25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Wall

Yesterday, November 9, marked 25 years since an East German party official fumbled a press conference where he was meant to announce that a (somewhat) eased travel regulation for East German citizens would soon be implemented, allowing people to cross the border if they first obtained the proper permission; instead he accidentally declared that, as far as he knew, the border was open, to everyone, effective immediately.

This led to masses of East Germans gathering at Berlin Wall checkpoints, after they heard the news on (technically forbidden, but everybody watched it) West German TV. Which led to the East German border guards, not yet even informed of the new travel regulation, having no idea how to react as more and more thousands of people arrived, demanding to be let through. Which led to one East German officer making the decision to defy orders and lift the checkpoint barrier.

Which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and history as we know it.

That first fateful border crossing occurred at the bridge on Bornholmer Strasse, just a couple miles from where I live in Berlin, and I spent both this 25th anniversary and the 20th anniversary five years ago there. Five years ago, the celebration involved a massive line of larger-than-a-person dominoes that were then ceremoniously toppled; this year, the city erected a wall of illuminated helium balloons, which were then released into the air on the night of November 9.

They didn't illuminate the entire 155-kilometer (96-mile) length of the former Berlin Wall, but they did do a decent stretch of the part of it that ran through the city, from Bornholmer Strasse in the north, through the Brandenburg Gate and over to the Oberbaumbrücke in the east. Here's a map:

Unfortunately, I didn't think to bring my camera along two evenings ago, when I was just strolling along up close with the lights near Bornholmer Strasse, so I don't have pictures of that. But seriously, anyone who's interested only needs to search online for "Lichtgrenze" ("light border," the name of the installation) and there are about a gazillion beautiful pictures out there. What I've got are a couple shots from last night, when the balloons were released.

A small section of the lights through the middle of the Mauerpark, a park created along a section of the former wall:

Balloons being released into the sky above the Mauerpark:

People watching from atop a wall...though not the Wall:

All in all, I found it moving to be here for the anniversary and its celebrations. I'm glad I stayed in Berlin this long, to have the privilege to be here for this!