Berlin Wall: A miracle in the capital

The 20th-anniverarsy celebration of the wall's toppling was both a fitting tribute and an acknowledgement of the work still to be done.

The night before last, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall – wir sind alle Berliner – we were all Berliners. Yesterday, amidst the pouring rain, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate what can only be called, as trite as it sounds, a turning point in history.

In terms of the program, the serious was mixed with the playful. Conductor Daniel Barenboim chose a sombre selection of pieces that spoke to the occasion and to momentous Novembers past – in 1848, 1918, and 1938. Rock musician John Bon Jovi wrote a song especially for the event that reminded us that we were not to born to follow, a fitting statement of American individualism. Leaders of the four victorious Allies of World War II, along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, together walked through the Brandenburg Gate and each spoke in turn. Germans were disappointed that President Barack Obama could not attend in person, but nonetheless cheered on both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as the president’s recorded message. Merkel’s speech should have been the best, and indeed it was. As an “Ossi” living in East Berlin at the time and the first chancellor who hails from the former East, she spoke with emotion of what a momentous event it was for her personally, while reminding Germans and indeed all Europeans of what they had achieved. At the same time, Merkel suggested that walls still existed in many minds, and full unity was still a distant goal.

Perhaps that final unity will come with the next generation of young Europeans. A central event last night was the symbolic falling of 1000 "Dominosteine,” lined up from the Reichstag and Potsdamer Platz in separate lines to the Brandenburg Gate, following the route of the now defunct Wall. Fittingly, those who had played a role by either pushing the boundaries of “really existing” socialism to its limits, or by graciously allowing reform to inexorably occur – Lech Wałesa of Poland’s famed Solidarity trade union and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev – were among those who “pushed over” the first stones. Young volunteers were situated next to each stone in case of technical difficulties, but with stereotypical German efficiency and engineering, the performance went off without a hitch. The volunteers – cold and wet just like the rest of us – stood back and literally jumped for joy as one domino fell and hit the next.

A majority of the volunteers were clearly under 20 and thus not alive when the original wall was dismantled. This night was an opportunity for the intergenerational transmission of history, for young people to hear first-hand a collection of world leaders rarely heard on a stage together, and to take part in a magnificent piece of performance art. It was a sight to behold, and those who allowed their inner child to remember the satisfaction of lining up a meandering row of dominos and watching them fall in perfect sequence could not help but smile. On large screens along Ebertstrasse we could see the continuation of the falling stones, and hear the cheering of the crowds. We looked up, and peering down upon us from the roof of the Marriott Hotel was a solitary figure, arms crossed, with angels’ wings attached to his back. Presumably inspired by Wim Wenders’ famous cult film Wings of Desire, an angel had again come to witness a miracle in Berlin.