A series of white balloons will be released tracing the path of the former concrete frontier that divided the German Nation . Its disappearance in 1989 marked the end of the Cold War, and is now the subject of celebrations led by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Merkel, who grew up in Eastern Germany, will initiate the ceremony with a speech at the site where the Wall once stood . In previous speeches she has stated the significance of the frontier’s downfall to every citizen of the nation. “I had to wait 35 years for this feeling of freedom,” she stated, as she described what she felt as she walked through the Brandenburg Gate.
Former U.S.S.R. leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, is also in the city for the commemoration ceremonies. Earlier this week, the 83-year-old stunned news stations around the world by claiming that contemporary nations have failed to “learn the lesson” of what previous political emnity had brought upon preceeding generations. He believes “the world is on the brink of a new Cold War” due to the affairs between the West and Putin in Ukraine.
Germany has since become the world’s wealthiest and most influential European country. It has morphed into a unified nation within a year of the Wall’s collapse and is today the most populous member state of the European Union. Rememberance ceremonies will culminate this Sunday at the Brandenburg Gate.
