Construction of the Berlin Wall began 60 years ago. It lasted 28 years. On the anniversary, Federal President Steinmeier remembered the people who died at the wall.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the construction of the Berlin Wall 60 years ago as “a testament to a hopeless failure”.
«The wall was the obvious sign of an injustice state that was neither sovereign nor legitimate in the eyes of its own citizens. Basically the beginning of the end – which was, however, still too long in coming, ”said Steinmeier on Friday at the central commemoration in Berlin.
“August 13, 1961 was a fateful day for us Germans and for the world – and a day that destroyed dreams and hopes, separated children from parents, grandchildren from grandparents, and painfully and painfully intervened in the lives of innumerable individuals”, said Steinmeier according to the previously published manuscript of the speech.
On August 13, 1961, the construction of the Berlin Wall, which sealed the division of Germany, began. The bulwark was around 155 kilometers long and enclosed the western part of Berlin. The wall ran 45 kilometers across the city. Only after more than 28 years did the division come to an end with the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. In Berlin alone, according to scientific research, at least 140 people died as a result of the GDR border regime after the Wall was built. According to the federal government, at least 260 fatalities were to be mourned at the inner-German border.
Steinmeier recalled the sentence “Nobody has the intention to build a wall” by Walter Ulbricht, then GDR state and SED party leader in June 1961. This was “one of the boldest lies in German history.” The regime in East Berlin had long had the clear intention of stopping the flight of so many people from the GDR at its most sensitive point, namely in Berlin.
“In the beginning there was a lie – and it continued in the phrase” anti-fascist protective wall “,” said the Federal President. «Who ever believed this propaganda lie? The wall was not built to prevent a movement of conquest from west to east, but was built by a state that had to lock up its own citizens in its country in order to be able to function for a while. ” In reality, the Berlin Wall was an admission “that not even its own citizens really recognized this state.”
Steinmeier called for people not to stop at looking back when remembering the Wall. It is a constant challenge. «Freedom and democracy are never given by nature, never achieved once and for all. Freedom and democracy must be fought for, but then also protected, defended and preserved. Freedom and democracy need decisive commitment and passion. ” It starts with participation in democratic elections. “Everyone should think about it when a new Bundestag is elected soon,” said Steinmeier.
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