi will be played as fireworks burst in the air, a tribute to Nov. 9, 1989 when rejoicing Germans danced atop the wall and streamed into areas that had been forbidden for nearly 30 years.

In a time when there is still so much turmoil and uncertainty in the world, it is a joy to watch Germany celebrate this truly historic, happy anniversary.

Photo courtesy of Jurek Durczak via Wikimedia Commons