Berlin (dpa / bb) – With the lighting of numerous candles on the former death strip on Bernauer Strasse in Berlin-Mitte, the fall of the Berlin Wall 32 years ago was remembered. After the central memorial event had to be canceled last year due to the corona pandemic, this time more than 60 representatives from politics and society came to the Berlin Wall Memorial on the anniversary of the fall of the Wall. Among them were Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD), Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters (CDU) and Senator for Culture Klaus Lederer (left).

The director of the Wall Foundation, Axel Klausmeier, recalled the peaceful and the fall of the Wall before 32, but also of the fact that for many people there was also one.

One of those whose life is changing significantly, and not just in a positive way, was Ibraimo Alberto. He was born in Mozambique in 1963 and went to the GDR as a contract worker in 1981. Alberto reported on racist experiences after the fall of the Wall. “There were problems with bald heads and neo-Nazis every day,” he said of his experiences in Schwedt in Brandenburg, where he lived for several years until 2014. Alberto now lives in Berlin again.

Around 70 schoolchildren from Germany and France also took part in the event, who presented their thoughts on solidarity in short speeches. Numerous participants in the memorial events put roses in the interior wall. After a prayer in front of the Chapel of Reconciliation, candles were lit at the end of the memorial in memory of autumn 1989.

Bernauer Strasse is a symbol of the division of Germany. When the Wall was built in 1961, the front of the street was to the east, the sidewalk to the west. The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 marked the end of the GDR; on October 3, 1990, Germany was reunited. The Berlin Wall existed for more than 28 years.

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