30 Years From the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Hundreds were killed in an attempt to flee across the border. Almost three decades later, on the night of November 9, 1989, tens of thousands of people turned down the wall, a key moment contributing to the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But as correspondent Henry Ridgwell of Berlin reports, the hopes that this event would bring peace between East and West have waned as fear of a new Cold War grows.

A huge wave of hope and memories of people once separated from the Berlin Wall. Thirty thousand written messages hung in front of Brandenburg Gate.

In this country in June 1987, then US President Ronald Reagan gave his now famous expression to his Soviet counterpart:

Mr. Gorbachev, take down this” wall.

Two years after President Reagan's speech, the Germans themselves turned down the wall in a dramatic demonstration of people's strength that would have tremendous consequences for Germany, Europe and global order.

In the Soviet block, pressure was intensifying for months. Pro-democracy protests spread to East Germany. On November 9th, a spokesman for the East German government said citizens were now free to travel west.

The unexpected announcement was a bureaucratic error, but the East Germans were launched towards the border. In confusion, the guards opened the gates.

Patrick Hartwig, then 19, was among the first to enter. He immediately went to the Kurfürsstedamm trade centre, which symbolized western capitalism. He's working the same way now.

I spent all night in Kurfürstendam. I was sitting in a BMW, holding a bottle of champagne in my hand, and throwing a trumpet everywhere. It was a crazy night. 30 years later, I still think the changes were positive. It was a peaceful change”, he says.

The events of that night echoed throughout the world.

After a few weeks, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and New American President George Bush declared that the Cold War was over.

I thought the situation was becoming more peaceful than the world was in a more peaceful moment. Some even said it was the end of history”, says Hermann Wentker of the Institute of Contemporary History.

By 1991 the Soviet Union was dissolved. But in the three decades since then, tensions between East and West have revived.

“NATO has taken Poland, the Baltic states, and this is seen as a threat. But the threat was not the goal. It was not about an aggressive NATO that wanted to spread to the East, but Eastern European countries that applied for NATO membership”, says Mr. Wentker.

At the dawn of the new century, Vladimir Putin appeared as Russia's strong man, vowing to restore the country's pride and power. In Moscow, events in 1989 are seen differently after three decades:

“Gorbachev is now far less accepted than he was then, for he is now seen not only as the person who gave East Germany but also as the person who destroyed the Soviet Union. And I think Putin is trying to regain part of the Soviet hegemonic position in Europe”, says Mr. Wendyr.

In 2014, Russia strongly complained against Crime and supported pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Relations between East and West are at a low point. Russia and the United States are re-arming. Moscow blames the West for lost opportunities.

The “could have been a victory for both sides if Western countries had been smarter”, says Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Russian Parliamentary Commission for Foreign Relations.

Germans and visitors from around the world celebrate the anniversary Saturday, the night freedom came to Berlin. But the peace between East and West remains far away.