Joyful Germans mark the fall of Berlin Wall

On a misty, dark afternoon, two onetime antagonists - Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, and Lech Walesa, founder of Poland’s liberty-seeking Solidarity movement - walked across the Bornholmer Street bridge, which was the first checkpoint along the Berlin Wall to throw open its gates Nov. 9, 1989.

“You made this possible,’’ German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the 78-year-old ex-Soviet premier, as tens of thousands of onlookers chanted, “Gorby! Gorby!’’

Merkel added: “You courageously let things happen, and that was much more than we could expect.’’

As they held a daylong series of celebrations, Berliners who had lived on both sides of the hated wall recalled with continued amazement how East German police kept their pistols holstered and Soviet troops stayed in their barracks as thousands of residents spontaneously poured across the border that night.

“Those in government thought they were opening a valve, but once it was open much more happened,’’ said Joachim Gauck, a Lutheran pastor and former East German dissident leader.

Gauck recalled the words repeatedly chanted by East German demonstrators - “Wir sind das Volk,’’ or “We are the people’’ - in the tumultuous days and weeks that preceded the collapse of the wall. “The theme of ‘We are the people’ matters not just for Germany,’’ he said, “but rather for all those who seek freedom and democracy.’’

The abandonment of the wall came after a spokesman for the East German Politburo, in a moment of confusion, announced at a late-night press conference that the communist government would lift restrictions on travel to West Germany.

After the march across the Bornholmer Street bridge, the anniversary ceremonies continued at the Brandenburg Gate, where Merkel was joined by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Leaders of all 27 European Union nations were represented.

The ceremony was capped by the symbolic toppling of a mile-long row of giant foam plastic dominoes that the city of Berlin placed along the former path of the wall in the city center.

The 1,000 dominoes were decorated by artists and schoolchildren with graffiti-like motifs, recalling the years when West Berliners had plastered their side of the despised barrier with irreverent slogans and political messages.

The East German government began building the wall, without warning, on Aug. 13, 1961, in an attempt to end the heavy migration of citizens to West Berlin, which was an island of freedom behind the Iron Curtain.

The wall eventually encircled West Berlin, extending for almost 100 miles. At least 136 people died trying to cross during its 28-year existence. Today, only a few segments of the original wall remain standing, preserved as memorial sites.

Ulrich Sauff and his wife, who were among those who gathered for the ceremonies yesterday, stared at the domino pieces and reminisced about life in the barrier’s shadow.

“It was like a prison,’’ said Ulrich Sauff, 73, who lived on the Western side of the wall.

“You couldn’t stop people,’’ said Uwe Kross, a 65-year-old retiree, who watched the drama 20 years ago. “They lifted the barrier and everyone poured through. We saw it first on TV, normally it was very quiet up here, but that night we could hear the footsteps of those crossing.’’

“Looking back, we can see many causes that led to the peaceful revolution, but it still remains a miracle,’’ German President Horst Koehler told the assembled leaders yesterday.

Merkel, who is the first German chancellor to be raised in the former communist east, called the events of Nov. 9, 1989, an epic moment in history.

“For me, it was one of the happiest moments of my life,’’ Merkel told the crowd packed around the Brandenburg Gate. She was among the Germans present 20 years ago when the Wall fell.

In a video message shown at the main event, President Obama paid tribute to the dissidents and demonstrators who ushered in the fall of the wall 20 years ago. “Let us never forget Nov. 9, 1989, nor the sacrifices that made it possible,’’ Obama said to applause and cheers.

Clinton paid tribute to Germany and other countries who shook loose communist binds.

“We remember the people of the Baltics who joined hands across their land. . . . We remember the students of Prague who propelled a dissident playwright from a jail cell to the presidency,’’ she said. “And tonight we remember the Germans, and especially the Germans in the East who stood up to say ‘No more.’ ’’

Merkel also recalled the tragic side of Nov. 9 for Germans - the Nazis’ Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass - an anti-Semitic pogrom 71 years ago. At least 91 German Jews were killed, hundreds of synagogues destroyed and thousands of Jewish businesses vandalized and looted in the state-sanctioned riots that night.

“Both show that freedom is not self evident,’’ Merkel said. “Freedom must be fought for. Freedom must be defended time and again.’’

Material from the Associated Press was included in this report.