Berlin, Nov 9 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Prayers, blaring music and pomp, marked the 20th anniversary of the day the historic Berlin Wall fell, when the East Germans started moving west and the country’s reunification soon followed.

November 9, 1989, marked the beginning of a new unification era in history. It signaled the beginning of the end of Germany’s tragic postwar division into West and East Germany. It also signaled the end of the barbaric Cold War and it heralded the spirit of a completely united Europe.

Germans are in deep gratitude of the Americans as without their help and support, the barbaric Berlin Wall wouldn’t have had been felled and the reunification process would have been in shambles instead. They have a deep sense of thankfulness for the Americans who helped them in spirit and in strength to take up the historic task of crushing the Berlin Wall and make Germany one again.

On the historic occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s fall, the German Ambassador to the US, Klaus Scharioth said “Twenty years ago, on November 9, 1989, the world watched in amazement as jubilant crowds gathered on both sides of the Berlin Wall around midnight to celebrate the opening of the border crossings between the eastern and western parts of the city. A peaceful revolution in East Germany had finally cracked this grim symbol of Cold War and political oppression. Erected on August 13, 1961 by the communist regime in East Germany, the Wall divided Berlin for 28 years. It cut right through the heart of the city, amputating vital traffic links and separating families and friends. Minefields and border police with shoot-to-kill orders thwarted any further attempts by East Germans to look for a better future in the West. While the communists tightened their grip on people’s lives in East Berlin, the western part of the city became a walled-in outpost of freedom and democracy.”