Berlin remembers the fall

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Twenty years on, millions celebrate fall of hated wall

BEFORE A gleaming Brandenburg Gate, Berlin partied last night like it was 1989. Germany and the world recalled the Berlin Wall, the hated physical reminder of Europe’s ideological division, and the glorious night 20 years ago when Churchill’s Iron Curtain was ripped down.

“For us, this is when the impossible became possible,” said chancellor Angela Merkel, born in west Germany and raised in the socialist east. The beaming German leader welcomed world leaders and millions of visitors to the Brandenburg Gate, serenaded by Derry-born singer Johnny McDaid whose song We are One, co-written with Berlin DJ Paul Van Dyk, was chosen as the anthem of the 20th anniversary.

“I wanted to get across the simple unity of celebration, of what happened in 1989 and how far Germany has come since then,” he said backstage. “It’s incredible looking out at hundreds of thousands of people celebrating, many of whom weren’t even alive 20 years ago.”

Between musical interludes, leaders toppled outsized Berlin Wall-like dominos decorated by schoolchildren from around the world and placed along the former death strip – now a harmless line of cobblestones in the street.

Irish actor and Berlin resident John Keogh remembered yesterday how, after a day’s work in east Berlin 20 years ago, he was caught up in the historical event. “I remember the atmosphere of disbelief mixed with euphoria,” he said, “and a man carrying an enormous chunk of the wall, laughing wildly to himself.”

Few in the crowds at the Brandenburg Gate let the persistent drizzle dampen the mood. After a two-decade transformation – from cold war no-man’s-land to Germany’s reborn capital, the city centre streets of Berlin were the scene of a second all-night party fuelled by sparkling white wine, wurst and fireworks.

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