Berlin Wall victims remembered

A marking refers to the former course of the Wall in Berlin.

On the 62nd annual commemoration of the building of the Berlin Wall, Berlin's governing mayor Kai Wegner remembered the victims. In a statement distributed on Friday, the CDU politician referred to the deaths at the Wall and to the people who were injured or subsequently imprisoned while trying to escape.

"But we also remember the many lives that were broken because of the wall that divided Berlin and Germany for years." In Wegner's view, the Berlin Wall was daily evidence of a system that distrusted people and fought freedom and democracy. But, "An unjust state can build walls, divide cities, tear families apart, imprison an entire people. What it will never succeed in doing: Breaking the people's urge for freedom." This urge for freedom, he said, ultimately led to the collapse of the Wall on November 9, 1989.

For 28 years the Wall separated East and West

The construction of the Berlin Wall had begun on August 13, 1961 and sealed the German-German division. The bulwark, some 155 kilometers long, cut through Berlin for more than 28 years, separating the western part of the city from the surrounding countryside. According to the Berlin Wall Foundation, at least 140 people were killed at the Wall during this time or lost their lives in connection with the GDR border regime. In addition, at least 251 travelers died during or after controls at Berlin border crossings.

Memorial events in Berlin and Brandenburg

On the 62nd anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall on Sunday, victims of the GDR border regime will be remembered at several events in Berlin and Brandenburg. A wreath-laying ceremony is planned at the Berlin Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse.