Germany marks 65 years since Berlin Wall's rise with art installation and warnings against division

Germany on Thursday commemorated the 65th anniversary of the Berlin Wall's construction, an event that physically and ideologically divided the city and the nation for nearly three decades. At the iconic Brandenburg Gate, an art installation by Hubertus Hamm offered a modern interpretation of the barrier, using aluminum tubes to create a "beehive" effect that distorts views.

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We were lucky compared to those in East Berlin. In a photograph here I saw the spot where my childhood friend used to go to wave to his grandmother in the east.

The original wall, erected overnight on August 13, 1961, transformed Berlin's soft border into an "impenetrable Cold War barrier" of barbed wire and bricks. It stood for 28 years, during which an estimated 140 lives were lost in escape attempts. Today, the Brandenburg Gate serves as a site for remembrance, hosting an open-air exhibition of black and white photographs that capture the desperate plight of separated families.

Visitors at the memorial described the exhibition as powerful. Harald Wegner, 68, who grew up in West Berlin, recalled the wall seeming "omnipresent and impregnable." He noted the luck of those in the West compared to the East. Marc, 42, visiting with his family, found explaining the division to his children challenging, describing it as a contrast between a system of self-reliance and one of state control.

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We tell the kids there were two systems. one where people did things for themselves with additional help for the weak and another where the state wanted to control everything.

Politicians used the anniversary to issue warnings about contemporary divisions. Bundestag president Julia Klockner spoke of "mental divisions" persisting long after the physical wall fell. She cautioned against the allure of simplistic answers to complex issues, particularly in light of the far-right's surge in eastern federal states, stating that the "ideas of 1989 were ideas of freedom and today they are in danger again."

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The ideas of 1989 were ideas of freedom and today they are in danger again, not by barbed wire . . . but through the illusion that simple answers can solve complex questions.

Attendees expressed hope that the aluminum installation and exhibition could become permanent fixtures, serving as a lasting reminder of the city's divided past and the importance of freedom.

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I never saw the wall with my own eyes but these texts and images are so well done. It’s great that the ex