Many East Germans just wanted to have a look around. One video clip that has stayed with me for  a long time is of an East German lady, standing in front of the guards at Pariser Platz (in front of the Brandenburg Gate) and pleading with the guards to let her through, asking them why they continue to form a barrier and whether they think such a barrier is useful. She just wanted to walk through the Brandenburg Gate, just once in her life. She even told the guards that her own son is a border guard. Eventually, others come to her defense. The guards keep arguing that she can use a newly opened checkpoint to get into the West, but that’s not even what she wants. All she wants is to walk through the Gate – and eventually they let her, while the crowds cheer her on. Her name is Bärbel Reinke, but she’s known as “The Woman at Brandenburg Gate.”

 

 

News about the new travel arrangements and the opening of the border spread like a fire across both sides of the divide. Mario Ständer was working the late shift when he heard the news.

“I planned to take my chance and flee into the West right after clocking off. At that time, all I knew was that those willing to leave could do so – but never return.”

However, his mate refused to drive him to the border.

“Fortunately, the borders stayed upon, and I eventually made it into the West”, he says.

 

Bernadette Disler was living in Lucerne, Switzerland, when the Berlin Wall fell.

“Back then, although I knew something big was happening, it was too far away, in a different country, to really concern me. But now that I live in Germany, I can grasp just how big it was and how good it was for Germany to reunite.”

However, this sentiment is not shared by everyone.

“Reuniting with the East only cost the West a lot of money, and we’re still spending more. They should have made the Wall 10m higher, if you ask me”, says one of Marion’s neighbours, who wishes to remain anonymous.

But on the 25th anniversary of the Wall’s demise, especially Berlin is celebrating with thousands of Germans gathering in front of the Brandenburg Gate.

The Lichtgrenze (Border of Lights) installation commemorates the former border between East and West Germany, and runs a total of 15km through Berlin. All along the former path of the Berlin Wall, illuminated balloons have been put up as a visual reminder that this vibrating city was once divided, sometimes right through a busy intersection.

 

Moritz van Dülmen, who recreated pieces of the Wall out of styrofoam for the 20th anniversary in 2009 and city-wide Domino campaign said: “We wanted people to really comprehend what happened back then. Like a domino-effect, the opening of the Wall changed the world.”

But Berlin resident Karima Wenner says that you can still tell East and West apart – at least in the capital.

“The way they talk about each other and still use stereotypes is very apparent.”

However, 28-year-old Karima claims that you can even see and feel it in Berlin’s entire cityscape.

“The eastern part of Berlin has this trendy vibe to it, even more so than West Berlin. Sub cultures thrive there, probably because they had a lot to catch up on. And they still have events and spontaneous street festivals everywhere, that make the East a really cool place to be.”

And then there are the Plattenbausiedlungen, of course, the high-rise blocks of flats that still dominate East Berlin’s landscape.