GALLERY
Celebration on November 9, 1989

Nation still wrestles with reunification after 10 years

November 9, 1999
Web posted at: 4:35 a.m. EST (0935 GMT)

In this story: Music in no man's land Hundreds of thousands expected 'I'd put it back' RELATED STORIES, SITES

BERLIN (CNN) -- A decade ago, Berliners took to the streets in a spontaneous explosion of disbelief and jubilation as they realized that the wall that had divided their city had crashed to the ground literally and figuratively.

The event came to symbolize the fall of Eastern European communist rule. On its 10th anniversary, celebration organizers are hoping to recapture some of the joy and optimism of that November night, when Berliners east and west ran laughing and weeping into each other's arms after 28 years of forcible separation.

Since that night, which paved the way for German reunification 11 months later, many of the hopes of those on both sides of the old divide have faded amid high unemployment and unfulfilled expectations.

VIDEO CNN's Chris Burns goes to the former East Germany to examine the situation Windows Media 28K 80K     RESOURCES Key dates in Berlin Wall's history Fall of the Berlin Wall gallery CNN Special: Cold War Destination: The Berlin Wall     ALSO Germans now divided by 'the wall in the head' Ex-East Germans nostalgic for communism's simpler life Many East Germans resent West German takeover of businesses     MESSAGE BOARD Berlin Wall

The celebrations Tuesday will be more formal than those 10 years ago. But Berliners, who cherish their reputation for partying, hope to recapture some of the emotions of the night when a shared dream and the tools of ordinary citizens chipped away at one of the most enduring symbols of the Cold War.

In an official ceremony, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev will address the German Parliament. Gorbachev's reforms in the Soviet Union whetted the popular demand for change that forced East Germany to declare its borders open, sparking the events of November 9, 1989.

Other leaders credited with helping create the peaceful, democratic revolution in Germany -- then - U.S. President George Bush and then-West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl -- will also speak in the restored Reichstag, parliament's home since this summer when Germany's government returned from its Cold War exile in Bonn.

Since the events of 1989, Kohl has been swept from power in an election defeat blamed largely on his failure to solve the economic problems the have plagued Germany in the wake of reunification.

Music in no man's land

Alongside the parliamentary ceremony Tuesday, will be an array of less structured events.

Rock, folk and classical musicians will perform on five stages in the former no man's land -- the barren strip that separated two parallel walls, now a bustling hub of construction and development as government and business return to the heart of Berlin.

Never in the 10-year history of the new Germany have such wide-ranging festivities been planned: Children born as the Wall came down will celebrate their birthdays with the mayor; 1,000 youth leaders will meet politicians under the dome of the refurbished Reichstag; and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich will give an encore of his spontaneous 1989 performance at the Wall.

Events climax with the illumination of a roughly 2 1/2-mile (4-km) path along the route once followed by the Wall past the Brandenburg Gate.

Hundreds of thousands expected

Tuesday's celebrations are the crest of 10 days of events to commemorate the Wall's end, and organizers hope they will have hundreds of thousands of Berliners dancing in the streets in a partial recreation of the spirit of 1989.

Back then, it seemed the partying would never stop. As East Germans crossed the Wall checkpoints in their exhaust-spewing Trabant cars, well-wishers pounded on the roofs. West Germans threw money at easterners to help them buy goods that were unseen in the former German Democratic Republic.

"It was so beautiful, it was so different," one former East German resident told CNN, recalling that night. "One side was so completely different from the other."

The Communist leadership of the former German Democratic Republic built the Wall in 1961 in a bid to stem the drain of population to the capitalist west.

It was the very proximity of the two systems in one divided city that made the Berlin Wall such a potent metaphor for the entire Cold War. As one struggle came to be defined by the building of the Wall, so another was symbolized by its dramatic collapse.

In a speech Monday, U.S. President Bill Clinton called that night "one of history's most remarkable triumphs of human freedom."

In 1961, East Germany seals off the border and begins building the Berlin Wall

'I'd put it back'

But Germany is still wrestling with the legacy of that night, and the reunification which followed.

Ten years later, there is still a stark divide between the economies of the two old Germanies. Former East Germans, some of whom received bananas from well-wishers in wonderment as they crossed into West Berlin in 1989, still feel they have yet to enjoy the full fruits of a united Germany.

A poll published Monday found most eastern Germans -- 70 percent -- say the advantages of unification outweigh the negatives, especially because of improved living standards.

But only 45 percent viewed the new political system -- capitalist democracy -- as better than the old. Only 27 percent said they felt better in society and 67 percent said unification had worsened the next generation's chances.

"If I had it my way, I'd put it back," one former East Berliner told CNN.

The poll of 1,000 eastern Germans was published in the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. No margin of error was given.

Berlin Bureau Chief Chris Burns, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.